French Developer Finishing $230 Mil Alabama Plant Expansion

CALERA, AL-Lafarge Corp., a Reston, VA-based subsidiary of Lafarge SA of Paris, is expected to complete a $230 million expansion program at the former Blue Circle Cement’s Roberta plant by yearend.

Construction is 75% complete on a new $170 million kiln line that produces clinker, the main raw material used in cement making, according to Industrial Information Resources, a Houston-based industry researcher. Also nearing completion is a $60 million limestone quarry expansion.

The expansion program will increase annual capacity to 1.5 million tons from 770,000 tons. Two existing kilns will be shut down and salvaged when the new line is operating in first quarter 2002, Information Resources reports.