Ardent Mills, mill in Chester Illinois
Ardent Mills' Chester, Illinois, U.S. mill has resumed operations.

DENVER, COLORADO, U.S. — Ardent Mills on Jan. 21 said its mill in Chester, Illinois, U.S., has resumed operations, ahead of schedule. The mill, along with a mill in Alton, Illinois were affected when flooding brought flour milling and elevators to a near halt in the St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. region during the last week of 2015 and into early 2016.

“With flood waters having receded along the Mississippi River in recent weeks, Ardent Mills’ team members have gone ‘above and beyond’ to conduct extensive cleaning and sanitizing to return the mill back to operational conditions well ahead of expectations,” the company said. “We are grateful for their ‘all in’ attitude and efforts.”

Ardent Mills said its mill in Alton resumed bulk shipments on Jan. 4, the same day clean-up operations began at the Chester mill. The wheat flour mill in Chester has a capacity of 10,000 cwts, according to the 2016 Grain & Milling Annual. The grain elevator in Chester has a capacity of 1 million bushels.