Extraction

The cement making process begins at our quarries. Limestone is blasted, reduced in size and then loaded
onto boats or ships to be shipped to our plants.

Raw Grinding

Raw materials are offloaded at our plant docks and transported, often by
covered conveyor like at our Mississauga plant, to stockpiles. Stone is
ground with shale to a powder to produce raw meal uniform in
size and chemistry.

Kiln Processing

Raw meal enters the preheater, precalciner kiln—a large, rotating
furnace—through a series of cyclones against the stream of hot
exhaust gases. Intense heat is necessary to generate the required
chemical changes. Kiln burning zone temperatures exceed 1,450°C.
As raw meal tumbles through the kiln, it becomes partially molten,
causing molecular reactions that result in the formation of new
minerals with special hydraulic properties that, once ground, react
with water to form a hard mass—the distinguishing characteristic of
cement. The white hot substance that exits the kiln, called “clinker”, is
air cooled with the hot air returning to the kiln to conserve energy.
The kiln production line is monitored and controlled by a sophisticated
control system to continuously analyze and monitor every stage of the
process.

Cement Grinding

General purpose cement (Portland) is composed primarily of clinker
blended with gypsum to control setting time. These materials are
ground to the required particle size to provide the desired strength
and other characteristics of the finished cement. Grinding occurs
within the giant rotating drum with cascading steel balls.The entire
process is strictly monitored and carried out within rigorous
environmental, process and quality parameters.