A joint venture of Washington Group and St. Louis-based Alberici Constructors has landed the construction contract for Holcim's $900 million cement mill complex in northern St. Genevieve County, Mo. Washington Group Alberici will provide procurement, construction management, and general contractor services for the main plant, sited on a 2,000-acre plot approximately 55 miles south of St. Louis. The facility's kiln will have a capacity of 12,000 metric tons of cement clinker per day — sufficient for 4 million tons of powder annually and becoming the world's largest single clinker production line.

The plant is sited at a former quarry area, with a harbor extending to the nearby Mississippi River, where most of the plant's finished product will be loaded on barges. Site preparation work is under way with major plant construction work to begin immediately. Plant startup is scheduled for the third quarter of 2009.