Displaying items by tag: Plant
Uganda: The local government has allocated more than 228 hectares of land for the construction of a new cement plant. The land was offered to the Uganda Development Cooperation-UDC and its partners TSAVO Engineers and Savanna Mines in November 2018, according to the Ugandan Independent newspaper. However, the local community has expressed concerns about the project.
Arabian Cement Company to build US$5m solar project
17 January 2019Egypt: The Arabian Cement Company is to collaborate with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Qatar National Bank (QNB) to build a solar power plant at its Suez cement plant. The banks are providing funding of over US$5m to support the project, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The solar plant will be built in collaboration with Solarize Egypt. It is scheduled to start operation in the second quarter of 2019.
Colacem to restructure ownership of Ragusa cement plant
17 January 2019Italy: Colacem plans to restructure its ownership of its Ragusa cement plant in Sicily as a separate subsidiary. The final closure of its former Modica plant, also in Sicily, will take place on 1 March 2019, according to the Mercati Finanziari newspaper. 14 employees will be transferred from the Modica site to Ragusa.
INC to upgrade kiln ventilation at Vallemí cement plant
17 January 2019Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) is planning to upgrade the ventilation system for the kiln at its Vallemí cement plant. The state-owned cement producer has money left over from bonds it issued in 2018, according to the La Nacion newspaper. The work is expected to increase the productivity of the kiln.
Aumund to supply equipment for Dangote Cement projects
16 January 2019Nigeria/Senegal: Aumund Group will supply equipment for projects managed by China’s Sinoma for Dangote Cement projects in Nigeria and Senegal.
For Dangote’s Obajana Line 5 and Okpella 6000t/day plants, Aumund will supply three belt bucket elevators with a capacity of 660t/hr to convey raw meal and to feed raw meal to the preheater towers at 520t/hr. Three further Aumund belt bucket elevators with a capacity of 480t/hr will convey cement to the silos. An Aumund pan conveyor with a weighing scale mechanism and a capacity of 500t/hr, running from the coolers to the clinker silos, and three further Aumund pan conveyors under the clinker silo, round off this machinery package.
Schade Lagertechnik, a subsidiary of Aumund, will also supply equipment for these plants. This includes a stacker with a capacity of 3500t/hr for Obajana and another at 2160t/hr for Okpella, as well as a portal reclaimer to operate at 800t/hr in the limestone storage of each plant. Additional stockyard equipment completes the supply package.
For Dangote’s Apapa and Onne terminal projects, Aumund Beijing will supply a double bucket elevator to convey clinker to the silos at a capacity of 1200t/hr, and several other chain bucket elevators. Elevators to convey gypsum to the bunkers will have a capacity of 720t/hr at Apapa and 480t/hr at Onne. Two 1600 Series Samson material feeders with a handling capacity of 400t/hr of clinker, two Aumund telescopic chutes and two truck loaders for clinker will also be supplied to each terminal.
Aumund has also received an order to supply a belt bucket elevator with a capacity of 300t/hr to convey cement to the new silo at the Dangote Cement Senegal Expansion Project.
Brennand Group to build new cement plant at Ponta Grossa
15 January 2019Brazil: Brennand Group plans to invest around US$190m toward building a new cement plant at Ponta Grossa in Paraná state. A provisional building license has been awarded and the company is now waiting on further licenses before construction work can begin according to aRede. The new plant will be build by Brennand Group’s subsidiary Mineracao Delta do Paraná and the plant will operate under the Companhia de Cimento do Paraná (CPR) name.
Funding for plant will come from Brennand Group’s sale of a 50% stake in a subsidiary to Italy’s Buzzi Unicem in 2018.
Cemex to convert Gádor cement plant site for renewables, waste recycling and concrete
11 January 2019Spain: Cemex has signed a Euro117m deal with the local government to convert the land used by the Gádor cement plant in Almeria for use by new projects. These will include projects in solar and wind power generation, waste fuel production from plastics and biomass and a new concrete batching plant, according to Teleprensa. The initiative is intended to create around 400 jobs.
