Today, the Vice-President of Wallonia and Minister of Economy Willy Borsus, in the presence of the mayors Jean-Charles Luperto (Sambreville) and Gaëtan De Bilderling (Fosses-le-a-Ville), inaugurated the new limestone filler production facility built in our plant in Aisemont.
Juan Murillo, Area Manager Carmeuse Western Europe, proudly asked Minister Willy Borsus to cut the ribbon, to officially inaugurate our brand new installation for the production of limestone filler, i.e. a very finely grinded limestone.
This 16.5 million Euro investment is the largest production unit of its kind in the Benelux and produces 450,000 tons of limestone filler per year.
Half of the new additional production capacity of the plant, i.e. about 200,000 tons/year, is intended to serve a growing market: the partial replacement of cement in precast and ready-mix concrete. These new concrete mixes have been certified in the Netherlands and Belgium and are therefore of equal quality to traditional concrete.
Thanks to the partial replacement of cement, whose production generates important CO2 emissions, the concrete sector will save up to 15% of CO2 for the same tonnage of concrete. This installation will reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete market by 170,000 TCO2/year and thus contribute directly to the decarbonization of concrete.
The remaining production capacity is intended to supply the so-called "traditional" markets. Limestone fillers are used in the construction sector, for dry mortars, facade bricks, roofing, vinyl and even for carpeting. In agriculture, it is used as a fertilizer and for animal feed, as a calcium supplement. It is even found in the glass fibers used to manufacture wind turbine blades!
Juan Murillo, Area Manager Carmeuse Western Europe: "This investment shows in a tangible way our desire to continue investing in Wallonia. This new plant is also in line with our desire to develop innovative solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of traditional industries like ours and those of our customers."
Willy Borsus, Vice-President of Wallonia and Minister of Economy: "I am delighted with this considerable investment for the benefit of the company's development, but also and above all, the contribution to the reduction of the carbon footprint of the construction sector. This type of industrial approach corresponds perfectly to the objectives of the Walloon Recovery Plan: research, innovation, industrial development, circular economy, environmental transition.
The construction sector, which has 31,000 companies and 60,000 employees in Wallonia, will be an essential partner in the recovery, in order to achieve our ambitions in terms of investment, renovation of buildings, development of new infrastructures, etc."
