Lafarge Canada's Bath cement plant celebrates 40th anniversary

The Lafarge Canada cement plant at Bath is celebrating 40 years of building better cities and communities around the Great Lakes region.

Built in 1973, the Lafarge Canada Bath cement plant is home for more than 100 employees and located on Lake Ontario just west of the Village of Bath. The plant is capable of producing 1.1Mta of cement and ships cement throughout Ontario and the US.

To commemorate this important milestone, Lafarge employees opened up the plant's doors and invited everyone in the Great Lakes region to say "thank you" to Bath, Kingston, and the surrounding community for their support over the years. "Lafarge is committed to building better cities and communities. For the last 40 years, our team in Bath has been an active partner in this community where they live, work and raise their families because it's an important part of our values," said Bob Cartmel, president and CEO, Lafarge Canada Inc. (Eastern Canada) during the special event.

Learning more on low-carbon fuel solutions
Earlier this year, Lafarge Canada announced a multi-partner investment of US$8m to develop a low-carbon fuel solution by using local supplies such as construction and demolition site debris (wood based), railway ties, and other energy containing materials that aren't presently recycled. The construction of the new complex is well on its way and visitors will have a chance to learn more about this new process added to the Lafarge Canada Bath cement plan.

"Being a responsible neighbour, our team members at the Bath plant have worked hard over the years to lower the impact of our activities on the community. We've made many changes to the plant, the most recent being the new complex designed for our low-carbon fuel solution that visitors can learn more about today," said Richard Sebastianelli, plant manager, Lafarge Canada Bath cement plant.

History of the Bath plant
The Loyalist region of eastern Ontario has a long history of cement making, taking advantage of the limestone reserves associated with the area, Lafarge Canada highlighted in a statement. At one time, two cement companies were operating at Point Anne south of Belleville. Canada Cement merged these operations together and ran a cement operation there from 1909-73. In 1970 Canada Cement was merged with Lafarge and the Bath Cement plant was built and started up in 1973. The Bath plant continues to employ descendants of the Point Anne plant today.