Displaying items by tag: Plant

Puerto Rico: Cemex Puerto Rico plans to stop clinker production at its Ponce cement plant. The site will move to grinding cement in January 2018, according to Sin Comillas. The cement producer has been unable to rule out job losses.

The changes come in response to poor cement sales that the company says are the worst in the territory since the 1950s. Cement sales have been falling since 2009 and Hurricanes Irma and Maria punished the market in the autumn with big declines in September and October 2017. At present Cemex Puerto Rico says that the local market only needs around a third of the country’s capacity. However, the Ponce plant has a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr. The company has also cited high electricity costs as part of its decision.

US: Lehigh Cement has made three appointments to the management of its Mitchell cement plant at Allentown in Pennsylvania.

Quentin McGahey, former plant manager at the Mitchell cement plant, has been appointed as Vice President, Cement Operations Northeast, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. McGahey joined Lehigh Cement Company in 2016 and has more than 22 years of experience in mining and cement manufacturing. McGahey also served as an army officer before beginning his civilian career.

Jerry Miller, former assistant plant manager at the Mitchell plant, is now plant manager at the unit. Miller joined the company in 1980 and has more than 37 years of cement production and management experience at the company’s facilities in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Iowa.

Cody Hall, former safety manager at the Mitchell plant, is now assistant plant manager. Hall joined Lehigh Cement Company in 1995 and has more than 21 years of cement industry and management experience.

Pakistan: A new production line at Attock Cement’s Hub plant in Balochistan has started operation. The line has a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and it increases the company’s total production capacity to 3Mt/yr. The line was first announced in 2015 at a cost of US$120m. Loesche provided a cement mill for the project in 2017 under contract from the Hefei Cement Research & Design Institute.

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie’s (GICA) cement production rose by 11% year-on-year to 14Mt in 2017 from 12.6Mt in 2016. The cement producer beat its own forecast of 13.2Mt for the year, according to the L’Expression newspaper. Production rose in 2017 due to the opening of its Aïn El Kebira, Sétif cement plant in the first quarter. Local production capacity is forecast to reach 40.6Mt/yr by 2020 with 20Mt/yr supplied by GICA, 11.1Mt/yr supplied by LafargeHolcim and the remainder from other companies.

Uganda: Three new cement plants or upgrades to existing plants opening in 2018 are expected to dwarf local demand. Hima Cement, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, plans to open a new 1Mt/yr grinding plant at Nyakesi, Tororo Cement is expanding its plant to 3Mt/yr and Kenya's National Cement is building a plant at Mbale, according to the Ugandan Independent newspaper. Following completion of the three projects local production capacity will rise to 6.8Mt/yr from 3.6Mt/yr. Local demand is 2.4Mt/yr.

Cement industry executives are expecting growth in the construction industry as the government starts infrastructure projects in the oil and gas sector. The cement producers also expect export markets to support local production capacity growth, particularly in South Sudan, western Kenya and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Namibia: Famers have voiced their concerns that a new cement plant being built by Cheetah Cement will affect the water supply for their livestock. The fears have arisen following a notice by the company that it intends to start blasting at the construction site, according to the Namibian newspaper. The farmers have refused to take notice of eviction orders at the site by the Otjiwarongo municipality over risks that the water borehole will become contaminated. The cement plant is a joint venture between China’s Asia-Africa Business Management and Whale Rock Cement.

Germany: The former Portland-Zementwerke Gebr. Seibel’s cement plant at Erwitte in North Rhine-Westphalia has rebranded within the Thomas Gruppe. The name change follows the purchase of the plant and its limestone deposits by Thomas Gruppe in late 2017.

India: Sanghi Cement plans to upgrade its production capacity to 8.1Mt/yr from 4.1Mt/yr. The expansion plan will consist of a 3.3Mt/yr upgrade to its cement plant at Sanghipuram in Gujarat and a 2Mt/yr upgrade to its satellite grinding plant. In addition the cement producer plans to build a 65MW thermal power plant at the main plant. The cost of the project will be US$197m and this will be mostly funded from borrowing.

India: The deadline for bidding for Binani Cement has been extended until 15 January 2018 as the cement company takes potential buyers on a tour of its grinding plant in Dubai. The Rajasthan-based cement producer is being sold following bankruptcy proceedings, according to the Daily News & Analysis newspaper. The family-owned company with cement plants in Indian, China and the UAE has attracted a high level of interest from both international and local cement companies.

Uzbekistan: Aumund Fördertechnik has provided an update on an order for Almalyk Mining and Processing (AGMK) for a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant it is building in Sherabad. In May 2017 Aumund won the order for three drag chain conveyors with capacities from 7.5t/hr to 200t/hr for discharge of limestone, gypsum and pozzolan for the plant. In October 2017 an additional order was added for a Louise type drag chain conveyor for discharge of clinker dust.

Overall, Aumund is providing over 250t of machinery to AGMK. In 2018 the engineering company will supply to Uzbekistan at least 10 belt chain bucket elevators with capacities from 21t/hr to 500t/hr, and centre distances between 16.6m and 120m. The largest item in the delivery is a pan conveyor, with a centre distance of 148m and a clinker conveying capacity of 300t/hr. The clinker conveying system comprises two further Aumund pan conveyors with the same capacity but centre distances of 54m and 65m. There are also 19 silo discharge gates included in the package.