September 2024
Thang Long Cement exports 30,000t of cement to Peru 11 December 2013
Vietnam: Thang Long Cement has exported 30,000t of cement cargo in bulk packed with Jumbo bags to Peru. This is the first and largest shipment of cement the Semen Indonesia subsidiary has exported to Peru in 2013. Since May 2013 Thang Long Cement has exported over 750,000t of products.
Cemex and Neoris sign US$500m IT deal 11 December 2013
Mexico: Cemex has signed a US$500m deal with US-based information technology (IT) consulting and outsourcing firm Neoris to outsource IT services for the next ten years. As part of the agreement, Neoris will provide software engineering, application development and technology deployments for multiple projects, complementing existing services Neoris already provides to Cemex.
Cemex has already integrated its advanced enterprise platform, based on a model by German enterprise software giant SAP which was tailored by Neoris, using mobile interfaces, fluid collaboration schemes and business-oriented social media networking models. Alongside the new agreement with Neoris, Cemex will continue a 10-year strategic partnership it signed with IBM in 2012 for business process, application maintenance and IT outsourcing services.
POSCO E&C to build US$350m cement plant in East Timor 11 December 2013
East Timor: POSCO E&C Australia, an Australian subsidiary of POSCO Engineering & Construction, has won a US$350m contract to build a cement plant for BGC in Baucau, East Timor. POSCO E&C Australia will be responsible for the whole process from engineering, procurement and construction. The length of the project will be 34 months.
Italcementi spends US$80m on Shymkentcement plant upgrade 10 December 2013
Kazakhstan: Italcementi Group has invested US$80m in the modernisation of its Shymkentcement JSC plant in southern Kazakhstan. The new dry-process cement line will have a cement capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and is expected to be commissioned in 20 months.
"The new cement line is expected to produce clinker in mid-2015. After the launch of the new line, the old furnace will be shut down," said the general director of the Shymkentcement plant.
Savannah Cement appoints Ronald Ndegwa as first CEO 09 December 2013
Kenya: Savannah Cement has appointed Ronald Ndegwa as its first Chief Executive Officer on 9 December 2013. The company was commissioned in July 2012 as Kenya's sixth cement manufacturer and has been operating without a substantive CEO since that time.
Savannah Cement board chairman, Benson Ndeta, disclosed that Ndegwa, who previously served as the director of supply chain at Tata Chemicals Magadi (Magadi Soda), has joined the firm with a clear brief to spearhead the business development agenda. Savannah Cement currently operates a state of the art, eco-friendly cement grinding plant with a capacity of 1.5Mt/yr.
"By retaining Ndegwa, a seasoned manufacturing and business management professional, Savannah Cement is making a bold statement that we intend to play a very key role in Kenya's, and indeed East Africa's, development agenda," said Ndeta.
Lafarge US$5m plant to create 70 jobs 06 December 2013
Zambia: Lafarge Zambia plc has commissioned a US$5m 600,000t/yr aggregate plant with the Zambian Government that is expected to create 70 new direct jobs.
Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Emmanuel Chenda, said that national roads infrastructure programmes such as the Link Zambia 8,000 and Pave Zambia 2000 require readily available cement and aggregate and the plant will ensure there is adequate supply for the project to be implemented effectively.
"The huge demand for cement and aggregates that the construction industry provides cannot be overstated. The market is ready and all you need is tap into it by way of increasing commercial circulation of the products at competitive market rates," said Chenda. He disclosed that Government has formulated mid-term policies and strategies to address constraints in the manufacturing sector such as high cost of production, limited access to long-term finance and weak linkages. The policies will be implemented over the next five years in line with the revised Sixth National Development Plan.
Lafarge Zambia chief executive officer Emmanuel Rigaux said that the aggregate plant can also be adjusted in terms of capacity, which will enable the company to supply more of the product as required.
Lafarge plans to use fracking waste water for cement production 06 December 2013
Canada: Lafarge Canada wants to use fracking waste water from two Hants County holding ponds in its Brookfield cement plant, Colchester County.
The Brookfield plant currently uses 35ML/yr of fresh water from Shortts Lake to control the exhaust temperatures of its rotary cement kiln. The fracking waste water would be injected into the kiln in place of some of the water drawn from Shortts Lake, and would be evaporated and emitted out the stack.
"We're looking to do a trial. We want to do a test to see if this water will work with our manufacturing process," said Lafarge spokesman Regan Watts.
However, the proposal has some Colchester County residents on edge. "I think people are a bit concerned," said Bob Taylor, mayor of the Municipality of the County of Colchester. "They are worried about possible harmful effects from it so they want to know it's safe before it goes ahead."
Environment Minister Randy Delorey said that the waste water is being treated a second time by Atlantic Industrial Services using reverse osmosis prior to any use in the plant. He said that the province will consider different options for the waste water once it receives the final test results, expected in early 2014. "It's safe enough to drink," Watts said. "The contaminants have been removed and the recycled waste water exceeds government guidelines to be released in the environment."
ENTECCOgroup acquires Turbofilter GmbH 05 December 2013
Germany: ENTECCOgroup announced on 2 December 2013 that it has acquired Turbofilter GmbH in order to further strengthen its activities in the steel and flue gas cleaning industry.
Turbofilter GmbH, founded by Fritz von Opel in Essen in 1958, has more than 50 years of experience in offering process-oriented solutions for industrial dust removal and flue and exhaust gas cleaning worldwide. It manufactures standard filters and complicated turnkey plants in the field of environmental technology.
"The union with the ENTECCOgroup and the restructuring of Turbofilter GmbH concerning long-term job and location security, as well as the positioning in the market, are the right steps at the right time. Together with the ENTECCOgroup we will speed up our expansion even faster," said Rainer Bertling and Jürgen Waller, shareholder and manager of Turbofilter GmbH.
ENTECCOgroup has made the environmental technology industry a priority. The industry expanded from US$560m in 2003 to US$744m in 2010 and currently employs more than 3.5 million workers in Europe. These numbers are expected to double by 2020.
India: Holcim Group, which is under the process of restructuring its holdings in India, has appointed Bernard Terver as additional director on the board of ACC and Ambuja Cements with effect from 4 December 2013.
Terver graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, in 1976 and has worked in the cement industry for more than 35 years. He has been in the service of Holcim since 1994, holding senior positions including that of CEO of Holcim Colombia and Holcim US.
The board also re-appointed Kuldip Kaura as the CEO and MD for one year with effect from 1 January 2014.
FLSmidth to pay MT Højgaard more compensation than expected 05 December 2013
Denmark: An ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) arbitration has been concluded in a case between MT Højgaard A/S and FLSmidth A/S dating back to 2004.
Much to the surprise of FLSmidth and contrary to expectations, the ICC arbitration award renders FLSmidth liable to pay significantly higher compensation than expected. The compensation is due for some of the costs resulting from delays at the Buxton cement plant in the UK in 2004.
According to the arbitration award, FLSmidth is to pay partial compensation plus interest, plus part of the costs of the proceedings to MT Højgaard.
The impact on FLSmidth's financial statements amounts to a net loss of Euro21.5m on EBITA and Euro16.1m on profit after tax, which will be booked in the fourth quarter of 2013. Consequently, the EBITA margin for 2013 is expected to be 3.5-4.5% rather than the previously forecast 4-5%.