Freeport mining nearly done
FREEPORT — A Butler company is expected to be done surface mining off Freeport Road by fall.
John Stilley, owner of Amerikohl Mining, said his company is nearing the end of mining a parcel near the former Phoenix at Buffalo Valley golf course.
“We’ll be wrapped up at the end of the summer,” Stilley said.
Trilogy Golf Development owns the 128-acre parcel. Gary Nese, a partner in Trilogy, said Amerikohl is mining on a roughly 50-acre section.
Nese said Trilogy still is planning to construct a residential development with an eventual 155 units.
Trilogy needs Amerikohl to backfill the ground, which contains voids from previous mining, before work on the housing plan can begin.
“Taking the coal is stop number one,” Nese said.
Amerikohl is mining mainly for coal but also is taking rock used as a base for road work.
“It’s worked out well even in the downturn of the market,” Stilley said.
He explained Amerikohl branched out from solely mines to adding quarries as the coal industry was impacted by the Barack Obama administration. “We’re reinventing ourselves,” Stilley said.
The mining is the culmination of a several-years process that included testing coal at the site for impurities, which pollute the atmosphere if such contents as sulfur are too high, and receiving government permitting.
Borough council president Rick Hastings said there have been no issues or complaints from residents about the mining.
The mining site is by the former Phoenix at Buffalo Valley golf course Trilogy operated for more than a year from the fall of 2011 to 2012.
“The market wasn’t there for it,” Nese said about the golf course.
