Displaying items by tag: Plant
Vietnam: Hoang Phat Vissai Group began work on the Song Lam cement plant with an investment of US$488m in Vietnam's central province of Nghe on 4 February 2015.
Located in Bai Son commune and being transformed from the current Do Luong cement plant, the new 5.6Mt/yr clinker plant will be developed in two phases and will be ready for operation within 18 months, according to company chairman Nguyen Ngoc Oanh. The first phase will last until 2017, with two production lines with a combined capacity of 12,000t/day of clinker installed. The second phase, adding 6000t/day of clinker, will be developed in 2017 - 2020.
Vietnam has 74 cement production lines with a combined output estimated at 81Mt/yr, while sales of cement and clinker are projected to be 73Mt for 2015, according to the data from the Ministry of Construction. Of the sales, 52 – 53Mt are expected to be sold to the domestic market, while 19 – 20Mt will be exported.
Dangote starts preparations to set up cement plant in Nepal
05 February 2015Nepal: A team of technical experts from Nigeria's Dangote Group recently visited potential sites in Makawanpur and Dhading Districts to study the feasibility of opening a cement plant there.
The team, composed of civil engineers, geologists and mine experts, visited different sites in the district, according to K R Rao, team leader of director of Dangote Group's Cement Production Division. According to Rao, the team has sent limestone samples collected from the sites for laboratory tests. He said that Dangote would choose the project site and start land acquisition process within two months.
Dangote plans to open a 6000t/day capacity cement plant in Nepal, which would be the 15th country for Dangote's cement plant operations. The government has already approved the proposal to invest US$550m to establish a cement plant. For the purpose, the group has registered 'Dangote Cement Nepal Private Limited' at the Office of Company Registrar.
"We will start cement production by June 2017. Our product will be of high quality as we will put in place a high-tech quality control mechanism. Similarly, we are adopting vertical roller mill technology, which is a modern and efficient technology," said Rao. He added that Dangote has seen cement market in Nepal growing. "We expect the market to grow to 6Mt/yr by 2020." Nepal currently consumes 3.5Mt/yr of cement and imports 1.5Mt/yr. However, with big plants coming up, experts say that the country will soon be able to start cement to neighbouring countries. "We are eying the markets in Bihar and Utter Pradesh in India," said Rao.
As the government has prioritised infrastructure development, mega projects like hydropower plants, road, airport and irrigation projects are being implemented in different parts of Nepal. These projects are likely to propel demand for cement and other construction materials in the near future.
Dangote Group's technical officials have not yet decided on an alternative power supply for the proposed plant. "Though our initial plan was to invest in hydropower project, we have aborted it as it takes lot of time to develop. We are thinking of investing in coal or diesel-fed power plants to arrange a stable power supply," said Rao. The proposed plant needs a 35MW supply of uninterrupted power.
Amaka Cement Industries plant on the cards
05 February 2015Zambia: Scirocco Enterprises Limited has entered into an agreement with a consortium to construct a state-of-the-art cement plant in Lusaka's Makeni area at cost of US$200m. Scirocco Enterprise managing director Moustafa Saadi said that the cement plant would have the capacity to produce 2500t/day of cement. He added that the company, Amaka Cement Industries Limited, had been incorporated in Zambia.
Saadi said that Scirocco has entered into an agreement with a Chinese firm and an international funder to carry out the project. "The agreement has been signed and feasibility study is being undertaken to establish the viability of the project. As soon as the exploration work that needs to be carried out is finalised, an environmental impact assessment will be carried out to comply with the prevailing laws," said Saadi. "We expect that the process can be concluded quickly without any undue delays. We are looking forward to the support of our community and various government institutions to facilitate the process in order to begin the physical work."
According to Saadi, the plant will be modern and efficient and will exceed all the environmental regulations in Zambia and have a positive impact on the economy of the area and the nation as a whole. He said that construction of the plant is earmarked to start in September 2015 and it is expected to be completed by 2017. Amaka Cement Industries would produce two grades of cement for the local and international markets. 500 people will be engaged during the construction period and 200 people will be employed on a full time basis once production starts.
India: Ramco Cements Ltd expects to commission the US$76.9m grinding unit in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh in April 2015. The company said that, while it has witnessed increased in cement sales in Kerala and West Bengal, in other states where it has operations the demand for cement has become sluggish.
In its unaudited standalone results for the three months that ended 31 December 2014, Ramco Cements showed a decline in income from operations to US$132m as against US$141m in the corresponding quarter of 2013. Net profit for the quarter fell to US$3.72m from US$4.14min the same quarter of 2013.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, Ramco Cements sold 5.66Mt of cement in the domestic market, compared to 6.2Mt in the corresponding nine months in the previous year. Exports amounted to 129,000t, taking the total sales to 5.79Mt in the first nine months of the 2015 financial year.
Ramco Cements said that cement production was 8% lower and sales fell by 9% in the first nine months of the 2015 financial year compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. Sales declined in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Odisha.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to transfer six cement plant being built in Sichuan
04 February 2015China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a plan to transfer the production capacity of six cement projects that are currently being built in Sichuan Province. These schemes, with a total cement production capacity of 6Mt/yr, will be publicised on the national production capacity replacement quota platform for future transfer.
