Lafarge Canada Inc. announced last week it will shut down its plant in east Kamloops for the foreseeable future, reported Kamloops This Week. The company is in discussions to continue using the facility as a distribution center with a possibility of 10 ongoing jobs. The shutdown will be complete by the end of the year.
“We’ve had operations here for more than 45 years and tried to be an integral part of the community,” Isenor said. “We felt we got great support.”
Lafarge said the shutdown is a factor of poor markets primarily in Alberta in wake of the oil-industry slowdown. “Until this year, we had been [at capacity],” Isenor said. “This year we’re really feeling the downturn in Alberta . . . It’s taken a drastic turn.”
The plant and limestone quarry also supplies cement to the Interior, but that demand is not enough to continue operation. “Basically, we’re taking an extended hiatus of production,” Isenor said. “We don’t have an expectation of restart in the future.”
The plant will not be dismantled, however. Isenor said employees who will continue at the terminal, redistributing cement from Lafarge’s Exshaw plant, will keep manufacturing operations on care and maintenance.