The cement producer has also signed a similar agreement for its Lloseta in Baleares. The company announced in mid-October 2018 that it was planning to close the two plants due to reduced demand for cement and mounting European CO2 emissions regulations.
Sibilia supplies vacuum units to Eurocement plants
11 January 2019Russia: Italy’s Sibilia has supplied vacuum units to Eurocement’s Voronezh and Peterburgcement plants. In connection to the order workers at the plants also underwent three days of associated training. The cement producer also plans to use equipment from Sibilia at different plants in the country.
Government approves two new lines at Thanh Thang Cement plant
10 January 2019Vietnam: Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has allowed Thanh Thang Cement to add two new production lines to its plant at Thanh Nghi in Ha Nam. Lines 4 and 5 will have a combined production capacity of 2.3Mt/yr, according Viet Nam News newspaper. Line 4 is expected to be commissioned in 2022 and line 5 in 2026. The cost of the upgrade has been disclosed.
Cement imports up in Peru
09 January 2019Peru’s been the place over the last week with news reports of new production capacity and its targeting as a key export market by Vietnam.
Local press reported this week that three new cement grinding plants are planned to start production in 2019. Cemento Inka plans to build a 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant at Ica near Pisco. It also plans to upgrade the kilns at its plant at Cajamarquilla near Lima. Then Mixercon, a ready-mix concrete firm, wants to spend US$20m towards building two new plants in northern Lima, also in 2019. It also has plans to open distribution centres around the capital too.
For a local industry generally dominated by local often family-controlled producers this is quite a change. The larger companies – Pacasmayo, UNACEM and Yura – normally dominate the headlines and the market here. Unsurprisingly then that Pacasmayo and Yura also have upgrades planned for their plants in 2019 too.
Changes to capacity started in late May 2018 when Salaverry-based importer Invecem was said to be buying equipment for a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant. Then things really started moving when Unacem bought Cementos Portland (Cempor), a joint venture between Chile's Cementos Bío Bío and Brazil’s Votorantim Cimentos. The foreign companies were planning to build a plant near Lima but the project was delayed by a legal battle over environmental issues intitiated by Unacem. This was followed by Cal & Cemento Sur (Calcesur), a subsidiary of Grupo Gloria, announcing that it was going to add a new production line to its cement and lime plant in Puno.
With this level of interest in grinding plants going on it’s unsurprising that Vietnam, a major exporter of cement, has taken an interest. Imports of cement to Peru rose by 65% year-on-year to 0.94Mt in the 12 months from December 2017 to November 2018 from 0.57Mt in the same period previously. Imports of clinker rose by 37% to 0.78Mt from 0.57Mt. This compares to a rise of 21% to 0.61Mt in cement imports in 2017 and a fall of 1.2% to 0.51Mt in 2016. In the 12 months to the end of November 2018 most of that imported cement (81%) came from Vietnam followed by 14% from China and 3% from Mexico. Clinker imports have been more varied with 39% from South Korea, 31% from Vietnam, 19% from Ecuador and 11% from Japan. The general situation for the clinker producers has been a slight increase in cement production to 10Mt for the 12 months to the end of November 2018 and slightly higher increases in despatches.
So, it looks like an apparent cement demand is up in Peru and the importers are rushing to meeting demand. The question, then, is why haven’t the clinker producers announced projects to squeeze out the grinders? As mentioned above Pacasmayo and Yura have upgrades planned but nothing really large seems to be coming yet. Also, given the tough time Cempor was given by the local companies what kind of opposition are the new projects by Cemento Inka, Mixercon and Invecem likely to face? The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate is below the glory days of the 2000s when it topped 6% but it is still one of the strongest in South America with 3.8% forecast for 2019 by the World Bank. This is the country in the region to watch in 2019.