Ozinga started operations at a low-carbon cement mill in East Chicago, Indiana, that can produce about 1 million tons of slag cement per year. The plant uses slag from steelmaking to make ASTM-compliant cementitious materials, with the company saying the products can cut embodied carbon by up to 80% compared to traditional portland cement mixes. Ozinga positions the facility as the largest of its kind in North America and says direct rail, water, and highway access helps move material across the Midwest. The new capacity is meant to ease recent portland cement supply constraints, which Ozinga says caused allocations, delivery delays, and price swings. Once fully operational, the mill and related Burns Harbor operation are expected to support around 50 permanent union steelworker jobs. The project is part of a broader push to add domestic low-carbon cement capacity as infrastructure demand stays high.
