Terra says its first low-carbon cement plant in Texas is on track for mid-2027

May 6, 2026 — Terra said construction of its first full-scale plant, in Cleburne, Texas, is "on schedule and within budget," with production due to start in mid-2027. Here's what happened, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of May 6, 2026)

Outcome: The plant is not operating yet. Once running in mid-2027, Terra says, it "will produce 240,000 tons annually" of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) for the Dallas-Fort Worth market. (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))
Cost: No plant budget was disclosed. Terra raised "US$124.5M in new equity capital" in its Series B, plus a bank credit facility. (Terra Series B release, July 2, 2025 (via Financial Post))
Claim: Terra says OPUS SCM can replace "up to 50%" of portland cement in concrete. (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))

What Terra makes

Terra's process turns silicate rock from "existing, permitted mines" into SCMs, the powders that replace part of the portland cement in concrete. It says the process "integrates with current cement production systems through a drop-in process." (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))

Its first product, OPUS SCM, is "now commercially ready," Terra says. A second, OPUS ZERO, is meant as a full replacement for portland cement and is still in "extensive concrete trials." (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))

In the Series B release, Terra said its materials are "validated by third parties" and perform "equal to or better than" traditional products. It named no validator. (Terra Series B release, July 2, 2025 (via Financial Post))

Money and backers

Co-leads of the July 2025 round were Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Eagle Materials, GenZero and Just Climate, with Barclays Climate Ventures, Prologis, Cemex and Siemens Financial Services also investing. Silicon Valley Bank and Stifel Bank co-led a credit facility. (Terra Series B release, July 2, 2025 (via Financial Post))

"As government funding and subsidies for climate initiatives decrease in the US," the release said, Terra's product "is not dependent on subsidies." CEO Bill Yearsley said the goal is materials "the market would purchase solely based on cost and performance, even if there was no carbon benefit." (Terra Series B release, July 2, 2025 (via Financial Post))

In July 2025 Terra said the money would let it move "rapidly" on that "first 240,000 TPY commercial advanced-processing facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth market," and also grow its team and offices. Steven Poulter, head of Barclays Climate Ventures, cited its "combination of commercial readiness and cost competitiveness." Terra pitches it against cement's roughly 8% share of global CO₂ emissions. (Terra Series B release, July 2, 2025 (via Financial Post); Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))

Terra also says it kept "a $52.6 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation" for a planned facility in the Salt Lake market. (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))

Next steps, per Terra

Terra says it is moving six more North American facilities toward "shovel-ready status," plans to break ground on a 32,000-square-foot headquarters with labs in Golden, and has grown about 25% in 18 months. It hired Dwayne Holland from KHD Humboldt Wedag as senior vice president of engineering and Stephen Herald from Holcim as technical director. (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))

What went wrong

Nothing built yet. Cleburne won't run until mid-2027, and "on schedule and within budget" comes with no budget or milestones to check against. (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))
Full replacement unproven. OPUS ZERO is still in trials; only the partial-replacement SCM is called commercially ready. (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire))
Carbon cut unquantified. Neither release puts a number on the CO₂ saved per ton. (Terra, May 6, 2026 (GlobeNewswire); Terra Series B release, July 2, 2025 (via Financial Post))
What we don't know yet: the Cleburne budget, the per-ton CO₂ cut, and who validated performance.

Our follow-up question for Terra

What is Cleburne's budget, what CO₂ cut per ton do you claim, and who did the third-party validation?

Sources

Terra CO2 Technology Holdings, “Terra Extends Momentum Across Production, Technology, and Deployment of Sustainable Cement,” GlobeNewswire, May 6, 2026. globenewswire.com
Terra CO2, “Terra CO2 Announces Additional Series B Funding to Scale Sustainable Cement Production,” Business Wire via Financial Post, July 2, 2025. financialpost.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder