Displaying items by tag: Canada

Canada: Efforts by Lafarge and Holcim to sell assets as part of their planned merger may be complicated by the new McInnis cement plant in Canada, which some claim will inject more capacity into an already saturated market and further depress prices.

McInnis Cement's plant in the northeastern Quebec region of Gaspé will have 2.2Mt/yr of installed cement production capacity and may start shipping to clients in two years, according to Jim Braselton, a senior vice president at the company. That represents about 66% of the local cement capacity that Lafarge and Holcim plan to sell. The assets for sale, including construction and aggregates units, have an estimated value of US$884m, excluding the impact of increased supply by the McInnis plant.

Canada: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions and McInnis Cement have announced a sales/purchase agreement valued at US$133m for the manufacture and supply by ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA) of a complete cement production line.

The new 6000t/day capacity plant is currently under construction on a greenfield site in the Port-Daniel-Gascons area of Quebec, Canada. The new plant will be complete with a POLCID proprietary process control system to monitor and control all aspects of the plant and a POLAB laboratory automation system to assure product quality. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2016 with full production starting later in that year.

"The McInnis Cement project represents the most technologically advanced and environmentally sound plant of its kind, designed to meet or beat the most stringent requirements of both the Canadian and American environmental agencies," said Mark S Terry, president of the resource technologies division of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA). "Combined with the extensive experience of both project teams, we have the complete recipe for success for the Port-Daniel-Gascons facility.''

The main components include: a 1800t/hr quarry crushing plant, a raw material reclaim system comprises a bridge reclaimer for limestone and four portal reclaimers for other additives or fuel, a QUADROPOL vertical roller mill for raw grinding and a blending silo for raw meal storage, with a capacity of 10000t. The Polysius kiln line will consist of a five-stage, two-string PREPOL AS-MSC preheater, a 5.2m x 75m POLRO rotary kiln and a POLYTRACK cooler with intermediate roll crusher. Cement grinding will take place in two QUADROPOL vertical roller mills with SEPOL high-efficiency separators. The plant will be rounded off with three cement silos (with a capacity of 120,000t) as well as cement truck and ship loading facilities.

Canada: McCinnis Cement's US$1.1bn cement plant, which is under construction in Quebec's Gaspe region, could be cancelled if work is suspended in order to conduct environmental hearings.

Lafarge Canada and two non-profit groups mounted a legal challenge in the summer of 2013 after Quebec's environment minister authorised the project without an environmental assessment hearing. In a legal filing McInnis said that the project is subject to old environmental rules that were in place when it was first proposed more than 20 years ago.
Successive provincial governments have confirmed many times that the project is not subject to current rules that require such hearings.

Canada: The Lafarge cement plant near Brookfield, Nova Scotia has been deemed a 'viable disposal solution' for getting rid of treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater being held in storage ponds at Atlantic Industrial Services (AIS) in Debert, Nova Scotia.

The pilot project, which was approved in April 2013 by the Nova Scotia Department of Environment, permitted the transport of 2ML of treated wastewater from the AIS holding ponds for use as a coolant in the kiln at the Lafarge plant, where it was evaporated at 700°C.

"When I met with the community last April, I said that we would update people on the results of the pilot and making the results available online is a good way to keep everyone informed," said the Environment Minister Randy Delorey. "I'm pleased with the findings from the pilot. The results confirm that evaporation provides Nova Scotians with a viable disposal solution."
Before being evaporated in the kiln, the wastewater had been treated for naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMS) and put through reverse osmosis. The water was analysed and it meets the Canadian Council of Environment Ministers and Health Canada guidelines for release into a freshwater source. As part of the project, Lafarge did water testing before, during and after evaporation. The tests showed comparable results for cooling water normally used by the plant from the nearby Shortts Lake.

AIS is now requesting approval to remove and treat another five million litres of the waste water at the Lafarge plant. A decision is expected from the department in the near future and, if approved, any terms and conditions would be the same as the pilot project, requiring dual treatment of the wastewater before evaporation.

