Two more greenfield plants for Florida On the heels of its recent legal victories regarding its nearly completed Newberry, Fla. facility, Jacksonville-based construction materials producer Florida Rock has begun the process of applying for zoning and permitting of a new 750,000-tpy plant near Brooksville. The city already hosts two other cement operations, one run by Southdown and the other by Florida Crushed Stone. (Florida Crushed Stone revived long-dormant plans late in 1998 to expand the capacity at its Brooksville plant. When completed, the $75 million upgrade will create 20 additional jobs and double the plant's capacity to 1.2 million tpy.) The Florida Rock plant will be located on property the company currently mines. The property has more than 100 million tons of high-quality limestone reserves. Company President and CEO John Baker said Florida Rock will invest about $100 million in the new plant, which should generate as many as 250 jobs during the two-year construction time and 80 permanent positions upon completion. Fred Cohrs, president of Florida Rock's Cement Group said the plant will be the most environmentally sensitive cement plant in the state. The company also announced that it is discussing a possible joint venture at the new plant with CSR Rinker, the largest consumer of cement in the state.

About 75 miles north on State Highway 41, a newcomer to the cement industry, Suwannee American Cement Co., is planning to build its first plant near the town of Branford. Company officials expect to receive all necessary permits for the 750,000-tpy plant by late summer. Plant construction is expected to take two years at a cost of $100 million with operations beginning some time between the summer and fall of 2001. The facility will employ about 80 workers. According to Suwannee President Joe Anderson, Jr., the decision to build a plant in northern Florida is due to current market conditions and the forecast for continued growth throughout the Southeastern United States. Although formal bidding has not yet started, Krupp Polysius is doing the engineering and project development for the facility. The Anderson family of Old Town, Fla., owns Anderson Columbia Co., one of the largest highway construction companies in the Southeast. Suwannee was formed in 1998.

Southdown's Victorville plant to be largest in U.S. Southdown Inc. announced two capital projects under the company's ongoing capacity-expansion program. The first is the phase III expansion of its Victorville, Calif. plant. This $160 million project will incrementally expand plant capacity by more than 1 million tons to 3.1 million tpy through the installation of a new 1.7 million-ton-capacity pyroprocessing system and additional high- efficiency raw material and finish grinding systems. Upon completion of the project, expected to be in early 2001, the Victorville plant will be the largest cement plant in the country, with substantial distribution flexibility to serve markets in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Substantial engineering already has been completed, major equipment suppliers selected, and the issuance of construction permits is expected without delay.

The second project will increase production at Southdown's Charlevoix, Mich. plant by about 130,000 tpy at a cost of $11 million. This project also includes $12 million of improvements to the company's Great Lakes distribution system, including 50,000 tons of additional storage at water-served terminals in Chicago and Ferrysburg, Mich. Most of this additional capacity should be available for the year 2000 shipping season.

Cemex again hit with high dumping margin on imports For the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. Department of Commerce released its calculation of a high dumping margin for imports of gray portland cement from Mexico. The ruling exposes Cemex SA to payment of another $16.5 million in antidumping duties to the U.S. Treasury.

The Commerce Department determined a dumping margin of 49.58% in the final results of this most recent annual administrative review of the antidumping order on gray portland cement and clinker from Mexico. The latest import entries cover imports from August 1996 to July 1997. Cemex may appeal the duties to the U.S. Court of International Trade or to a bi-national panel established by NAFTA.