We inaugurated the complete refurbishment of our plant in Minas (Uruguay).

The project with an investment of USD 40 million will generate high cost productivity and a significant improvement in environmental and sustainability indicators.

Cementos Artigas, a Uruguayan company in which we and Votorantim Cimentos hold stakes, has inaugurated the complete remodelling of its plant in Minas. The initiative has involved the integration into a single production centre of all the industrial, mining and logistics facilities previously distributed between Montevideo and Minas.

Following the completion of this investment, Cementos Artigas now has a unified production line that achieves levels of efficiency and sustainability among the best in the sector. Highlights of this project include a new high-efficiency vertical cement mill, a multicellular silo and a modern, high-productivity bulk cement dispatching system. On the other hand, in terms of sustainability, the initiative will be a milestone thanks to the significant reduction in electricity consumption and freight, as well as the relocation of industrial activity outside the urban centre of Montevideo.

The investment has amounted to $40 million (37 million euros) over the past eighteen months and, in addition to retaining existing jobs by facilitating the relocation of employees, more than 300 new hires have been generated in the construction phase of the project.

According to Julio Rodríguez, our CEO, “With this new investment we reinforce our strategic commitment to the Uruguayan market, where we have been present since 1991 through Cementos Artigas, and we are making progress on the objectives set out in our Sustainability Roadmap”. ” This project is a clear demonstration of our priority commitment to sustainability and, at the same time, consolidates our company as the most competitive in the sector in the country“, added Rodríguez.

The presence at the event of the President of Uruguay, Dr Luis Lacalle, as well as the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines, Omar Paganini, and the Vice-Minister of Economy and Finance, Alejandro Irastorza, supports the importance of this transformation and of the company for the country.