Zimbabwe: Plans to build a cement plant in Zvishavane by Chinese investors have been challenged as it has emerged that the mining rights in the area belong to Shabanie Mashaba Mines (SMM). This may delay the project as SMM is still the subject of an ownership dispute between the government and South African-based businessman Mutumwa Mawere.
The project was intended to be built 30km from the Zvishavane along the Zvishavane-Mbalabala road, according to local press. It was part of the deals made with China after President Robert Mugabe's visit to China in 2014 as well as negotiations between the Joint Zimbabwe-China Permanent Commission.
Cemex condemns assassination of its head of security
04 February 2015Colombia: Cemex has condemned a recent attack that resulted in the death of Clavijo Rojas, head of Cemex security, near to a cement plant that it is building in Maceo, Magdalena Medio. Cemex executives want local authorities to investigate the incident so that the criminals can be apprehended. Clavijo Rojas, a 50 year old German citizen, was travelling in a car with another person when they were fired upon, possibly by a guerrilla group or by those linked to organised crime. Cemex said that it had not received any threats or demands in this area.
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe plant upgrade on the table
03 February 2015Zimbabwe: Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe is going ahead with plans to upgrade its plant to increase capacity from 390,000t/yr to 450,000t/yr. The upgrade will cost US$15 – 20m, according to Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe CEO Amal Tantawi.
"Lafarge has a nominal capacity. We could produce up to 450,000t, but we do have some challenges that we are working on. Beyond that, we want to stabilise and be able to reach our maximum capacity, but that will not come before 2016," said Tantawi. "The challenges that we are facing are the cement mills that cannot reach this capacity, but we are looking at installing new mills by 2016. Once we do the upgrade, we will be able to operate at maximum capacity of 450,000t."
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe is in a closed period and is due to release its financial results for 2014 by March 2015. Tantawi said that the year has not been a good one. Group revenue for the half year that ended in June 2014 declined by 12.5% to US$28.2m, while gross profit was US$9.4m, compared to US$14.1m in the same period of 2013.
"Traditionally, the second half of the year has always been better in terms of business growth and the trend is expected to continue in 2015. Going forward, the construction industry has positive growth prospects premised on the mounting housing backlog and the pressing need for overall infrastructural rehabilitation and development. The company is well positioned to take advantage of the expected growth in the construction sector," said Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe in a statement.
Charlevoix cement plant expansion cleared
02 February 2015US: The Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners has approved the proposal by St Marys Cement to expand its cement plant in Michigan State. St Marys Cement, part of Votorantim Group, is planning a US$130m upgrade to the Charlevoix plant, which would increase its production capacity from 1.3Mt/yr to nearly 2Mt/yr.
According to local press reports, in a 5:1 vote that followed the hearing, the county board approved the upgrade plan. Commissioner George Lasater provided the lone vote in opposition. He said that he simply wanted to do more research on the proposal. Other commissioners described their votes in support as important to sustaining the economy in Charlevoix County.
The proposal now moves to the state Department of Environmental Quality for final approval. If the Charlevoix plans were rejected, St Marys officials have said they will seek to reopen the Illinois plant.
Norm Sement reaches its designed capacity
27 January 2015Azerbaijan: The largest cement plant in the South Caucasus, Norm Sement, situated in Garadagh District of Baku City, has reached its design capacity, according to Norm Sement's CEO Hasan Yalcinkaya. The plant has 5000t/day of clinker production capacity and 2Mt/yr of cement production capacity. Yalcinkaya said that 2014 was successful for the company and Azerbaijan's cement industry as a whole.
"We managed to successfully complete our projects," said Yalcinkaya. "The cement plant was inaugurated by the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on 21 July 2014. "Since that time, the plant has been working very efficiently and has started to produce its own clinker. We have reached our design capacity. So, I can say that 2014 has been successful. 510,000t of cement was produced, while clinker production was at the level of 471,000t in 2014. We were able to cover about 20% of the market for just six months since the beginning of clinker production. We plan to increase our market share with the production of high-quality cement and rendering high-quality services to our clients in the consumer market."
Yalcinkaya further noted that, in 2014, Azerbaijan's domestic demand for cement stood at around 4.3Mt and in 2015 year demand will be at least on the same level. "Currently, about 60% of the market is provided by local producers," said Yalcinkaya. "About 40% of cement is imported from neighbouring countries." He said that the local production plants are fully capable of meeting the market requirements. "Our goal is to reduce cement imports as much as possible," said the CEO.
"To date, we have invested US$326m in the new plant," said Yalcinkaya. "We have several projects on efficiency and production improvements, in particular the expansion of the product range. We will continue to improve our efficiency and reduce energy consumption. We also plan to invest in the production of cement for oil wells."
According to Yalcinkaya, oil well cement production will be developed in 2015. "This is exactly the product that we can easily export to oil producing countries, for instance, to Kazakhstan and Russia," said Yalcinkaya. "Once we develop this product, we will start to export it."