Approximately 10ML of wastewater remains in two ponds at the AIS site. Triangle Petroleum also has 20ML of wastewater in two holdings ponds in Kennetcook, Nova Scotia. The wastewater at both areas is from high-pressure hydraulic fracturing that took place in 2007 and 2008.

Ireland: Ireland-based building materials group CRH will sell its clay brickwork division for up to Euro760m in order to bid for cement assets that are to be sold as part of the LafargeHolcim mega-merger. London-based sources have said that the Dublin-based company had hired bankers from JP Morgan to find a buyer for the division.

CRH is believed to be interested in all of the assets Lafarge and Holcim have up for sale, including subsidiaries in Canada and Brazil. LafargeTarmac, the largest cement maker in the neighbouring UK, is also up for sale as part of the LafargeHolcim divestment package. There are Euro5bn of assets for sale in total.

The disposal could be one of the first big changes by CRH's new chief executive, Albert Manifold. He was promoted in January 2014 after the retirement of Myles Lee, who had spent 32 years at the company. Several private equity firms are thought to be interested in the clay brick division. Bankers said that it was likely to fetch Euro630-760m.

Canada: Bruno Roux has been appointed president and CEO for the Eastern Canada business unit of Lafarge Canada. His appointment is effective from 15 September 2014 and he succeeds Bob Cartmel. Cartmel will remain with the Lafarge Group, assisting with the LafargeHolcim merger.

In his new role, Roux will serve as Lafarge's senior leader for all market areas and product lines in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Roux will also join the Board of Directors of Lafarge Canada. Roux's responsibilities include all operational, sales, marketing and functional elements of the cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete product lines. He will lead these teams from the Eastern Canada head office in Toronto.

"I am very excited for the opportunity to lead an extremely talented team in Eastern Canada," said Roux. "I am looking forward to working with our customers, architects and other stakeholders in achieving our ambition of building better cities."

Roux most recently held the position of president and CEO of Lafarge's operations in Poland. A native of France, Roux is a graduate of l'École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers.

Canada: Lafarge has completed a US$20m upgrade at its Exshaw cement plant in Alberta, which will reduce the level of emissions generated by its operations. The upgrade is one part of an ongoing expansion at the plant that will ultimately see Lafarge nearly double the plant's output from 1.2Mt/yr to 2.2Mt/yr.The expansion was originally planned in 2008, but was delayed because of the economic downturn.

Now, with Alberta 'booming again,' the timing is right, according to Bob Cooper, Lafarge vice-president for Western Canada Cement. The project will be completed by the summer of 2015.

"We're quite proud of this because we're helping to build Alberta. "We're the only company in Alberta right now, from a cement standpoint, increasing our output," he said. "The market is quite strong. We see a lot of growth going forward in Alberta, the Prairies and even British Columbia."

The environmental benefits of the expansion and side-projects will be 60% lower sulphur dioxide emissions and 40% lower nitrogen oxide emissions.In addition, new dust mitigation and noise abatement equipment has been installed. Lafarge has also installed a new water recycling system, which means that the plant will no longer discharge used water into the Bow River.

Canada: McInnis Cement has announced that the financial structure of its cement plant under construction in the Gaspé Region of Quebec has been completed. The National Bank of Canada, as the sole book-runner of the bank syndicate, has confirmed the availability of a US$329m loan for the project. This is in addition to the US$458m in equity from private and public investors, including the joint venture formed by Groupe Beaudier and La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, as well as the participation of Investissement Québec (IQ). IQ has also provided a US$229m commercial loan, which brings the loan total to US$1.00bn.

"We are pleased that the project can be realised without any subsidy; we are also very proud to be able to complete, more than 30 years after it was imagined by local entrepreneurs, this visionary, ambitious and modern cement plant at the cutting edge of technology." said Christian Gagnon, CEO of McInnis Cement. "Construction has begun and the project is well under way. Moreover, the ecological footprint of this flagship project for the cement industry in Canada and across the world will be one of the lowest in the industry."

