Business Today

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Mississippi Lime Co. officials have announced they will soon be investing in state of the art rotary kiln technology at the company's Ste. Genevieve manufacturing site.

According to press releases and a story in the online edition of the Suntimes newspaper, the rotary kiln will enable the company to have the most current production and environmental controls possible.

Preparation for construction will begin shortly, and it is expected that the first phase of the project will be completed in the second half of 2003.

A company official, Keith Espelien, declined to say how much Mississippi Lime was spending to make the improvements, but he termed it a "substantial investment."

He said permits are being applied for and the company is working with various government agencies.

Espelien said the rotary kiln will be an improvement, not only in production, but also in environmental controls.

"As far as an emission rate, these are superior to our current technology," he said, adding that the some of the existing kilns were built in the mid '50s. The most recent rotary kilns were built in the mid to late '80s.

Espelien said residents of the community would not be able to see most of the work as it is being done.

"All of the construction that we will have going will be in the back of the plant," he said. "There really won't be anything except the top part of our crane visible from Highway 61."

Some of the existing kilns will be dismantled in order to make room for the new kiln.

Espelien said the new technology should not have any impact on the quantity of water being used by the plant. Mississippi Lime is the city's largest consumer of water.

Espelien said the new technology would reduce the number of workers needed at the plant.

"That's an unfortunate part of the modernization of our technology. We haven't made any investments in that technology for a number of years and we're working to catch up to the rest of the industry," he said.

Espelien said the company is well past its peak employment of about five years ago when between 800 and 850 workers were employed. He declined to say what the current employment is, but a previous story in Business Today listed employment at 550.