Ash Grove Cement, Overland Park, Kan., plans to invest approximately $190 million to add 700,000 tons’ capacity at its Foreman, Ark., cement plant. The
Ash Grove Cement, Overland Park, Kan., plans to invest approximately $190 million to add 700,000 tons’ capacity at its Foreman, Ark., cement plant. The project will bring plant output to 1.7 million tons per year, and Ash Grove’s total annual clinker production capacity to about 8.15 million tons from nine plants. The Foreman expansion follows a handful of projects in recent years, including the summer 2005 announcement that the company would build its 10th plant Û a $250 million, 1.5 million-ton capacity facility Û near Las Vegas on land owned by the Moapa Band of the Paiute Indians. The project is expected to begin construction this year.
Ash Grove also recently announced that it had acquired a 54,000-ton-capacity import terminal from Goldendale Aluminum on the Willamette River in Portland, Ore. The facility will be connected to the company’s adjacent terminal on North Port Center Way; with combined storage capacity of about 72,000 tons, the terminals will enable Ash Grove to supply as much as 800,000 tons of powder annually to customers in the greater Northwest United States as well as some inland markets.
In early 2005, Ash Grove Texas of Houston (previously North Texas Cement, until the company bought out the 50 percent share owned by joint-venture partner Hanson in 2003) and Alamo Cement Co. of San Antonio joined forces as the Houston Cement Co. The joint venture is currently building a $42 million, 175,000-metric-ton cement terminal at the Houston Ship Channel.