Displaying items by tag: Limestone

India: NCL Industries has concluded a share purchase agreement with the owners of Vishwamber Cements. Under the deal, NCL Industries will acquire 100% ownership of Vishwamber Cements. The group says that it plans to merge the newly acquired subsidiary into its own cement business. It noted that Vishwamber Cements owns 130 hectares of active limestone quarries.

India: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has directed the district collector of Chandrapur to supply details of compensation paid to local indigenous people since 1979 for the establishment of a limestone mine on their land in Maharashtra by UltraTech Cement. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the authorities allegedly conveyed 63.6 hectares of designated tribal land for use by the cement company.

Mexico: Vulcan Materials is reportedly preparing to launch new legal action against the government of Mexico. The government supported an alleged illegal entry by Cemex into the company's Punta Venado cement terminal on 14 March 2023. The cement producer is engaged in existing lawsuits against the government for compensation worth a total sum of US$1.9bn. It originally sued the government for US$529m in 2019. Local press has reported that the producer previously filed a subordinate claim to its suit for incursions onto its mining operations in Quintana Roo in mid-2022. The latter supplied limestone to Vulcan Materials' US operations.

Hungary: The government has enacted an 'architecture law' which will increase its role in decision making within the Hungarian cement industry. When it enters force in July 2023, the law will let the government set producers' cement volumes and prices. It will also require the companies to sell their products to the market-leading retail network, and will give the government a right of first refusal over future divestments.

Der Spiegel News has reported that the government previously enacted decrees that further regulated limestone production, imposed 90% 'additional mining levies' and required producers to obtain special permits to export their cement abroad. Duna-Dráva Cement, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials and Schwenk Zement, reportedly began making losses on its bagged cement sales due to the new rules. Both Germany-based owners separately received letters inviting them to sell a stake in Duna-Dráva Cement, and thanking them for their cooperation, in 2022. The sender identified themself as the owner of an 'intensively expanding group of companies' with a 'dominant position in the Hungarian building materials industry.' Anti-corruption organisation Transparency International identified the correspondent as a friend of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán.

Regarding the incoming change to the law, a representative of Heidelberg Materials said "These regulations are a total violation of all the rules of the European internal market. It is obvious that the government wants to pressure foreign cement manufacturers to sell.”

Portugal: Secil says that it will commission its Outão cement plant's new line, called a Clean Cement Line, in mid-2023. The line will produce Portland limestone cement (PLC).

Jornal de Negócios News has reported that this will increase the producer's consumption of limestone, for which its already partly relies on imports. Secil has submitted an application to expand its limestone mines, entitled New Quarry Plan, to the Portuguese Environment Agency. Under the plan, Secil will connect it Vale de Mós A and Vale de Mós B quarries. It will thereby secure sufficient supply to become entirely reliant on mined limestone in its cement production. The plans also leave a 27 hectare 'plateau' at the site, which will be available for other uses.

US: Leilac has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with US-based Heirloom to use Leilac’s kiln technology in Heirloom’s direct air capture (DAC) process. The MOU outlines the key terms for a licence and collaboration agreement.

Daniel Rennie, the chief executive officer of Leilac, said “Leilac is delighted to be partnering with Heirloom. Our partnership will apply Leilac’s core technology for cement and lime decarbonisation to address the global challenge of excess atmospheric CO₂.” He added “Heirloom uses low-cost and abundant limestone, which Leilac’s technology is specifically designed for. Both technologies are modular, easily scalable and can be renewably powered.”

Heirloom is developing a method of using limestone to remove atmospheric CO₂ in a DAC process. The proposed DAC method using both Leilac and Heirloom technology will heat limestone in a Leilac kiln to release CO₂ that can then be captured and sequestered. The lime that the kiln produces will then be reformed back into limestone directly capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere in an accelerated process. This limestone will then be feed back into the kiln restarting the process. The partners also suggest powering the kiln from renewable electricity sources to further increase the net reduction of CO₂ emissions from the process. No cost for the combined process or who would pay for it has been revealed so far.

Leilac is a subsidiary of Australia-based Calix that has been testing its indirectly heated calcination technology with the cement and lime industry since the mid-2010s. An industrial scale application of the process at Heidelberg Material’s Hanover cement plant in Germany is expected to be ready to start testing by the end of 2023. Additional projects have been announced in Australia with Adbri and Boral.

India: Indian Railways has shared plans to establish dedicated rail corridors to supply raw materials to the cement sector. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the corridors will connect plants to sources of clinker, fly ash and limestone. Indian Railways says that the plans encompass ‘different parts of the country,’ and will be implemented over the 10-year period up to the end of the 2033 financial year. In addition to offering ‘better service’ and ‘attractive’ prices, the rail company will also carry out capital expenditure investments in order to maximise the volume of materials travelling on its cement corridors.

India: Ambuja Cements, a subsidiary of Adani Group, has been declared as the 'preferred bidder' for the Uskalvagu limestone block in Odisha. An e-auction was conducted by the state government for the block, situated in Malkangiri district. Adani Group has not disclosed the amount that it bid for the block, but said it covers 547 hectares with estimated limestone resources of about 141Mt.

The company must now obtain the statutory licences and permits related to mining operations to be declared a ‘successful bidder’ and subsequently enter into a ‘Mine Development and Production Agreement (MDPA)’ with Government of Odisha.

Kenya/South Africa: The liquidators of Kenya-based ARM Cement have written off the company’s investment in South Africa-based Mafeking Cement due to a legal dispute with the minority shareholder. Representatives of PricewaterhoueCoopers said in an update to creditors that there was unlikely to be any residual value in Mafeking Cement as the underwriter of the mining business, Lombard insurance Company, had withdrawn its guarantee, according to the East African newspaper. The move has increased the loss by creditors in ARM Cement to around US$99m or around 66% of the total claims.

ARM Cement was put in liquidation in October 2021. It owns a 70% stake in Mafeking Cement, a company that owns limestone mining rights in north-west South Africa. The remaining 30% share is owned by local communities and trusts.

Bangladesh: The European Union (EU) and Spanish ambassadors and Swiss chargé d'affaires to Bangladesh have formally requested that Bangladeshi authorities lift all restrictions on LafargeHolcim Bangladesh's sale of crushed limestone in the country. The Financial Express newspaper has reported that Bangladeshi court previously ruled in favour of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh's right to sell its crushed limestone 'on the open market' on 5 January 2022. Limestone Importers and Suppliers Group had challenged the legal status of such sales, given that the raw limestone used in LafargeHolcim Bangladesh's produces its crushed limestone production is imported from India.

The Bangladesh government granted LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim, a temporary licence to resume its crushed limestone operations on 27 March 2022. This resulted in protests by local limestone producers.