Displaying items by tag: GCW396
EAPCC in dispute over land sale with local residents
18 March 2019Kenya: An attempt by the East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) to sell some of its land has been threatened by local residents. 5000 local residents say that the disputed land belongs to them, according to the Standard newspaper. They hold a title deed to the land and a court halted construction work on the site in February 2019. The residents also claim that they have been subject to excessive force by the police.
The EAPCC is selling land in a government-backed arrangement to try and clear its debts after it made a loss in 2018. The land has been set aside for Kenya Railways to build a rail container terminal. The railway operator has already made a US$12m down payment on the property. The cement producer maintains that it owns the land. However, the government has agreed to negotiate with the protestors.
Senegal: Momar Ndao, the president of the Consumer Association of Senegal, has asked the government to place controls on the price of cement. His comments followed an increase in the price of cement set by local producers, according to the Senegalese News Agency. He proposed that a technical commission study the situation and make recommendations to the National Consumer Council.
Talks on-going for new cement plant in Ghana
18 March 2019Ghana: Solomon Namliit Boar, the regional minister-designate for the newly created North East Region, says that negotiations are on-going for a new cement factory to be built at Gbandaa in the Nalerigu Municipality. The project is intended to make use of a 20Mm3 limestone deposit in the area, according to the Daily Guide newspaper. The project has remained in the planning stage for some time with Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamadu Bawumia assuring local residents in 2017 that the government would find investors.
Panama: The Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI) is planning to introduce regulations testing cement imports for Hexavalent chromium (chromium VI). Edgar Arias, Director of Standards and Industrial Technology of the MICI, said at a trade forum that the new rules had been agreed, according to La Estrella de Panamá newspaper. At present cement is tested at the discretion of the importer. Under the new regulations cement will be tested before it leaves its country of origin, when it arrives in Panama and for a third time at the point of sale at the discretion of the authorities.
Panama imports 10,000 – 20,000t/month of cement from countries including China, Turkey and Vietnam. Around 20 importers handle the market. Import tax on cement ranges from 10 – 20% depending on the point of origin.
Egypt: Suez Cement’s Kattameya plant has been damaged by the collapse of a soil barrier around a nearby wastewater treatment lake. The incident caused a flood of 1.5Mm3 of treated water that reached the edge of the cement plant. The plant’s quarry, some power cables and lighting and a road was damaged. No members of staff at the plant were hurt.
The subsidiary of HeidelbergCement estimates that the flood caused around Euro0.5m worth of damage. It says that it previously raised the issue of the wastewater treatment lake with its owner in 2010 following a risk assessment. This led to the construction of the soil barriers.
Kuwait: Kuwait Cement has made its first delivery of oil well cement to National Petroleum Services. It is producing the product at its Shuaiba plant, according to the Arab Times newspaper. It holds API Monogram licencing from American Petroleum Institute (API) to produce this type of cement.
Ivory Coast imported 3.1Mt of clinker in 2018
15 March 2019Ivory Coast: Imports of clinker rose by 2.3% year-on-year to 3.10Mt in 2018 from 3.03Mt in 2017. The value of the product increased by 9.7% to US$162m from US$148m, according to Connection Ivoirienne. Clinker surpassed crude oil as the most imported commodity by volume into the country in 2017.
US: Argos USA’s Harleyville cement plant in South Carolina and Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua’s (GCC) Pueblo plant in Colorado have been awarded Energy Star certification by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the first time. Altogether 100 manufacturing plants across different industries earned the certification in 2018.
24 cement plants received the certification in 13 states. These cement companies included Alamo Cement, Argos USA, Buzzi Unicem, CalPortland, Cemex, Continental Cement, GCC, Holcim US, Lehigh Cement, Salt River Materials and Titan America.
“America’s cement manufacturers’ commitment to sustainable manufacturing have led to improved equipment reliability, energy efficiency, and the increased the use of alternative fuels,” said Portland Cement Association president and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Ireland.
FLSmidth to supply Cementos Concepción plant in Paraguay
15 March 2019Paraguay: Businessman José Ortíz says that Denmark’s FLSmidth will supply equipment for a new 1Mt/yr cement plant being built in Concepción. He made the comments in a radio interview, according to La Nacion newspaper. The unit is expected to be commissioned in mid-2021 and it has an investment of US$180m. The project is being financed by the Cartes Group, the Jiménez Gaona Group and José Ortiz. Jorge Mendez, the former president of state-owned cement producer Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC), will be president of the new plant.
Portugal: Researchers at the Department of Materials Engineering and Ceramics at the University of Aveiro have developed a so-called ‘eco-cement’ that uses waste cellulose and clay. The cement type uses waste from the pulp industry such as ash and lime grains. This makes up 70% of its composition with the remaining 30% being metakaolin clay. The cement can be manufactured at room temperature reducing its energy consumption massively compared to Ordinary Portland Cement. The research team includes Manfredi Saeli, Rui Novais, Paula Seabra and João Labrincha.