Eagle Materials Inc. Announces Plans for SC Gypsum Wallboard Plant

Project is expected to be operational by 2007.

 

Eagle Materials Inc. announced that its subsidiary company, American Gypsum Company, plans to build a new high-speed, gypsum wallboard plant near Georgetown, S.C. The plant is designed to produce approximately 750 million square feet annually. Planning of the new plant is nearly complete with construction expected to begin late this year. The cost of the plant is expected to be around $125 million.

 

Upon completion, the new plant will be supplied with synthetic gypsum under a long-term supply agreement with Santee Cooper, South Carolina's state- owned electric and water utility. Santee Cooper's coal-fired power plants will generate a synthetic gypsum by-product as the result of using scrubbing technology to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

 

Additionally, the gypsum paper that American Gypsum uses is made from 100 percent recycled paper fiber creating a finished product from essentially 100% recycled materials.

 

Santee Cooper is expected to begin producing the gypsum in 2006 and the new gypsum wallboard plant is expected to be operational in early 2007.