US: Germany-based Lehigh Hanson has announced a suspension of work on its 2.0Mt/yr expansion of the 0.8Mt/yr Mitchell plant in Indiana to 2.8Mt/yr to early 2021 at the latest due to ‘uncertainties resulting from’ the coronavirus. The target date for commissioning has also moved, to late 2023 from September 2022. Lehigh Cement Mitchell plant manager Jerry Miller said, “A construction project of this magnitude has numerous components, such as supply chain certainty, material deliveries and, importantly, worker availability.”
The upgrade received environmental clearance in July 2019 and the company broke ground at the site in October 2019.