Displaying items by tag: GCW437

Burkino Faso: The government has appointed Abdul Rahim, director general of Cim Metal subsidiaries Cimfaso and Cimasso a knight of the Order of Merit of Commerce and Industry for his contributions to domestic cement production.

Cimfaso operates a 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant and a 2.0Mt/yr grinding plant in Burkino Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou, while Cimasso operates one 2.6Mt grinding plant in the second city of Bobo-Dioulasso.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s court dispute with Concrete Supply has ended in a ruling in favour of the former. The Advertiser newspaper has reported that between August 2009 and November 2017 Adelaide Brighton supplied US$22.6 to Concrete Supply, for which Concrete Supply paid US$14.5 before entering administration in November 2017. Federal Court judge Anthony Besanko ruled that Concrete Supply ‘could not reasonably have held a genuine belief that it was entitled to the alleged discount or rebate.’

Brazil: Refractory products supplier RHI Magnesita has announced a raft of investments totalling Euro300m in addition to its annual Euro120m maintenance expenditure. The investment will cover projects in all its operating regions, including a new raw materials plant in Austria and ‘significant’ expansions to its Contagem complex in Brazil and Cuttack non-basic brick plant in India. It further stated that it will ‘build secondary raw material sorting, cleaning and production capabilites’ to absorb waste streams.

China: Huaxin Cement’s Guoditang quarry in Dongchuan district, Kunming has won the Chinese government’s ‘Green Mine of the Year 2019’ award after receiving total investments of US$0.9m for vegetation recovery. Huaxin integrates land reclamation and afforestation into its step-mining method at the quarry, using planting quilts, sprinklers and drip irrigation devices to recover 80,000m2 of vegetation so far. The company has estimated that the mine will continue to supply its limestone needs in the area until late 2033.

The National Civil Affairs Commission named Huaxin Cement a ‘National Model Unit for National Unity and Progress’ on 17 December 2019. It is the only building materials producer to have obtained the title.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded 2019 Energy Star Certification to Italy-based Buzzi Unicem’s Chattanooga, Tennessee and Festus, Missouri plants and Alamo Cement Company’s San Antonio, Texas plant for achieving Energy Performance Indicator scores of over 75 and over three years’ satisfactory environmental compliance. This places the plants in the top quarter of ‘similar facilities’ for energy efficiency nationwide.

China: Anhui Conch has issued a request for tenders for a gypsum supply contract. The contract will cover the supply of synthetic gypsum produced by flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) to Anhui Conch between 1 February 2020 and 31 July 2020.

UK: Mick George Concrete has announced a contract with Highways England for the construction of ancillary features such as kerbs, drains and mass fill usages on the A14 between Huntingdon and Cambridge in early 2020. The project will utilise 500m3 of Cemfree concrete from DB Group (Holdings) ltd., which can be produced releasing just 20% of the CO₂ of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The value of the project, to which Mick George Concrete has dedicated a 100t silo for Cemfree storage, is Euro1.76bn.

US: The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI), a joint initiative of CDP, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and WWF, has described Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim’s CO₂ reduction targets as ‘adequate’ and ‘consistent with efforts agreed upon at the COP21 World Climate Conference in Paris.’ These are aimed at preventing global temperatures from rising by 2°C.

LafargeHolcim has committed to a 10% reduction in emissions from kiln and pre-heater fuel to 520kg of CO₂ per tonne of cement in 2030 compared to 576kg/t in 2018. Over the same period it will reduce its indirect emissions from electricity consumption by 65%.

Spain: Total cement consumption fell to 1.1Mt in November 2019, down by 8.3% from 1.2Mt in the previous November. CIC Architecture and Sustainability Online has reported that this was 2019’s third month to show a decrease compared to 2018 figures, and the sharpest year-on-year decline so far. The year-on-year decrease for the 11 months to 30 November 2019 is 6.8%. Production failed to show growth, with imports bridging the supply gap. Clinker alone has grown by over 100% to imports of 0.5Mt in the same 11 months from over 0.2Mt in the corresponding period of 2018. Exports, which have declined over 30 consecutive months, fell by 30% year-on-year in November 2019 to under 0.5Mt from over 0.6Mt one year previously. This brings the decline for the year so far to 22% year-on-year to 5.8Mt from 7.4Mt in the first 11 months of 2018. Oficemen president Víctor García Brosa explained that energy prices were a contributing factor to Spain’s production problems. He said that electricity is ‘27% more expensive than in Germany or France.’

India: Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer has won a supply contract with UltraTech for one MVR 6000 C-6. The mill can grind up to 370t/hr of mixed cements or 225t/hr of granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS). Gebr. Pfeiffer has stated that it is the 17th mill of its type in India. The company will assist its subsidiary Gebr. Pfeiffer (India) Pvt. Ltd. in commissioning the mill in early 2021.