Displaying items by tag: Limestone
Cementa’s Skövde plant working on grinding optimisation project
16 January 2019Sweden: Cementa’s Skövde plant working on project to optimise its grinding process and reduce the clinker factor of the cement it produces. The project is looked at grinding limestone separately as opposed to grinding it with clinker and gypsum, which it currently does. The plant is using a mill it only uses occasionally to grind the limestone to the desired size. A full-scale trial was run in the autumn of 2018. Products from the trial are now being tested at a laboratory.
JSW Cement targeting northern India after initial public offering
14 December 2018India: JSW Cement is planning to target the north and north-east of the country after a proposed initial public offering (IPO) in 2020. The company is looking for acquisitions in the region to meet its production capacity target of 20Mt/yr by 2020, according to a company executive quoted by the Economic Times newspaper. The cement producer has purchased two limestone mines via auction at Nagaur in Rajasthan and one in Gujarat. It is also considering building new cement plants near the mines. The company has a production capacity is 12.8Mt/yr at present.
Regional limestone ban hits Nepalese cement producers
15 October 2018Nepal: A limestone ban in the Katari municipality has hit Saurya Cement and Cosmos Cement. The local government has banned cement producers from extracting and transporting limestone on tax grounds, according to the Himalayan Times newspaper. However, Saurya Cement said that the authorities had stopped the transportation of limestone without consultation. Krishnaraj Dulal, the director Cosmos Cement, added that the company was not required to pay tax locally as it was paying the Department of Mines at the national level.
Kesoram Industries to buy limestone reserves
11 October 2018India: Kesoram Industries has received approval from the state government of Karnataka to buy 675 acres of land for mining limestone reserves. The subsidiary of BK Birla Group plans to use the acquisition to increase its existing limestone reserves, according to the Hindu newspaper. The amount the cement producer will pay for the land is still being negotiated and will be paid over a two-year period.
Votorantim Cimentos focusing on diversification strategy
10 October 2018Brazil: Walter Dissinger, the chief executive officer of Votorantim Cimentos, says that company’s diverse geographical spread and its products protected it from turbulent markets, especially at home in Brazil since 2015. Dissinger made the comments in an interview to the Valor Econômico newspaper ahead of a company meeting to plan its strategy for the next five years. He forecast that the local cement market is likely to decline for the fourth consecutive year in 2018, with a drop in consumption of 2%.
He mentioned expansion plans in the US and upgrade projects in Argentina. Six new mortar plants are also planned over the next four years with an investment of US$30m. These units will generally be built next to existing integrated cement plants. The company is expanding its limestone business with an investment of US$54m. Dissinger added that the company’s Nobres plant in Mato Grosso is making more revenue from limestone products than from cement. The company is also cutting fuel costs by replacing petcoke imports from the US with co-processing refuse derived fuels and exploring biofuel options.
India: Prism Johnson, formerly known as Prism Cement, has received a letter of intent from the state government of Madhya Pradesh allocating it a mining lease for limestone. The agreement lasts 50 years for a site at Bairiah and Chormari villages and it includes approximately 77Mt of reserves.
China to retaliate on US tariffs on cement
07 August 2018China/US: China’s Ministry of Commerce has proposed placing retaliatory tariffs on products from the US, including cement. The list covers 5207 items and proposes adding import taxes of up to 25% on them. It includes clinker, white cement, limestone, quicklime, slaked lime, gypsum, refractory products and cement packaging machinery. The ministry said that the new tariffs will take effect at a date to be announced later on.
Spain: Cemex España has submitted a proposal to the local government to extract a total of 15Mt of limestone from its Can Negret quarry near to its Lloseta cement plant in Majorca. The proposal will run until 2032, according to the Ultima Hora newspaper. The company was previously granted a concession at the quarry in 1982.
Philippines: Global Ferronickel is considering building a cement plant to take advantage of the government’s rapid infrastructure development programs.
Company president Dante Bravo said that its Cagdianao mine showed potential for limestone, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. The mining company is considering options to maximize the investment from its reserves.
GICA aims to export up to 1.5Mt of cement in 2018
20 June 2018Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie’s (GICA) aims to export 1 - 1.5Mt of cement in 2018. The Ministry of Industry and Mines said that the group has signed a deal to export 30,000t via its SODISMAC subsidiary, according to the Algeria Press Service. GICA is also in discussion with foreign partners to export other products such as limestone and gypsum. The cement company handles its exports via the ports of Arzew and Djendjen.
In 2017, the group recorded record cement production of nearly 14Mt compared with 12.6Mt in 2016. It exported 45,000t of cement in May 2018 under a contract with a total volume of 200,000t.