Knife River Corp., a Bismark, N.D.-based construction materials conglomerate, says it plans to build two ready-mix concrete plants in the Spokane and Coeur dAlene areas that together will employ up to 50 people.


The plants should open by July and likely will operate under a yet-to-be-determined new company here, says Steve Robinson, vice president of the Knife River unit that will become that new company.


Knife Rivers first Inland Northwest plants, says Robinson, a veteran of the Spokane concrete business and the former president of Acme Materials & Construction Co. here. The Bismark company has identified locations for the plants, but wont disclose those locations for now, he says. Pre-fabricated structures will be ordered and assembled on the sites for the manufacturing plants, he says.


Knife River is a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group Inc., a big, diversified, Bismark-based company that has business interests ranging from electric and natural-gas utilities to construction companies to natural-gas pipelines. Knife River mines and markets construction materials in the Western U.S., according to the companys Web site.


Robinson declines to say how much Knife River will invest in its move into the Inland Northwest market, but it appears that will be a substantial amount: Besides acquiring land and erecting manufacturing facilities, the company will buy 20 mixing trucks, a dozen dump trucks, and three tractor-trailer rigs for the plants, he says.


Throughout the West, Knife River already has close to $1 billion invested in gravel mines, ready-mix concrete, and asphalt organizations, Robinson says.


The Spokane and Kootenai County plants initially will manufacture and market ready-mix concrete and aggregate products, such as crushed stone. Eventually, the long-term plans are that we will be entering into the asphalt market, too, Robinson says.


Knife River became interested in opening plants in the Inland Northwest after it tried, and failed, to acquire Spokane-based Acme Materials last year, Robinson says. That company instead was acquired by Oldcastle Inc., which also is the parent company of CPM Development Co., another big concrete and asphalt provider here. Oldcastle is the U.S. unit of a big Irish conglomerate.


Robinson says he began talking with Knife River almost immediately after the acquisition was announced.


Says Robinson, Since (Oldcastle) acquired Acme, theres really only one major player in the marketplace. Knife Rivers entrance into the Inland Northwest is basically establishing competition in the market, he says. However, another relatively new player, Spokane Rock Products Inc., also is building two concrete plants here and buying mixer trucks.