Displaying items by tag: Plant
Mozambique: Cimentos da Beira, the newest cement producer in Mozambique, plans to export some of its cement to neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Malawi, in addition to supplying the domestic market, according to the Managing Director of the company, Wouter Trollip.
The plant, with an installed cement production capacity of 800,000t/yr, is expected to start operating later in October 2015, after tests of the substation that will supply electricity are complete. Trollip said that the plant already has 40,000t of clinker in stock in order to start cement production as soon as the power supply is guaranteed. With British and South African investment of US$45m, Cimentos da Beira employs 70 workers. Sofala Province now has three cement plants, including Cimentos de Moçambique and the recent Austral Ciment, an Austrian investment, both located in Dondo.
Eurocement President inspects Leningrad region plants
13 October 2015Russia: Eurocement President Mikhail Skorokhod visited several key cement plants in the Leningrad region recently.
Key performance indicators of Peterburgcement were evaluated positively at the end of August 2015. "The company shows strong growth and consistently high product quality. This is the result of the work of a highly professional close-knit team. Today, the team is facing new tasks and new challenges and it is planned to reach the historical record and produce 1.86Mt of cement in 2016," said Mikhail Skorokhod. Reducing costs and consistently high product quality, according to Skorokhod, will allow Peterburgcement to increase its market share in the Leningrad and neighbouring areas and reduce imports of inferior quality cement from neighbouring countries.
During his visit, Skorokhod appointed Dmitry Zibaev as the new Peterburgcement plant CEO. Skorokhod said that Dmitry Zibaev has considerable experience in the industry and in-depth knowledge of all processes of cement production. Dmitry Zibaev graduated from Belgorod State University of Technology. He started his career as a Maintenance Foreman in Lafarge Cement. He moved from Mechanical Engineer to the Deputy General Director of Peterburgcement.
Skorokhod also inspected the production process at Pikalevskiy Cement plant during his visit to the Leningrad region. He set the task to increase control over the quality of clinker. "Pikalevskiy Cement has high trust and reputation among customers and clients. The plant staff should not only meet the customers' expectations, but also raise the bar," said Skorokhod. He expressed the view that the decision taken recently by the Russian Government to introduce mandatory certification of cement will set the barrier to low-quality and counterfeit basic construction material and it will lead to higher work level of the plant. Technical Engineers of Pikalevskiy Cement have improved the clinker quality in recent months. Talking about the construction of a new dry line at the plant, Skorokhod said that the company intends to consistently implement its modernisation programme at its plants.
Vicem Hoang Mai Cement to build cement plant in Nghe An
12 October 2015Vietnam: Vicem Hoang Mai Cement JSC has announced plans to build a cement plant at an estimated cost of US$480m in Nghe An. The Hoang Mai Cement 2 plant will be constructed in the 2016 - 2020 period in two phases, providing more than 2Mt/yr of cement after the completion of each phase. The products will be sold in the central region and will be exported as well.
Huaxin Cement to launch 5Mt/yr cement plant in Kazakhstan
12 October 2015Kazakhstan: Huaxin Cement plans to a 5Mt/yr capacity cement plant in Kazakhstan. The plant would use a dry-process cement line and will start construction by the end of 2015. The project will cost around US$111m.
DG Khan Cement to set up new plant at Hub
12 October 2015Pakistan: DG Khan Cement plans to set up a new cement plant at Hub to meet growing demand of cement in the country, particularly in Karachi.
DG Cement Director of Marketing Fareed Fazal said that the new plant produce 10,000t/day of clinker. Fareed said that the company's cement was being exported regularly to Northern Africa and Sri Lanka, among others. In addition, Fazal said that recently France had expressed willingness to import bagged cement from DG Khan Cement and that efforts were afoot to meet the production requirement. The French importers, however, have requested 35kg bags instead of the standard 50kg.
Votorantim Cimentos expands its cement plant in Turkey
08 October 2015Brazil/Turkey: Votorantim Cimentos has announced investment plans of up to US$158m to expand its business in Turkey. As well as tripling the output of its cement plant in Sivas, Votorantim may set up or acquire a new plant to tap the growth potential of Turkey's construction sector, according to company officials.
"The investment in our Sivas plant will boost production capacity to 1.8Mt/yr, up from its current level of 600,000t/yr. Following the upgrade, the Sivas plant will account for 42% of Votorantim's cement production capacity in Turkey," said Sefik Tuzun, Votorantim Turkey's CEO. "Votorantim sees the potential of Turkey's construction sector and this investment shows our commitment to reinforcing our presence in Turkey. Sivas' expansion will bring a crucial dynamism and competitiveness to the company in the Turkish cement market."
The capacity upgrade will be completed by April 2017. The construction works for the extension will create employment for 700 people. Votorantim Turkey is active in cement production as well as concrete and aggregate businesses in the country, accounting for a share of about 29% of Votorantim Cimentos' total production capacity, excluding China.
