St Marys Cement has suspended operations at its plant in Dixon, Illinois, reports SaukValley. The plant currently employs 62 workers and the decision is expected to result in 41 job losses. The plant will stop manufacturing cement but continue the grinding process until the inventory is fully depleted, which is likely to be next summer.

The decision arrived after the plant was noted to be at a transportation disadvantage. The company’s five other cement plants are ideally located to take advantage of its customer base in the Great Lakes region.

“The company’s other plants can capitalise on the Great Lakes to distribute bulk cement,” said Chris Mason, a spokesman for St Marys Cement.

Mr Mason also said that the door remains open for resuming full operations in Dixon, but there is no rigid timeline for making that decision.