CLINTON TWP — A township manufacturer could become a supplier to the U.S. military.

ESM Group, which has a complex off Saxonburg Boulevard, plans to build a new processing plant at the site.

Unlike the magnesium the company already churns out for use in the steel industry for removing sulphur from the metal, the new process would convert magnesium powder into liquid that can be used in flares.

Gabe Ciafre of Gabriel Enterprises, the township contractor working with ESM on the plan, said in an interview the flares would be used to divert heat-seeking missiles from their targets.

He said if the township approves the site plan and if ESM secures a government contract, ESM would be the only supplier of the refined magnesium in the United States.

Existing manufacturers of this magnesium are only in England, China and Korea, according to Ciafre.

Township Supervisor Mary Zacherl, board chairwoman, said in an interview ESM's expansion into that market provides the United States with another supplier.

"This gives the government someone else," she said.

Ciafre said the new process uses higher technology to further refine the magnesium, enabling it to meet military needs.

"It's an electrical process," he said.

The magnesium is melted, cooled and solidified.

The proposed 60-by-60-foot building would be erected at the site of a parking lot for tankers.

"It's really a silo," Ciafre said about the proposed building.

The complex already has about 10 buildings.

Capt. Paul Harrity of the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company said the department would work with the company to learn how to deal with any potential emergencies related to the new process.

The firefighters already are trained to handle calls related to current activities at the site.

The township supervisors Tuesday approved the company's plan to relocate the parking area further east on the more than 39-acre site.

Once converted, the refined magnesium would be placed in tankers to be shipped out just as is done with the magnesium taken to steel manufacturers.

Ciafre stressed the company is only expanding the use of the property, not changing it. He said truck traffic would not increase significantly.

Barring any impediments, phase two of the company's plan would expand the two-story "silo" to 120 feet wide.

Ciafre said implementation of the first phase would create six to nine new jobs. Both phases would result in a total of 25 new jobs.

Along with holding a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. July 13 on a site plan for the ESM expansion, the supervisors also will have one dealing with a ministry's plan to build a church on Knoch Road.

New Life Christian Ministries intends the building to be a community center.

Another business received a site plan approval last month to use the former onion plant in the Victory Road Business Park.

Kingsley Compression will use the space as a storage facility for compressors used in gas drilling.