Reliance Infrastructure to sell cement business to cut debt
08 October 2015India: Reliance Infrastructure plans to sell its cement business as part of plans to cut debt through the sale of non-core assets.
As many as 10 global companies have been sounded for a 100% stake of Reliance Cement, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure. These include CRH, Cemex, HeidelbergCement, GE, Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR. Local companies JK Cement and Prism Cement may also be interested. Reliance Group has appointed Morgan Stanley as banker to scout for buyers for Reliance Cement.
The sale of the cement business is aimed at reducing debt by selling non-core assets. Reliance Infra's debt stood at around US$3.86bn on 31 March 2015. Reliance believes that the sale will help reduce its debt by 20 – 25%. It is looking at a valuation of US$769 – 922m for Reliance Cement, which has a cement production capacity of 5.6Mt/yr.
Reliance Cement started operations in 2007 and has plants in Maihar in Madhya Pradesh (2.8Mt/yr), Kundanganj in Uttar Pradesh (2.2Mt/yr) and Butibori in Maharashtra (500,000t/yr). It is also developing a 5Mt/yr greenfield plant at Wani in Maharashtra.
Belzarubezhstroy launches cement-bonded particleboard plant
06 October 2015Belarus: The Belarusian civil engineering company ZAO Belzarubezhstroy has opened a cement-bonded particleboard plant in Krichev, Mogilev on 5 October 2015. Austria's VST Building Technologies was a partner of Belzarubezhstroy and an investor in the project.
The new plant uses the premises of the former Krichev meatpacking factory and is located 7km from the Krichev cement mill, where its cement is sourced. Imported equipment was installed. The plant will make cement-bonded particleboards using the process flows developed by VST Building Technologies. The new technology boasts high speed and quality of construction processes, energy-effectiveness and wide geographical deployment.
The Belarusian Architecture and Construction minister Anatoly Cherny stressed that the opening of the plant represents a truly ground-breaking event for the civil engineering industry of the oblast and the country. "With cement-bonded particleboards of our own, we will be able to greatly reduce the cost of residential housing construction. We will be able to build more homes and export more construction materials," said Cherny.
The plant's construction was prompted by the rapid pace of housing and industrial construction in Belarus, as well as the need to find new ways to modernise the civil engineering industry and reduce costs. Belarus has had to import cement-bonded particleboard to make the panels until now. In addition to serving the local market, over 25% of the cement-bonded particleboard produced will be exported to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the European Union (EU). The plant's proximity to the Belarusian-Russian border and the two rail lines going in the eastern direction will minimise the costs of exports to Russia.
Belzarubezhstroy director general Vitaly Bondarik said that the project was a historical one for the company. "We hope that the site will become kind of a springboard for advancing joint operations and implementing new construction projects in Belarus and abroad together with our partner, VST Building Technologies AG. We expect a successful future and intend to implement a number of joint projects in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Algeria and other countries. The enterprise should become a successful example of a new construction formation in Belarus," said Bondarik.
Belzarubezhstroy used its own resources and foreign investments to build the plant. It will create 200 jobs to reach the designed output capacity of 60,000m3/yr. In the future, the output capacity may be increased up to 100,000m3/yr.
The new plant is the first step of the programme sketched out by the Belarusian and Austrian partners.
Limak Holding starts work on cement plant in Mozambique
06 October 2015Mozambique: Limak Holding has started the construction of its 2Mt/yr cement plant in Maputo. The plant is scheduled to come into operation in the first quarter of 2016.
Serdar Bacaksız, a Limak Holding board member, said that the company has been closely monitoring the African market for a long time and might increase its investment by up to US$150m if needed. Underlining that Mozambique falls short of satisfying the rapidly-increasing demand for cement, Bacaksız said that the country offers major incentives to foreign investors, as it needs new investments in all fields.
Limak Holding is also set to lay the foundations of a cement plant on the Ivory Coast in November 2015 with an investment of US$55m. "We plan to open it in 2016," said Bacaksız, adding that the company will continue to seize different opportunities in the region. Limak Holding aims to achieve a turnover of US$3bn by the end of 2015.
Semen Indonesia to press on despite water concerns
29 September 2015Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has decided to continue to develop its new factory in Rembang, Central Java following protests by some local residents. Semen Indonesia's CEO Suparni said that the construction is currently 60% complete, with production expected by October 2016.
Suparni admitted that the development of the factory has been opposed by some of the local residents. Residents of North Kendeng, experts and academics have criticized the development of the factory. Untung Sudadi, a geologist from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture said that the North Kendeng area, where part of the factory will be built, is a karst area, which collects water for local residents and can be susceptible to sinkhole formation and instability.
Similar to an underground basin, karst areas function as water catchment areas. "Karst is essential to maintain water supply," said Untung. He added that conducting mining activities in karst areas would cause environmental damage.
Suparni said that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the cement factory has been completed. He also said that the presence of the factory would not disturb water supplies to the local society.