Due to recent trends in the U.S. cement market, Infrastructure Materials Corp. is optimistic that the company’s Blue Nose Project will become a significant supplier of cement grade limestone to the western United States.
The project, which includes 40 mineral claims covering approximately 826 acres, is located 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas, and is situated 6-10 miles from a Union Pacific rail line. To date, Infrastructure Materials has completed three phases of drilling totaling nearly 30,000 ft., including grid drilling to provide the data to calculate a block resource. Initial resource estimates for the Blue Nose Project consist of 168,349,800 tons of indicated and 23,097,000 tons of inferred cement grade limestone (contains CaO).
In 2010, the company commissioned an independent market study on the United States cement market (prepared by Railroad Industries Inc. of Reno, Nev.), which presented several encouraging forecasts for cement demand growth over the balance of the decade and for the market’s ability to absorb additional regional production. The following is a list of areas regional to the Blue Nose Project and their forecast cement demand growth by the year 2021:
- Southern Utah along the I-15 corridor: expected cement demand growth of 80 percent.
- Inland Southern California: an average growth rate of 31 percent.
- Western Arizona: an average growth rate of 28 percent.
- Inland Northern California: an average growth rate of 28 percent.
- Northern Utah and Boise metro areas: an average growth rate of 24 percent.
- Southern Nevada: an average growth rate of 20 percent.
“(Infrastructure Materials Corp.) has many opportunities to gain a portion of the growing market share due to reduced capacity from plant closures, environmental regulation effecting competitors’ costs, and a marketing strategy that attracts customers,” stated Railroad Industries in its study. “We note that the City of Las Vegas has no local cement supply. In the event that the Blue Nose Project begins production, it would be the closest supply of cement to Las Vegas in addition to being the newest and, potentially, most environmentally-friendly producer.”
