Cementos Portland Valderrivas, the cement company owned by the FCC Group, will invest 180 million dollars in the modernisation of its factory in Bath in the state of Pennsylvania (USA) which will increase its production by 50%, lower its energy costs and improve the environmental impact of its operations.
The presentation of this project to the North American authorities was attended by the state representative, Dan Gundersen; the senator for Pennsylvania, Charles Dent; the Spanish ambassador, Carlos Westendorp, and the company's Managing Director, José Ignacio Martínez-Ynzenga.
Dan Gundersen, after highlighting the economic growth of the state of Pennsylvania, which occupies seventeenth place in the world economy, handed over a cheque for seven million dollars on behalf of the state's Department of Economic Development and signed by the Governor, Edgard G. Rendell, as a contribution toward and show of support for the investment project.
José Ignacio Martínez-Ynzenga noted the commitment of Cementos Portland Valderrivas and the FCC Group in general to the North American market and pointed out that with the new project Cementos Portland Valderrivas will have invested more than 800 million dollars in the United States, a country where significant growth opportunities still exist.
Finally, the ambassador expressed his satisfaction with the opportunity to participate in such an act, in which a Spanish company announces a new investment, and mentioned some future projects which will have a bearing on the good relations between the two countries.
The factory, which currently operates using two wet system furnaces with an annual production capacity of more than 600,000 tons, will have a new dry system furnace with an annual production capacity of more than one million tons of cement.
The project includes a new, comprehensive dry system cement manufacturing line, from the primary grinding at the quarry to the end result, including storage areas and semi-finished product silos.
The modernised factory is expected to be operational sometime during the second half of 2008.
The Cementos Portland Valderrivas Group operates three factories in the United States through two companies: Giant Cement Holding Inc. and CDN-USA:
. Giant Cement Company in Harleyville (South Carolina);
. Keystone Cement Company in Bath (Pennsylvania);
. Dragon Products Company in Thomaston (Maine).
The capacity of the three factories will exceed three million tons per year once the new factory in Keystone is up and running. The other two are already fully operational after having modernised their production systems.
In recent years, Cements Portland Valderrivas has invested more than 800 million dollars in the United States, the world's third largest cement consumer.
