Capping nearly 10 years of permitting and more than $1 billion in equipment, construction and site investments, Holcim celebrated its newest plant, located in Ste. Genevieve County, Mo., in June 4 festivities
Sources: CP staff; Holcim (US) Inc., Waltham, Mass.
Capping nearly 10 years of permitting and more than $1 billion in equipment, construction and site investments, Holcim celebrated its newest plant, located in Ste. Genevieve County, Mo., during June 4 festivities. Executives from both Holcim (US) and its Swiss parent company Holcim Group joined Obama Administration officials (companion item), members of Congress, local and state elected officials, community leaders, citizens advisory members, and others who were instrumental in getting the plant from the permitting stage to the beginning of operations in late-2009.
One of the largest cement-manufacturing facilities and the largest single-kiln line plant worldwide, with a production capacity of 4 million metric tons/year, Ste. Genevieve is also among the industry’s most environmentally efficient and safest. In addition to extensive emissions controls, the majority of the 3,900-acre property around the plant has been set aside and will be preserved and protected in its natural state. Holcim (US) is working with an expert conservation partner to manage surrounding habitat.
The operation will ship as much as 75 percent of its product to terminals by barge, with many of the raw materials–including coal, gypsum and fly ash–delivered via the Mississippi River. While roughly 1,700 acres is permitted for quarry operations, the company has in place an ongoing reclamation plan that will restore land that has been mined, ensuring that no more than 200 acres of land is actively mined at any one time. To date, the company has created or restored more than 60 acres of new wetlands that will offset any impacts from construction.
Ste. Genevieve replaces capacity lost to plant closings due to company streamlining and record consumption drops. Older Holcim (US) mills in Dundee, Mich.; Mason City, Iowa; Clarksville, Mo.; and Artesia, Miss., have been mothballed in recent years. Combined capacity for the four closed plants is about 3.7 million metric tons/year. Through the company’s logistics infrastructure, powder from the new Missouri plant will be able to reach 19 states in all, ranging from North Dakota as far south as Texas.