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Lafarge announces $291 million expansion
By Dan McCue and Dennis Quick
Staff Writers
Lafarge North America, the multinational building materials firm, will invest up to $291 million to expand and modernize its Harleyville cement-production facility.
The expansion, announced during a news conference hosted by the Charleston Regional Development Alliance on Aug. 29, is the single largest business expansion in Dorchester County history, said Walter “Skip” Elliot, chairman of the Dorchester County Council.
The expansion will allow the company to retain the 112 jobs it currently provides in the region while creating 18 new positions ranging from supervisory posts to new opportunities for mill workers, said Joseph Goss, president of Lafarge North America’s Southeast region.
“Perhaps the single biggest driving factor in this expansion is the continued strong economic growth in the Southeast,” Goss told the Charleston Regional Business Journal. “Dorchester County is a good source of the high-quality stone we rely on in making our cement and our work force has been able to meet the ever-increasing demand for our products both safely and efficiently.”
Asked whether he had any concerns about expanding the facility in light of recent federal pronouncements about declining new home sales across the country, Goss said he expected commercial and industrial construction as well as anticipated public works products to more than pick up the slack.
“(Construction) is one of those truly cyclical industries,” he explained. “When one sector slows, another comes to the fore,” he said.
Among those on hand for the announcement was S.C. Commerce Secretary Joe Taylor, who said he was struck by the size of the investment Lafarge was making in the community.
“Anytime a company, especially one that’s been here are long as Lafarge has, makes a nearly $300 million investment in your community, that’s great news for local economic developers and great testimony to the business climate we have here in South Carolina,” Taylor said.
That sentiment was shared by David Ginn, president and CEO of the development alliance.
“Three hundred million dollars is a lot of money by any standard. We’re grateful that a company with as many investment options as LaFarge has around the world has decided to invest that money here,” he said.
Lafarge is considered a world-leading producer of building materials. With 80,000 employees in 76 countries, Lafarge posted sales of more than $18 billion in 2005.
The company’s Harleyville plant, which opened in 1974, produces cement for residential, commercial and public works construction projects across North America.
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