History

Hippolyte Dumont establishes "Carrières et Fours à Chaux Dumont-Wautier", at Hermalle in Belgium.

Léon Lhoist, Hippolyte's son-in-law, sets up "Etablissements Léon Lhoist", at Jemelle, Belgium.

The establishment of Carrières et Fours à Chaux de Dugny, in France, marks the start of Lhoist's international expansion.

Lhoist enters the US market through its acquisition of a stake in Chemical Lime in Texas. The Group expands into the West with the purchase of Genstar's lime division in 1986, and into the Southeast with the acquisition of Allied Lime in 1989.

The purchase of Vápenka Certovy Schody (VCS) in the Czech Republic paves the way for the Group's entry into Eastern Europe.

Joint venture with RWK Kalk, Germany.

Construction of the Group's largest US plant at St. Genevieve, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi river.

Lhoist continues its Eastern European expansion by acquiring lime operations at Bukowa and, in 1998, at Opolwap in Poland.

Acquisition of Rheinische Kalksteinwerke Wülfrath (RKW), Germany. RWK and RKW activities are merged into a new company: Rheinkalk.

The Group strengthens its dolomitic refractory division by forming Wülfrath Refractories, a merger of Lhoist Réfractaires, acquired in 1993, with Wülfrather Feuerfest, a former division of RKW.

The acquisition of APG Lime, and a joint venture with Calider, Mexico, further strengthen the Group's presence in major lime consuming regions of the Southeast United States.

Grupo Calider acquires the local lime producer Caleras Fernandez, located near Guadalajara city, in south-western Mexico.

Acquisition of the lime activities of RMC Industrial Minerals in the UK. The new entity will operate under the name Lhoist UK Ltd.

Acquisition of the U.S. Baker-Group. Refractory activities of Baker and Wülfrath are merged to form LWB Refractories.

Acquisition of Group Balthazard & Cotte, a well known Southern European lime producer, based in Grenoble, France.

Acquisition of the lime and dolomite operations of the Heidelberg Cement Group in Gorazdze and Sabinow, Poland.

Acquisition of Eurovente-Strasservil, a very successful company which has pioneered a new generation of lime-based products for the building construction market, located in Besançon, France.

Lhoist enters Brazil through the acquisition of the Group Votorantim´s lime division (Cal-Itaú) comprising 4 plants in Minas Gerais state (São José da Lapa, Matozinhos, Arcos and Limeira).

Lhoist divests its Refractory Division.

Lhoist acquires Franklin Industrial Minerals in the US, a leading producer of processed limestone and ball clay, operating nine plants in the Southeast of the US and Texas.

Lhoist acquires a limestone quarry near Ipoh, Malaysia.

Lhoist sells its production facilities in Mexico.

A joint venture of Lhoist and the Russian metallurgical group TMK is granted a mining license for the exploration of a quarry in the Urals.

Lhoist and the Suhail Bahwan Group set up a joint venture company, Bahwan Lhoist LLC, to explore and develop limestone and dolomite resources in Oman.