Canada: McInnis Cement has completed nearly 75% of the construction phase of the 2.5Mt/yr plant it is building at Port-Daniel-Gascons in Quebec. It also announced that it has closed the financing for the project.

“With the significant turnaround of operations and approximately US$209m in new financing, everything is in place to complete the project on schedule,” said Christian Dubé, Executive Vice-President of Québec at la Caisse, the pension fund manager that took control of the project in August 2016. The first cement deliveries from the plant are scheduled for the spring of 2017.

McInnis Cement began the operating phase in October 2016, with tests on the crushing line and the conveyers used to transport limestone extracted from the quarry to the warehouse. The company expects to receive its first ship at its marine terminal in early November 2016.

By the end of 2016, the company expects to finalise and begin operations of the crushing unit, receive several ships transporting raw materials in its marine terminal and conduct the first operational checks for the grinding of raw materials. Distribution terminals at Sainte-Catherine and Providence are also under construction and other sites under development will soon be added to the company’s distribution network.