Lafarge yesterday lost its legal battle at the Ontario Court of Appeal to stop an independent hearing from scrutinising a proposal to burn tyres at its plant west of Kingston.

The defeat means that the cement producer will scrap its plans to burn tires as fuel.

"It’s a very disappointing decision for us ... fundamentally it means that the project is done," said Rob Cumming, spokesman for Lafarge and manager of its alternative fuel project.

He said the company now has to move forward with other projects in an attempt to make plant operations more environmentally sound.