Adbri Ltd reported that the upgrade of its Kwinana cement plant in Western Australia, originally budgeted at AUD199m (US$137.3m), is likely to see a 15 per cent hike in costs, taking into account inflationary and supply chain pressures.

The upgrade is expected to consolidate most of the cement producer’s Western Australia’s operations at the plant and increase annual production capacity by 36 per cent to 1.5Mta.

The company said the upgrade was ~25 per cent complete on 30 June 2022 while procurement was ~75 per cent signed off. It plans to spend around AUD120m on the project in the current financial year, or approximately 40 per cent of its total capex budget for the year.

The Kwinana upgrade is scheduled for commissioning in mid-2023.