September 2024
Ecebol Oruro cement plant preparing to open in February 2019 08 October 2018
Bolivia: Victor Hugo, the governor of Oruro, says that Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (ECEBOL) is preparing to open its new 1.5Mt/yr cement plant at Caracollo in February 2019. Hugo told the La Patria newspaper that the unit was 98% complete. Over US$300m has been spent on the project.
UK: Cement companies from Asia and North America are the latest to join the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), bringing the total number of member companies to 20. News members include Mexico’s Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC), Israel’s Nesher Israel Cement, India’s Shree Cement and Taiwan’s Taiwan Cement Corporation. The number of GCCA affiliates is also growing with the addition of the Cámara Nacional del Cemento in Mexico the Federación Interamericana del Cemento (FICEM) in Colombia and the Union of Cement Producers – Soyuzcement in Russia.
GCCA members now include: Buzzi Unicem, Cementos Argos, Cementos Pacasmayo, Cemex, Çimsa Çimento, CNBM, CRH, Dangote Cement, Eurocement, GCC, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Nesher Israel Cement, SCG Cement, Shree Cement Ltd, Taiheiyo Cement, Taiwan Cement Corporation, Titan Cement, UltraTech Cement and Votorantim.
The association added that further applications for membership and affiliate status have been received and are being processed.
Lafarge Zimbabwe sues transport firm 08 October 2018
Zimbabwe: Lafarge Zimbabwe is suing Gramiso Investments for an outstanding debt of over US$200,000. The cement producer and transport company entered into a prepayment agreement in which the cement manufacturing giant advanced US$500,000 to Gramiso Investments, according to the Herald newspaper. However, Gramiso Investments allegedly only paid back just over half of this amount. Lafarge Zimbabwe has taken the lawsuit to the High Court.
Vicat buys majority stake in Ciplan 05 October 2018
Brazil: France’s Vicat Group has acquired a majority share in Cimento Planalto (Ciplan). It has signed a binding agreement to buy a 65% share for Euro290m through a reserved capital increase. Ciplan will use the proceeds of the share to settle the ‘vast majority’ of its existing debt. Vicat noted that the transaction will be debt funded and its closing is subject to the fulfilment of ‘certain’ conditions.
Ciplan operates a 3.2Mt/yr integrated plant at Sobradinho in Bahia near to Brasilia. It also runs nine ready-mixed concrete plants and five aggregates quarries.
Vicat says that this acquisition is intended to support its targeted external growth and geographical diversification strategy. In order to ‘capture’ the Brazilian market the company plans to leverage an industrial asset base, strong brand awareness, abundant quarry reserves and a competitive position in its local markets.
Cementos Bío Bío starts unloading clinker at Port of Ariqueño to support Arica grinding plant 05 October 2018
Chile: Cementos Bío Bío has started importing clinker at the Port of Ariqueño to support the start-up of its new grinding plant at Arica. The company unloaded 8000t of clinker, according to Arica al día. The 0.15Mt/yr grinding unit was previously scheduled to start production in September 2018.
Kenya: Simon Ole Nkeri, the managing director of East African Portland Cement (EAPC), has been questioned by the National Assembly Trade, Industry and Cooperative committee of the Parliament of Kenya. He told the committee that the company has considered the almost US$14m it owes it workers but he was unable to provide a payment schedule, according to the Business Daily newspaper. In August 2018 the Labour Court allowed the Kenya Chemical and Allied Workers Union to recover the money owed to over 400 workers. In late September 2018 the Court of Appeal gave the EAPC 30 days to make a deposit of the owed funds. However, the cement producer resorted to legal means to delay paying the deposit, as it would ‘cripple’ its business operations.
Gabon: Ciments de l’Afrique (CIMAF) Gabon’s sales have grown due to a ‘strong’ demand for cement following a ban of imports since July 2017. Its turnover grew by 37% year-on-year to US$22.8m in first half of 2018 from US$16.7m in the same period in 2017, according to Direct Infos Gabon. Its sales of cement rose by 42% to 0.18Mt from 0.13Mt. Its production also rose by 38% to 0.18Mt from 0.13Mt. Previously, the cement producer said it was planning to start a new production line at its Cimgabon integrated plant by November 2018.
HeidelbergCement planning to expand quarry for Paderborn plant 05 October 2018
Germany: HeidelbergCement is planning to expand the Atlas quarry of its Paderborn plant. The quarry area will be increased by nine hectares, according to the Neue Westfälische newspaper. The company says that the expansion is necessary to support the supply of raw materials to the plant. It has organised an information forum for local residents.
US: LafargeHolcim has upgraded its terminal at Weirton in West Virginia following a 10-year furlough. The site will be used to store and distribute oil well cement products for markets in the Appalachian region.
“We have made a significant investment in the Weirton terminal in direct response to the growing needs of our energy industry customers. Demand for access to our oil well cement has increased dramatically, yet existing distribution channels had grown congested,” said Jamie M Gentoso, chief executive officer (CEO) of US Cement operations.
The upgrade project included expanding the site, building a new water-based off- loading facility and restoring its silos. During the work LafargeHolcim collaborated with the Army Corps of Engineers, the West Virginia Department of Commerce, the Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle and the local community. In addition, the company worked closely with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and Environmental Protection Agency to assure all operating and environmental permits were in place. As part of this collaboration, LafargeHolcim has also been granted additional funding for surrounding site infrastructure improvements and build-out through the conditional grant program known as the West Virginia Industrial Access Road Program (IAR).
Elixsys completes pilot test on coal ash extraction technology 04 October 2018
US: Elixsys has completed a 100hr continuous pilot test to extract ammonium sulphate and calcium carbonate from flue gas desulphurisation solids at a coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania. Products made using the company’s proprietary process meet the specifications for fertiliser-quality ammonium sulphate and technical-grade calcium carbonate.
The company intends to start a commercial-scale project of its technology in 2019 once it finds a utility partner. Full-scale operations are planned by 2022. The company is also starting pilot testing on another process to extract metals from coal ash.