The plant will use up to 40% less fuel per tonne of cement than traditional cement plants due the use of hydroelectric power, reducing emissions of greenhouse gas. It will comply with the US standards set out in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP 2015), which are more stringent than those presently applied in Quebec. For example, the NESHAP 2015 standard for particulate matter is 15 times lower than the current Quebec limit. The Port-Daniel cement plant will be the only one in Canada to comply with the NESHAP 2015 standards.

The plant will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology for improved environmental performance, including the latest generation of bag filters for improved efficiency. It will also utilise maritime transportation for fuel, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Initially, the plant will use petroleum coke as fuel, although this is set to change in due course.

"Over the coming years, we intend to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by partly replacing the petroleum coke with biomass, which is available in the Gaspé region," said Gagnon. "This partial conversion to biomass is at the very heart of the concept of the cement plant."

USA/Canada: US Senator Sherrod Brown has urged the Obama Administration to protect the cement industry in Paulding County, Ohio and the thousands of local jobs that it supports.

In a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman, Brown called for the administration to crack down on Canada's attempt to 'illegally' subsidise the McInnis Cement plant in Quebec, which would specifically target the US market, hurting the ability of local manufacturers to compete. US cement companies would be affected, he claims, including Lafarge North America, which has a plant in Paulding County.

"Paulding County workers can compete with anyone when given a level playing field," said Brown. "But if countries like Canada illegally subsidise their industries and target the US market, it gives their products an unfair advantage. I urge the administration to investigate the nearly US$500m subsidy package proposed for the Quebec plant, which will directly compete with Lafarge North America's facility in Paulding. Actions must be taken in order to protect Paulding jobs and the economy of north-west Ohio."

The Canadian federal government and Quebec are seeking to offer almost US$500m to McInnis Cement to help its start-up in Port-Daniel-Gascons, Quebec. It is claimed that the size and nature of these subsidies could violate Canada's World Trade Organisation (WTO) obligations and give its cement industry an unfair advantage in the US market.

"Lafarge North America appreciates the inquiry to the United States Trade Representative to address a serious threat to US cement producers and their workers," said John Stull, president and CEO of Lafarge North America. "Given the excess cement capacity in Quebec, the McInnis Cement plant makes no economic sense. Lafarge believes that the plant would not be built without enormous support from the federal and provincial government. Lafarge joins Senator Brown in urging the US government to engage with the Canadian government regarding the provision of subsidies that appear to be prohibited by WTO rules and threaten material harm to the US cement industry."

Canada: Pond Biofuels has set up a bioreactor pilot plant at St Marys cement plant in St Marys, Ontario. The raw smokestack gas from the cement plant is recycled to grow algae in a third-generation 25,000L bioreactor at the on-site pilot plant. The resulting algae can be used for bio-oil, food, fertiliser and sewage treatment.

The algae consume CO₂, NO_X and SO_X from the smokestack gas. Every 1kg of algae produced prevents 2kg of CO₂ from being emitted into the atmosphere. The St Marys Cement Plant produces 720,000t/yr of cement and 540,000t/yr of CO₂. Currently, Pond Biofuels only uses a small portion of the total CO₂ output.

"We consider ourselves a carbon recycling technology," said Steve Martin, founder of Pond Biofuels.

The algae thrive in light filled, CO₂-rich conditions, which are provided in the bioreactor. The light comes from custom-designed red LED lights that flash continuously. The rapid flashing fools the algae into thinking the days are very short, so it grows very fast. "The algae evolve quite quickly; we can get four, five, six generations of algae in a day," said Martin.

Proving the production of algae at commercial scale is important, but the other important part is finding a market for the algae. "Between 10 – 20% of it is oil that be used for producing biodiesel," said Martin. It could also be used a coal replacement, a soil amendment or even animal feed and it can be easily dried using waste heat from the cement plant.