A building materials company that owns several cement plants in the 69 News viewing area is expanding its footprint in the Northeast.
Heidelberg Materials North America has entered into a binding purchase agreement to acquire Walan Specialty Construction Products in Wilmington, Delaware.
Walan operates a slag grinding plant with a vertical mill that has an annual capacity of 150,000 tonnes (one tonne is equal to about 2,204 pounds).
Slag cement is produced from by-products of steel manufacturing. According to Heidelberg, it can be used to replace some of the conventional cement in a concrete mix; also, it’s considered more environmentally friendly that conventional cement, because less energy and natural resources are used when making it.
“The use of slag cement and other supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) is a key part of Heidelberg Materials’ decarbonization strategy,” the company said in a news release.
A purchase price for Walan was not disclosed.
Heidelberg Materials, based in Germany, makes cement, aggregates, ready mixed concrete and other construction materials. It has about 51,000 employees at 3,000 locations around the world.
The company operates several facilities in the 69 News viewing area, including the Nazareth Cement Plant and Quarry, the Stroudsburg Quarry, and the Evansville Cement and Slag Plant in Berks County.
Heidelberg first gained a foothold in the U.S. when it bought Lehigh Cement Company in 1977. It later acquired Italcementi, Essroc Cement, and Lehigh Hanson.