Coldspring® Quarry Gets Green Designation

COLD SPRING, Minn. — Coldspring^® announces its Milbank operations in Milbank, S.D., received Gold-level ANSI/NSC 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone certification.

Click photo to enlargeDeveloped in accordance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines, the rigorous and voluntary ANSI/NSC 373 standard establishes criteria to determine the degree to which natural dimension stone is extracted and manufactured sustainably.

Following facility inspections by NSF International’s sustainability division, which develops standards and conducts audits to protect the environment, the Milbank operations received certification for all quarry operations at the location as well as the on-site processing facility.

The Milbank operation produces Carnelian® and Prairie Brown varieties of granite. This material has been used on projects throughout the country with some of the notable projects including the FDR Memorial in Washington,Union Station in Denver, and the Banks (Smale Riverfront Park) in Cincinnati, among many others.

“We’re enormously proud of our quarry and operations staff at Milbank as well as the Coldspring Sustainability Committee’s efforts toward obtaining ANSI/NSC 373 Gold certification,” says Kathy Spanier, Coldspring’s director of marketing. “The perception of many in the A&D community is that we are not good stewards of the land we manage. Certification to this standard helps us tell our story in a credible way.

“Coldspring has a long history of sustainable quarrying and manufacturing practices and is one of the only providers of certified sustainable stone in the world. Our most recent third-party-verified certification for our Milbank operation confirms our commitment to be the world’s greenest stone company.”

The ANSI/NSC 373 standard showcases best practices in numerous areas of extraction and processing of natural stone, such as: water usage and recycling, custody and transportation of the stone, site management, land reclamation, corporate governance, energy optimization, management of excess process materials and solid waste, safer chemical and materials management, worker health and safety and optional innovation credits. Certification is based on point totals in each category to achieve a bronze, silver, gold or platinum level certification.

In 2016, Coldspring’s corporate headquarters and primary manufacturing operations in Cold Spring received Gold certification; the Charcoal (St. Cloud, Minn.), Mesabi (Babbitt, Minn.), and Rockville (Rockville, Minn.) quarries received Platinum certification.

Since 1898, Coldspring has served the architectural, memorial, residential and industrial markets with all types of natural stone, bronze, and industrial and diamond-tooling products. With headquarters, a primary manufacturing facility and bronze foundry in Cold Spring, Minn., the company has 900 employees at operations across the country, including 30 quarries and additional fabrication facilities. In 2016, the company’s headquarters, primary manufacturing operations and three Minnesota-based quarries received ANSI/NSC 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone certification.