Essroc Italcementi Shifts Gears on Expansion Plans

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The following is an advisory by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Inc.; Houston, Texas). Essroc Italcementi Group (Nazareth, Pa.), a subsidiary of the Italcementi Group (Bergamo, Italy), has modified their North American cement production expansion plans. The company is continuing with an aggressive expansion plan, but has shifted the focus of which plants they want to expand and when. Industrial Information Resources has identified over $300 million in planned expansion expenditures for the company and is tracking approximently $15 million a year in maintenance shutdown work at its North American cement operations.

Essroc's North American cement plants include three in Pennsylvania, two in Indiana, one in Michigan, one in Maryland, and one in Ontario. Starting in late 1999, the company began making plans to expand the Speed, Indiana plant. The expansion included a new cement kiln line and finish mill that would come close to doubling capacity of the plant. A lengthy permitting process and environmental concerns have led to a decision to mothball that project, and the company has shifted its primary expansion focus to its Ontario plant for 2002, with longer term plans to modernize the company's main cement operations in Pennsylvania. The Ontario plant expansion is proceeding on the heels of a $15 million roller mill addition and a $10 million secondary crusher addition.

Essroc Italcementi Group, the fifth largest cement producer in North America, has annual cement capacity of approximately six million metric tons and is part of the Italcementi Group of companies, a world leader in cement and building materials production, technology, and research.