September 2024
New CEO for Lafarge’s French unit 22 June 2015
France: Lafarge Group has appointed Benedicte de Bonnechose as CEO in charge of operations of its French unit. She will succeed Pascal Casanova, who was appointed as head of Latin American operations at the future combined group LafargeHolcim.
Bonnechose has been a member of Lafarge's board since 2012.
She has played a key role at the group's reorganisation in France and was in charge of its strategy, public affairs and environment businesses. Since 2013 Bonnechose has been CEO of Lafarge's aggregates unit.
Eurocement asks for US$634m loan from Sberbank 22 June 2015
Russia: Eurocement Group has asked the country's biggest bank Sberbank for a US$634m of project financing, according to company President Mikhail Skorokhod. "We expect that in the last 10 days of June 2015, we will be able to receive approval on this request from an interdepartmental commission," he said.
Sberbank has already approved US$248m from the total request, which will be spent on construction of its 10,000t/day (~4Mt/yr) Mikhailovsky plant in the Ryazan Region.
Eurocement also plans to attract US$300m of financing from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China to upgrade its plants. The request has been submitted to China's Sinosure, and is currently being reviewed.
Lafarge opens Maldives’ largest terminal 22 June 2015
Maldives: Lafarge Maldives has opened a 4000t cement silo at its Thilafushi silo terminal. It is the largest single cement silo in the Maldives. The facility now has a total capacity of 9000t due to other silos at the same site.
The expansion was opened by the Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed, Lafarge Cement Managing Director Breece Orden Reece and State Trading Organisation Managing Director Ahmed Shaheer.
India: According to the Press Trust of India, at least five suspected A'chik Matgrik Elite Force (AMEF) terrorists attacked the Virgo cement plant in Damas, North Garo Hills, Meghalaya in the early morning on 18 June 2015. Two crude bombs were hurled in the incident, causing partial damage to a building. No casualties have been reported.
The men entered the plant through the second gate and asked the security personnel in the sentry post to open the main gate door. After they exploded one crude bomb inside the sentry post, causing partial damage, another crude bomb was thrown before escaping.
Russia: According to Prime News, Mikhail Skorokhod, president of Eurocement Group, has said that the cement industry of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, may receive about Euro4.42bn of private investment until 2020.
"Speaking of plans until 2020, we expect to see launches of about 40Mt/yr of capacities and about Euro4.42bn of private investment will be needed for that," said Skorokhod, adding that investments in Russia will account for about 80% of the total sum. Investment in the sector amounted to Euro13.3bn until 2014 and production capacities totalling 45Mt/yr cement were launched.
Nepal: Dangote Cement Nepal has said that it will start the construction of a plant in Makawanpur in three months, when all of the preparatory works, licensing and permissions are complete. D V G Edwin, executive director of Dangote Group, said that the company would also acquire a license for an additional mine by then.
Dangote Cement Nepal plans to start production within three years with an investment of US$550m. It will be Dangote's 15th cement plant and will have 6000t/day of production capacity.
Meanwhile, Dangote Group has provided US$1m of to Nepal's Disaster Relief Fund. The support was provided through Dangote Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Dangote Group. Zouera Youssoufou, managing director of the foundation, handed over the cheque to prime minister Sushil Koirala on 17 June 2015. According to company officials, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Foundation, has also sent a message of sympathy to the government and assured the foundation that support in the rehabilitation of earthquake victims would be provided.
UniCem debunks report on planned relocation to Lagos 19 June 2015
Nigeria: According to This Day Life, United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited (UniCem) has denied claims that it was making plans to relocate from Calabar, the Cross River State capital, to Lagos.
UniCem debunked the claims following a publication made by the Cross River State-owned Weekend Chronicle to the effect that the alleged planned relocation had caused internal crisis in the company. However, UniCem has reacted to the speculated relocation plan through a press statement and said that there was no truth in the report.
"United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited (UniCem) has declared as false a publication on the front page of the Weekend Chronicle of 19 June 2015 with the caption 'Crisis rocks UniCem over relocation plan,'" said the statement, which was signed by UniCem's corporate affairs director Ayi Ita Ayi. Ayi said that, "The report is false, misleading and lacking in truth." He added that UniCem operates in Calabar and will never be relocated to Lagos for any reason. He questioned why anyone would contemplate that UniCem, with such a huge investment in Cross River, would relocate its assets to Lagos and expressed surprise over why, a reputable media organisation such as the Nigerian Chronicle, did not cross-check facts before going to press on such a sensitive issue.
EGAS dues from National Cement plant hit US$131m 18 June 2015
Egypt: According to the Middle East North Africa Financial Network, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company's (EGAS) dues from the government-owned National Cement plant have hit US$131m. EGAS has demanded that its money be paid back, but it remains undecided when it will receive the dues.
"The total dues from the industrial sector are now more than US$1.57bn, for its natural gas consumption and the delay in paying monthly bills," said EGAS chairman Khaled Abdel Badie in a statement to Daily News Egypt. EGAS dues from public sector plants amount to 75% of the total debt, because they are not committed to paying the monthly consumption bills, the chairman added.
According to Abdel Badie, EGAS will not be able to cut its gas supply from the National Cement plant because the plant is government-owned and is linked to a gas line that comes directly from the field. Abdel Badie said that dues are continuously rising and that EGAS gave the industrial plants a debt re-scheduling, but only a limited number of private-sector plants took part. New committees were also formed to resolve financial obstacles between public entities, however, nothing has been resolved yet.
US: According to Marine Link, as part of strategic efforts to increase cargo business at the Port of San Diego, California, the port has entered a conditional agreement with Mitsubishi Cement Corporation (MCC) for potential future operations at Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal.
The conditional agreement, which was approved by the board of port commissioners on 11 June 2015, will allow the port to conduct a project review under the California Environmental Quality Act in anticipation of MCC's potential operations at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal on San Diego Bay.
The port entered into the agreement to facilitate MCC's potential development, lease and operation of a marine transfer and storage facility for the import, distribution, exportation, handling and storage of bulk cement, cement-related bulk products and concrete aggregate. The conditional agreement envisions contributions by MCC toward modernising the marine terminal and the company's participation in development costs for long-term improvements.
"Our maritime business capacity is a core strength of the Port of San Diego and that's why we are committed to maximising our cargo facilities," said port chairman Dan Malcolm. "We look forward to working with MCC. By harnessing the power of partnerships to invest in this terminal, we reinforce our status as San Diego's maritime cargo gateway to the world."
MCC manufactures all of the major types of Portland and specialty cements used in California and Nevada. The company was formed in March 1988 with the acquisition of the Cushenbury cement plant in Lucerne Valley, California and other ancillary assets.
Fate of Lafarge eaglets now up to widowed male 18 June 2015
Canada: The Vancouver Sun has reported that a pair of bald eagles that have nested in a tree on the Lafarge industrial site in Vancouver have been beset by tragedy after the mother eagle died, leaving two baby eagles as orphans.
Lafarge had built a new nesting platform up a 20m pole in 2009, but the eagles used it for perching only and continued to nest elsewhere. The eagles hatched two eaglets in April 2015, but on 13 June 2015 the female was electrocuted by power lines while being chased by crows. The loss has devastated conservationists who had long worked to protect the pair and has left them wondering if the male eagle can continue to successfully raise his young until they are fledged, in about four weeks.
"We are just heartsick over this tragedy," said Karen Bills, project coordinator for the Hancock Wildlife Foundation, which worked with Lafarge to install the artificial nest.