September 2024
Bolivia: Itacamba Cementos has appointed Marcelo Morales as its general manager.
Morales previously worked as the chief financial officer and head of procurement for the cement producer since 2015. Before this he held a variety of roles in Brazil for Votorantim Cimentos including finance, strategy and marketing roles. He was also the head of the company’s lime business for a period. Morales holds a qualification in business administration and a master’s degree in business administration.
Marcos Electo Figueiredo Garcia appointed as General Manager of Logistics Efficiency at Votorantim Cimentos 25 January 2023
Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has appointed Marcos Electo Figueiredo Garcia as its General Manager of Logistics Efficiency.
Figueiredo Garcia has worked for Votorantim Cimentos since 2013 in a variety of supply chain and logistic roles. Most recently he held the post of Supply Chain Manager since 2019. He holds an engineering degree from the Universidade Federal da Bahia.
Abderrahim Touile appointed as plant manager of Heidelberg Materials’ Lukala cement plant 25 January 2023
Democratic Republic of Congo: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Abderrahim Touile as the plant manager of its Lukala cement plant, operated by local subsidiary Cimenterie de Lukala.
Touile previously worked as the Industry Director for Vicat in Mauritania. He also worked as production manager for Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) in Burkina Faso. Before these roles he held production roles with Lafarge in Morocco and South Africa between 2002 and 2015. Amongst other business and management qualification, Touile holds as master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the Sorbonne Business School in France.
Greece: Titan Cement International stated in its preliminary results for 2022 that it expects to record Euro2.25bn in consolidated sales for the year. The figure corresponds to growth of 32% year-on-year from full-year consolidated sales of Euro1.71bn in 2021. The group's anticipated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are Euro330m, up by 20% year-on-year from Euro275m. Meanwhile, preliminary net debt fell by 12% year-on-year to Euro800m from Euro912m.
During the fourth quarter of 2022, Titan Cement International noted a 'significant improvement' in profitability quarter-on-quarter in its Southeast Europe and US regions. This came about partly due to a decline in electricity costs. The producer noted the success of its cost-saving actions in the area.
Sagar Cements increases sales in first nine months of 2022 25 January 2023
India: Sagar Cements recorded consolidated sales of US$197m during the first nine months of the 2023 Indian financial year, more than four times the US$44.6m that it recorded during the corresponding period of the 2022 financial year. Costs rose sharply during the period. Raw materials accounted for 45% of total costs. The producer spent US$32.1m on raw materials, up by more than a factor of four from US$6.54m. Sagar Cements made a nine-month net loss of US$11m, compared to a US$6.07m profit during the first nine months of the 2022 financial year.
Irish government exempt from costs for 'unmeritorious' Limerick cement plant alternative fuels challenge 25 January 2023
Ireland: A court has ruled that the Irish government need not pay legal costs for Environmental Trust Ireland president Michelle Hayes' challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in mid-2022. Hayes unsuccessfully sued the EPA for issuing Irish Cement with a licence to use alternative fuel (AF) at its Limerick cement plant in May 2021. The AF will comprise up to 90,000t/yr of waste tyres, biomass and/or mining by-products.
At the costs hearing, the court noted that Hayes had already caused the EPA to incur 'very significant' legal costs. The court said that Hayes 'sought to have the taxpayer pay even more.' It added that, as a solicitor at Hayes Solicitors Limerick, which represented her in her unsuccessful challenge, Hayes stood to effectively benefit from any recuperated costs. The court concluded "It would mean that legal practitioners like herself are paid by the taxpayer for bringing environmental litigation which is unmeritorious."
Pakistan: All cement plants in Pakistan will have implemented systems for tracking taxable assets by 1 April 2023. The required upgrade comprises an applicator to generate and affix unique identification stamps on products for digital monitoring. The Business Recorder newspaper has reported that the Federal Board of Revenue initially set a deadline of 1 July 2022 for conformity with the new rules. Plant operators will bear the cost of licences for their new applicators.
Poland: The European Union (EU) Innovation Fund has awarded Euro228m towards the Go4ECOPlanet carbon capture and storage project at Lafarge Poland’s Kujawy cement plant. The project has a total cost of Euro380m.
It will use Air Liquide's Cryocap FG technology to capture the CO2 at the plant. The CO2 will be liquefied and transported by rail to a port and then injected into a depleted oil field for permanent storage. The transport and storage of CO2 once it has left the cement plant will be accomplished by cooperation with other partners with knowledge and experience in the liquefaction, transport and storage of gases. The goal is to create a complete carbon capture and storage industrial and logistics chain. Commissioning of the cement plant upgrade is planned for 2027.
Cementa running trials on pilot water treatment plant at Slite 25 January 2023
Sweden: Cementa is running trials on a pilot water treatment plant in the File Hajdar limestone quarry near its Slite cement plant in Gotland. The pilot plant has been running since September 2022 and the subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg materials describes the first results as ‘promising.’ The cement company plans to build and pay for a full-scale water treatment plant at the site. Engineering and design company AFRY has been collaborating with Cementa on the project.
Matilda Hoffstedt, the manager of the Slite cement plant, said “We can contribute to greatly strengthening the public water supply here in northern Gotland. The results from the pilot project are extremely promising and we see that a new water plant would really make a difference to the water supply throughout the year.”
Cementa started work on the water project in 2021 with a feasibility study and plans for the pilot. The entire feasibility study is expected to be completed in the summer of 2023 and the goal is to be able to put a full-scale water plant into operation in 2027. However, Cementa says that it needs a long-term permit for its mining operations in Gotland in order to invest in the project. The cement producer has faced opposition to renewing its permit at the site since 2021. A perceived threat to the area’s drinking water supplies has been a repeated concern made by groups against continued quarrying in the area.
Iran: Data released by the Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry reveals that the country produced just over 48Mt of cement in the first nine months of the local calendar year that started on 21 March 2022. This fell slightly, by 1% year-on-year, from the previous year, according to the Tehran Times newspaper. In 2021 the country produced 63Mt of cement and exported 14.4Mt. Exports grew by 4% year-on-year to 7.6Mt in the first seven months of the current calendar year.