September 2024
Lehigh Southwest Cement Company orders cement mill upgrade from FLSmidth for Tehachapi plant 29 February 2016
US: The Lehigh Southwest Cement Company has ordered a cement mill upgrade from FLSmdith for its Tehachapi cement plant in California. The upgrade is planned to increase cement-grinding capacity at the plant by 23% by installing and using the hydraulic roller press for pre-grinding.
The scope of contract for the engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) project including engineering, a new clinker bin, heavy duty roller press HRP-C 1.25 with its auxiliaries, weigh feeder, set of belt conveyors, nuisance filters, bucket elevators and new electrical room for this circuit. The project will also use the new FLSmidth Tribomax wear surface. H&M Construction will provide the civil/structural engineering and construction portion of the work, working for FLSmidth. This will be the first roller press supplied in North America for FLSmidth in the last two decades.
"Our customers focus on productivity. They want high utilisation rates and minimum downtime. Wear parts are one of the key components when it comes to reducing overall maintenance cost and wear solutions like Tribomax reduce the total cost of ownership of the equipment considerably," said FLSmidth Executive Vice President for the Cement Division, Per Mejnert Kristensen.
Deliveries for the project will begin in the third quarter of 2016 and the roller press is expected to be in operation by April 2017.
Emami Cement to build US$70m cement grinding plant 29 February 2016
India: Emami Cement plan to build a 2Mt/yr cement grinding plant costing US$70m for commissioning by the end of 2016. The foundation stone for the plant in Panagarh, West Bengal was laid by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Panagarh on 26 February 2016.
"The 2Mt/yr capacity unit is to be located at the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Panagarh Industrial Park in Burdwan district of West Bengal at an investment of US$70m," Emami Cement said in a statement.
Emami Group is currently also setting up a 4Mt/yr integrated cement plant at a cost of US$439m at Risda, Chhattisgarh. The project is expected to become operational soon. Raw material will be sourced from the company's captive limestone mines in Chhattisgarh. Emami is also considering building cement plants in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
India: UltraTech Cement has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to buy Jaiprakash Associates’ cement plants, which have a total cement production capacity of 22.4Mt/yr. The deal includes both integrated cement plants and cement grinding plants. The plants are situated in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The acquisition also includes a 4Mt/yr cement grinding plant being built in Uttar Pradesh. UltraTech will pay an additional US$68.7m for this plant once it is completed. The deal will increase UltraTech’s total cement production capacity to 90.7Mt/yr from 68.3Mt/yr. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
Cimpor reports loss of Euro71.2m in 2015 26 February 2016
Portugal: Cimpor has reported a loss of Euro71.2m in 2015 down from a net profit of Euro27.2m in 2014. Sales fell by 4.3% to Euro2.49bn from Euro2.60bn. Cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 6% to 28.1Mt from 30Mt. Like its parent company InterCement, the cement producer attributed the loss to an economic downturn in Brazil and unfavourable exchange rates.
Holcim New Zealand opens 30,000t Timaru cement terminal 26 February 2016
New Zealand: Holcim Zealand has officially opened its 30,000t cement terminal at Timaru port. Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Rangitata MP Jo Goodhew attended the opening. The US$34m project is intended to serve South Island and lower North Island, according to local press.
The terminal has unloaded two ships since December 2015. The cement producer aim’s for 18 inbound ships a year to Timaru, with the Holcim-owned Milburn Carrier II shipping outbound orders from its berth at the reconstructed No 2 wharf. Another cement terminal is being built in Auckland and is planned for opening in mid-2016.
Global CemFuels Awards 2016 announces winners 26 February 2016
Czech Republic: The Global CemFuels Awards 2016 has announced winners in six categories. The Suez Environnement solid recovered fuel facility at Malpas Farm, Rugby, which supplies the Cemex Rugby cement plant, won Outstanding Alternative Fuels (AF) project. LafargeHolcim won AF-user company of the year. N+P, Netherlands received the award for AF-supplier company of the year for the second consecutive year. Linder-Recyclingtech won the award for innovative technology for AF use. Frederico Contente, Masias Recycling was awarded project manager of the year. Jan Theulen, HeidelbergCement was awarded CemFuels Personality of the Year.
The Global CemFuels Awards 2016 took place as part of the Global CemFuels Conference and Exhibition. The awards are nominated and voted for across the alternative fuels industry. The specialised annual alternative fuels conference for the cement and lime industries took place on 22 – 23 February 2016 in Prague.
Featured image: Jan Theulen, HeidelbergCement (right) and Robert McCaffrey, Global Cement (left)
BULKEX conference sets dates in October 2016 25 February 2016
UK: The Materials Handling Engineers Association has announced that the BULKEX conference will be held on 5 – 6 October 2016 in Harrogate, UK. The event is aimed at professionals, organisations and academics in the bulk materials industry.
Azerbaijan Investment Company sells 10% stake in Holcim Azerbaijan 25 February 2016
Azerbaijan: The Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) sold its 10% stake in Holcim Azerbaijan to Holcim on 18 November 2015, according to a government source quoted by Azer-Press. AIC and Holcim signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2007 allowing AIC to gain 10% of shares in local Holcim cement plant following the completion of certain conditions. These included increasing the plants cement production capacity from 1.3Mt/yr to 1.7Mt/yr of cement and its clinker production capacity from 0.8Mt/yr to 1.2Mt/yr of clinker.
Adelaide Brighton profit rises by 20% to US$150m 25 February 2016
Australia: Adelaide Brighton has reported that its net profit rose by 20% to US$150m in 2015 from US$124min 2014. Its revenue grew by 5.6% to US$1.02bn from US$964m. The construction materials company attributed the growth to ‘healthy’ residential construction in east coast markets.
“Cement and clinker sales volumes increased marginally in 2015. Strong demand in New South Wales, Victoria and south east Queensland, was primarily driven by residential construction. This demand more than offset the previously anticipated reduced sales to a major South Australian customer and lower sales to resource projects in Western Australia and the Northern Territory,” said the company in a statement.
It added that import volumes continued to grow in 2015 as Adelaide Brighton used imports to meet domestic demand, whist reducing local manufacturing capacity in Western Australia. The company made savings of US$7.2m in 2015 by stopping clinker production at its Munster plant.
Semen Indonesia net profit drops by 18.7% to US$337m in 2015 25 February 2016
Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has reported that its net profit fell by 18.7% year-on-year to US$337m in 2015 from US$415m in 2014. Its revenue fell slightly to US$2.01bn. The cement producer’s director Suparni attributed the fall in net profits to an increase in electricity and distribution costs, as well as the depreciation of the rupiah against the US Dollar.
Semen Indonesia plans to increase exports in 2016 in order to counteract falls in sales in the domestic market, according to local press. The company expects to begin operations at two new cement plants, Indarung VI in West Sumatra and Rembang in Central Java, in the third quarter of 2016. The two cement plants will have production capacities of 3Mt/yr each.