Canada: McInnis Cement ready to start Spring deliveries
McInnis Cement, in collaboration with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the other shareholders, announced that close to 75 per cent of the construction phase of the 2.5Mta cement greenfield plant has been completed and certain operations have begun.
The heightened pace of construction on the company's various sites, starting with the Port-Daniel-Gascons industrial project, will allow the project to be completed in time for the first cement deliveries in the spring.The Sainte-Catherine and Providence distribution terminals are also under construction. Other sites under development will soon be added to the company's distribution network.
The McInnis Cement team began the operating phase in October, with tests on the crushing line and the conveyors used to transport limestone extracted from the quarry to the warehouse. In the next few days, the company's marine terminal will receive its first ship. By the end of 2016, the company expects to finalise and begin operations of the crushing unit as well as conduct the first operational checks for the grinding of raw materials. In addition, it anticipates receiving several ships transporting raw materials in its marine terminal.
"With the significant turnaround of operations and approximately CAD280m in new financing, everything is in place to complete the project on schedule," said Christian Dubé, executive vice-president, Québec at la Caisse. "This cutting-edge, world-class cement plant, slated to make its first cement deliveries this spring, will benefit from better-than-anticipated market conditions, strengthening the investment for our clients and the other shareholders."
"This turnaround, achieved in collaboration with the entire staff of McInnis Cement, will allow the cement plant to enter the market at the best possible time," added Mr Dubé.
As a result of its leading-edge European technology, offering very high energy efficiency, McInnis claims that it will produce cement with a 20 per cent lower carbon footprint per tonne than the average of cement plants across North America. McInnis Cement will run the only Canadian cement plant to comply with the NESHAP 2015 US anti-pollution standards.
Under the terms of the financing closed yesterday, the Caisse will reinvest CAD125m (US$93.4m) in preferred equity. Joining the group of investors for the first time, funds managed by BlackRock Alternative Investors will hold a CAD125m debenture. Minority shareholders also increased their support by injecting an additional contribution of CAD31.75m in the project. The financing was also approved by all parties taking part in the capital structure.
