Mexican cement plant officials debate new plant

Representatives for Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, the Mexican company considering building a cement plant in Pueblo County, were in town last week.  Grupo Cementos has been considering building a cement plant in Pueblo County for a number of years, dating back to its original announcement in December 1998.   The company has committed to funding improvements to Lime Road, south of the city. The road would serve as an access road to the plant.   But last June the company, which operates in the United States as RCC Rio Grande Portland Cement, said the cost of building the plant would need to be studied by the directors of the company. 

It is expected that construction of the plant will cost about $155 million, but a recent run on structural steel in the US and in foreign markets like China have pushed up the cost of steel, creating concerns over the cost of building the plant.   In June, Ron Hedrick, vice president of operations for GCC Rio Grande Portland Cement, told The Pueblo Chieftain that the plant needed final approval from Cementos’ board of directors and that they were looking at the costs before making a final decision.  Hedrick said company officials hoped to have a decision by the end of this year.