September 2024
Military builds new cement production line at Al-Arish 15 October 2014
Egypt: The military-run Al-Arish cement plant is building a new cement production line, which will be completed by the end of 2015, according to the head of the construction materials department at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce Ahmed El-Zeiny. After completion, the production line will double the plant's production from 3.5Mt/yr to 7Mt/yr. It is expected to cost up to US$112m.
"This is an attempt to fight the monopoly imposed by foreign cement facilities that sell cement at higher prices than the international standards," said El-Zeiny.
Holcim appoints three new employees at Ste. Genenvieve plant 15 October 2014
US: Holcim's Ste. Genevieve plant has appointed three employees to leadership positions. Corey Green was named area leader for Maintenance and Reliability, Rodney Forester accepted the position of operations leader and Houston Meyer was named as Raw Mill area leader.
Green, in his role as Maintenance and Reliability area leader, is responsible for operations and maintenance within the plant area. Green has 15 years of experience in equipment repairs. His previous six years were as a project manager with Roland Machinery Company, where he was responsible for the oversight of the maintenance contract with Holcim.
Forester, in his role as operations leader, will supervise shift personnel and control room operations that support optimisation of processes for efficient operations. Forester joined Holcim (US) in 2008 as a cement technician in the Maintenance and Reliability department and most recently worked in the control room on a temporary operations leader assignment. Forester holds an associate's degree in welding technology from Jefferson College.
Meyer will be responsible for operations and maintenance within the Raw Mill area. He joined the Ste. Genevieve team in 2011. His most recent role was as cement technician with the Raw Mill team. Prior to joining Holcim, Houston was employed at Alberici Constructors for six years.
Patrick Bass to become CEO of ThyssenKrupp North America 15 October 2014
US: Torsten Gessner has stepped down as CEO of ThyssenKrupp North America as of 10 October 2014. Patrick Bass, currently senior vice president Product Lifecycle Management/Research and Development at the ThyssenKrupp Elevator headquarter in Germany will become CEO of ThyssenKrupp North America as of 1 January 2015. Kevin Backus, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at ThyssenKrupp North America will be responsible for the regional headquarter on an interim basis.
Patrick Bass started his career at ThyssenKrupp with ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corp., Horn Lake, US as a Mechanical Engineer in 1999. He served in various positions in the Elevator organisation where he took over the position of Executive Vice President of Research and Development before he changed to ThyssenKrupp's Elevator headquarter in Essen, Germany and took over the position of Senior Vice President Product/Research and Development in 2012.
Torsten Gessner started his career as Chief Operating Officer at ThyssenKrupp CENE in 2005. In 2009 he became CEO of ThyssenKrupp's global Business Unit for Escalators and Passenger Boarding Bridges, headquartered in Germany. In 2012 Torsten Gessner moved to the USA to assume responsibility as CEO for the implementation of ThyssenKrupp's first regional organisation in North America headquartered in Chicago.
With a turnover of Euro8.3bn in the 2012 - 2013 financial year and 20,000 employees, North America is the biggest and most important foreign market of the Essen-based industrial and engineering group.
Oman: Raysut Cement reported a 17.8% increase in quarterly net profit after tax in the third quarter of 2014, according to Reuters. It made US$13.8m in July – September 2014 compared with US$11.7m in the corresponding period of 2013.
Eurocement’s Mikhailovcement plant produces 1.21Mt of cement in January - September 2014 14 October 2014
Russia: Eurocement's Mikhailovcement plant in Ryazan produced 1.21Mt of cement in January - September 2014, up by 20.2% on the same period of 2013. This includes 281,350t of CEM I 42.5H (+65.6%) and 981,620t of clinker (+17%). A total of 1.23Mt (+21.1%) was shipped to customers. The plant extracted 1.27Mt of limestone (+16.9%) and 439,860t of clay (17.2%) from its quarry during the first nine months of 2014.
Zambian minister sued by Dangote over corruption allegations 14 October 2014
Zambia: Dangote Cement's Zambian subsidiary has sued the country's labour minister for libel and slander after he accused an executive of Dangote Cement Zambia of attempting to bribe him in September 2014. Dangote said that that the minister had created an impression that the company was exploiting Zambian workers and enticing government officials with bribes.
"The plaintiff has been brought into public scandal and its reputation has been injured," said Dangote. Local reports suggest that the dispute is the latest in a string of incidents in which Zambia's government has resorted to unorthodox tactics against foreign investors that it believes are circumventing labour laws.
UltraTech appoints two new additional directors 14 October 2014
India: UltraTech Cement Limited has appointed Sukanya Kripalu and Renuka Ramnath as additional independent directors with effect from 11 October 2014.
Savannah Cement lines up new investments 13 October 2014
Kenya: Savannah Cement, one of Kenya's newest market entrants, is set to build two new plants as it nears exhaustion of its current capacity, according to managing director Ronald Ndegwa. He said that Savannah Cement plans to invest US$250 – 350m for a clinker plant and a second mill to support its existing operations.
"We see ourselves running out of headroom in two to three years at our current mill, hence the new investment," said Ndegwa. "The clinker plant would use local limestone to make clinker."
Angola reaches self-sufficiency in cement 13 October 2014
Angola: Cement production in Angola has reached 8Mt/yr, which was slightly more than the amount consumed, making Angola self-sufficient in terms of cement.
The China International Fund Ltd (CIF) plant is the country's newest cement facility. Production from the 4Mt/yr capacity cement plant enabled Angola to cease cement imports. The plant has two 5000t/day production lines, 145MW of power production capacity and three wind turbines.
China: Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd has announced that its output and sales of its major subsidiaries hit record highs in September 2014.
Its Foshan subsidiary in Guangdong Province saw sales exceed 10,000t/day for five consecutive days in September 2014, with average sales stablising at 8000t/day. Anhui Conch claimed that the subsidiary's September 2014 output, sales, clinker and cement production all hit new highs in 2014, with output and clinker cement production reaching historical highs.
In Jiangxi Province, its Ganjiang subsidiary witnessed 67% year-on-year growth in sales in September 2014. Anhui Conch's production in Guangxi was also robust. Its Beiliu unit completed 104% of its production target in the third quarter of 2014, while its Tongling unit produced over 10Mt of clinker cement in the first nine months of the year.