Displaying items by tag: Limestone
India: Dalmia Bharat Cement has been selected as the preferred bidder for the Kesla II limestone block in Raipur District, Chhattisgarh. The block, with reserves of 215Mt, has an estimated value of US$1.6bn, according to the Hindu newspaper.
ACG Materials buys North Florida Rock
04 May 2017US: ACG Materials has acquired North Florida Rock (NFR). ACG, a subsidiary of private equity firm HIG Capital, produces and processes industrial minerals and aggregates including gypsum, limestone, sand, gravel and downstream food, pharmaceutical and plaster products. NFR mines and produces limestone products sold into infrastructure, agriculture and building products applications. NFR owns and operates a quarry in Marianna, Florida and ships rocks across the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, and Georgia. No value for the deal has been disclosed.
“We are excited about the strategic expansion of our operations into the Southeastern US,” said Paul Harrington, chief executive officer of ACG Materials. “NFR not only allows us to grow outside our core Oklahoma, Texas, and Pacific Northwest markets, but also significantly expands our customer footprint and portfolio of limestone products within our expertise of mineral processing.”
NFR is the sixth add-on acquisition that ACG Materials has made since HIG acquired the company at the end of 2012.
India: Prism Cement has received a letter of intent from the state government of Madhya Pradesh to grant it a lease to mine cement grade limestone at Chulhi and Majhiyar, Satna district for 50 years. The lease covers reserves of about 23.6Mt and it applies to the cement producer’s plants in the state.
Guatemala: Austria’s Doppelmayr has started up a RopeCon conveyor system for Cementos Progreso’s San Gabriel plant near Guatemala City. The 1.6km conveyor will transport 2100t/hr of limestone from a quarry to the plant across wooded terrain and it rises up to a height of 200m off the ground using four tower structures. The long rope structure of the system has enabled it to use a minimum amount of space on the ground. The new cement pant is expected to start operation in the first half of 2017.
Tanzania: Kibo Mining has signed a memorandum of understanding with Mbeya Cement, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, to collaborate regionally and to share materials in the Mbeya and Songwe regions. The agreement includes arrangements to supply coal, limestone, fly ash, electricity and cement between the parties. It also includes plans to bring together local development bodies to develop the region.
Kibo Mining operates a thermal coal deposit at Mbeya and it is developing a 250 – 350MW coal power plant at the site with the help of Chinese contractors.
Redcliff cement grinding plant starts production
03 April 2017Zimbabwe: China’s Livetouch Investments has started production at its 0.4Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Redcliff. Managing director and co-shareholder Dongning Wang said that the US$30m plant had started operation at 70% of its capacity, according to the Herald Business newspaper. The plant is expected to employ 200 workers once it is fully operational. The company markets its cement under the Diamond Masonry brand.
Although some work remains on the first phase of the project the second phase will see the construction of a clinker producing plant at the same site. The company is negotiating at present with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development for access to limestone deposits. Work on the second phase is expected to start six to nine months after the mineral rights are secured.
Germany: BHS-Sonthofen and MSW Mineralstoffwerke Südwest have been awarded the German Resources Efficiency Award 2016 for their Combimix process. The German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy awarded the prize to the two companies in mid-February 2017. The process uses lime to improve raw materials yields in quarries contaminated with clay.
BHS developed the Combimix process based on their twin-shaft batch mixers and implemented it together with MSW. It uses lime to mix with clay that then undergoes a chemical reaction and this allows it to be separated from the rock in a subsequent processing step. The process allows more materials, such as limestone, to be extracted from quarries and extends the usable lifespans of such sites. In addition, previously dumped materials considered unprofitable can now be reassessed.
MSW introduced the process at its Mönsheim quarry in the summer of 2016. It allowed the company to increase its repository’s yield by 25%. To produce the same volume of the final product, it was previously necessary to extract about 620,000t/yr of limestone. At present the total is around 188,000t less, which corresponds to a relative reduction of around 30%. It helped to increase raw material efficiency from the previous level of 65 – 70% to around 93%.
“Our Combimix process holds a vast potential as it enables companies across the globe and throughout various industries to utilise resources more efficiently. In the context of rehabilitating contaminated soil, Combimix can be used to remove oil and other harmful substances. As a result, only a small fraction of the feed material needs to be dumped in hazardous waste landfills. The process is also viable for the cement industry. Here, it can be applied to processing limestone, a key ingredient that improves the burning process in rotary kilns and thus contributes to reducing fuel consumption,” said Dennis Kemmann, the managing director of BHS-Sonthofen.
US: The Center for Biological Diversity, a non-government agency, has described plans to give Mitsubishi Cement a 120-year permit to mine limestone from a new quarry in San Bernardino National Forest in southern California as ‘unreasonable.’ Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, made the comment on the basis that local flora and fauna would be adversely affected by the decision, according to the San Bernardino Sun newspaper. The US Forest Service and the County of San Bernardino are seeking comment on the proposal until 1 February 2017.
The new quarry will be located on public land abutting Mitsubishi Cement’s existing quarries at the site. It will serve the nearby Lucerne Valley cement plant.
India: LafargeHolcim has received environment clearance to raise the production capacity of its Nongtrai limestone mine in Meghalaya to 5Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr for US$28m. The mine is operated by Lafarge Umiam Mining, a subsidiary of Lafarge Surma Cement, according to the Press Trust of India. Limestone from the mine is transported across the border to Lafarge Surma Cement’s plant in Bangladesh. The increased limestone is expected to increase the production capacity at the plant to 5.5Mt/yr from 2.2Mt/yr.
The mine expansion project is subject to final outcomes of cases pending before Supreme Court, High Court and National Green Tribunal. LafargeHolcim’s subsidiaries have also been asked to obtain clearance from the National Board of Wildlife and the State Pollution Control Board.
India: The Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) has demanded that the state government of Meghalaya cancel a public hearing to discuss the construction of a plant by Dalmia Cement at Thangskai scheduled for 25 October 2016. The group is protesting about mining rights to the site, according to the Meghalaya Times.
"We strongly express our opposition and demand that the proposed public hearing for extraction of limestone from Thangskai village by the Dalmia Cement factory is immediately revoked," said HANM- East Jaintia Hills president Ency Shadap. The group has also asked that the state government give a public clarification on its decision to grant permission to the cement company to extract limestone from the district and cited certification issues with the Ministry of Forest & Environment.