Displaying items by tag: GCW564

Canada: Holcim has announced its acquisition of Mathers Group’s quarry and asphalt assets in Quebec. The group says that the acquisition will accelerate its development of local circular construction practices by expanding its recycled concrete offering.

Vietnam: Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA) members increased their cement production to 59.8Mt in the first half of 2022, up by 6.9% year-on-year from 55.9Mt in the first half of 2021. Vietnam News Brief Service has reported that producers’ June 2022 volumes were 11Mt, up by 13% year-on-year from 9.76Mt in June 2021. Full-year production was 101Mt in 2021.

India: UltraTech Cement has imported a 157,000t shipment of coal from Russia for US$25.8m, which it paid in Chinese Yuan. ET NOW News has reported that this is the first instance of an Indian entity using the currency in international trade. The deal has a value of US$164/t, 50% below average South African coal prices and 20% below average Australian cement prices in India. The deal reportedly signals the possible end of Indian coal prince inflation in the medium – long term.

China: Xinjiang Tianshan Cement has announced plans to invest US$300m into its new materials subsidiary Chizhou CNBM New Materials. The company says that it has increased its planned investments in its Hengshan limestone mine project by 15% to US$1.58bn from US$1.37bn.

Tanzania: Dangote Cement says that the use of gas generators in its Mtwara cement plant’s equipment and lorries has reduced fuel costs by 45% over the 15-month period since its transition in March 2021. The Citizen newspaper has reported that company recorded total savings over the period up to 30 June 2022. The producer plans to establish a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station in Dar es Salaam. Its operations remain 70% reliant on rental vehicles that run on oil.

US: Eco Material Technologies has won a contract with Georgia Power to mine 600,000t/yr from the energy company’s Plant Bowen ash dump in Cartersville, Georgia. Eco Material Technologies will use the ash to produce its 99% reduced-CO₂ building materials, including an alternative cement with 20% greater compressive strength than ordinary Portland cement (OPC) after 28 days, according to the company.

Grant Quasha, CEO of Eco Material Technologies, said "As the largest partnership of its kind in the US, this project will not only use material from landfills and ash ponds, but also keep millions of tonnes of CO₂ from going into the atmosphere."