Displaying items by tag: Sinoma

The news from Mali this week is that a new cement grinding plant is in the works. Ciments et Matériaux du Mali plans to build a 0.5Mt/yr plant near Bamako. Work on the US$34m project is set to start in October 2019 although there has been no word on the equipment supplier. The project is a long-standing one from France’s Vicat.

A new plant is probably very welcome following the last six months in the local market. Prices spiked by a third in May 2019, leading local producer Diamond Cement Mali to arrange a press conference to defend itself. Director Ibrahima Dibo explained that the company had fixed its prices in conjunction with the government at its units at Astro and Dio Gare since 2012. Instead, he blamed importers and traders for the situation, as well as low import rates from Senegal and Ivory Coast. The company proposed that it tackle the situation by importing more cement from one of its plants in Takoradi in Ghana and then transporting it into Mali via Dakar in Senegal. Although it noted that it would need permission from the government to do this.

The country has also been targeted by Nigeria’s Dangote Cement for several years. Back in 2016 the Nigerian cement producer was considering building a 1.5Mt/yr grinding plant. It also wanted to build a second production line at its Pout plant near Dakar in Senegal to export clinker specifically to Mali. It has since scaled back its expansion plans as the Nigerian economy entered a recession but in its 2018 annual report it noted that it had exported 0.43Mt of cement from Senegal and that most of this had gone to Mali, with plans to further increase exports in 2019.

At present Mali has three main grinding plants. Two are run by Diamond Cement and the third by Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF). An integrated plant at Guinbané, Diéma in the Kayes region was announced in late 2016 when the government signed a memorandum of understanding with Gaia Equity, a private equity company. This project was going to be built by China’s Sinoma.

Figure 1: Distribution of cement prices in Africa and Location of Plants 2015. Source: World Bank / ECDPM.

The status of that last project is unknown since there has been little news on it since. However, Figure 1 above shows why a private equity firm might sense opportunity. It’s out of date as various countries have become self-sufficient and we’ve covered this plenty of times before but the graphic from the World Bank really brings home the message that moving cement overland is uneconomical. This is mirrored by the mounting price of cement in Mali earlier this year. Africa has been described as the last great cement frontier and Mali is on the frontline.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement has counteracted mounting costs with increased export sales. Its gross sales rose slightly to US$420m in its financial year to 30 June 2019. Its profit after tax fell by 14% year-on-year to US$65.2m from US$75.8m from the same period in 2018. Its cost of sales grew by 11% to US$190m from US$211m. Its cement sales volumes fell by 1.8% to 7.67Mt. However, its export sales increased by 60.9% to 1.82Mt.

The cement producer said that the first shipment of machinery from China’s Sinoma to its new 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant project at Samawah in Iraq. A power plant has also been ordered from Finland’s Wärtsilä. Commercial production at the site is planned for mid-2020.

Nigeria: Sinoria FABCOM, a Chinese building materials and structural engineering firm, has announced plans to open a fibre cement board manufacturing factory in Abuja. The company, which is part of the Chinese global giant Sinoma, already has an industrial complex in Kuje Abuja, where it makes roofing products.

Liuxing Wang, Managing Director of Sinoria FABCOM, said that the new line of products would be the first of their kind to be manufactured in West Africa. He added that his company had decided to diversify into fibre cement board due to Nigeria’s raw materials and the success that it has already had with its stone-coated roofing sheets in the country.

Wang further commended the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari for creating the ‘right atmosphere for industrial growth’ of the country, noting that within the next decade Nigeria stands the chance of becoming an industrial giant.

Tanzania: The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) says construction of a new 7Mt/yr cement plant by China’s Sinoma and Hengya Cement is due to start soon. TIC executive director Geoffrey Mwambe said that the government body had provided all the necessary incentives for the US$1bn project, according to the Citizen newspaper. The TIC licence gives investors a three-year window in which to start construction, otherwise the licence revoked.

The Chinese company plans to build a cement plant with a 1200MW captive power plant. At least 70% of the cement produced at the plant will be exported and the remainder will be sold domestically. The unit is expected to create 4000 - 8000 direct and indirect jobs.

Nigeria/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.

Algeria: Germany’s Aumund has received two clinker conveying equipment orders for cement plants at Zahana and Bechar. The two orders comprise 26 belt and chain bucket elevators, two bucket apron conveyors, ten pan conveyors and ten drag chain conveyors. No value for the deals has been disclosed.

The first order is for the 4500t/day Société des Ciments de Zahana (SCIZ) plant near Oran. Here three chain bucket elevators with centre distances ranging from 22.5 - 34.9m and capacities from 50 - 220t/hr will be used to convey cement and clinker. 11 belt bucket elevators (22.5 -116.1m) will convey raw meal, cement and clinker with capacities between 190 - 680t/hr. The Aumund bucket apron conveyor, with a centre distance of 61.1m and a capacity of 360t/hr, will join the five Aumund pan conveyors (18.3 - 106.8m, capacity 300 - 360t/hr) in conveying clinker. The ten Aumund drag chain conveyors with centre distances between 6.1 - 33.8m will be used in clinker dust extraction and are designed for conveying capacities from 15 - 80t/hr.

The second order is for the 3200t/day Bechar cement plant. This order was placed by China’s CBMI to Aumund Beijing with support from Aumund France. This plant will operate 15 Aumund belt and chain bucket elevators, five Aumund pan conveyors and an Aumund bucket apron conveyor for its bulk materials handling. The bucket elevators, with centre distances ranging from 11 - 102.9m, will convey raw meal, cement and clinker with capacities from 70 – 480t/hr. The five pan conveyors, with centre distances from 22.2 - 89.8m, will convey their loads at up to 480t/hr. The Aumund bucket apron conveyor in Bechar (centre distance 88.5m, capacity 200t/hr) will also convey clinker.

Nigeria: BUA Group has ordered a 3Mt/yr production line from China’s CBMI for its Kalambaina cement plant in Sokoto State. It follows the commissioning of a 1.5Mt/yr line at the site in mid-2018, according to the This Day newspaper. The company also completed a new line at its Obu plant at Okpella in Edo State in late 2018. BUA Group will have a production capacity of 11Mt/yr once the new project is completed. BUA Group is also in the process of merging with the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN).

Argentina: Aumund Brazil and Aumund China have collaborated with Sinoma Tianjin TDI to supply two clinker-conveying orders for cement plants. No value for either order has been disclosed.

Aumund will supply three chain bucket elevators, eight belt bucket elevators, five pan conveyors and a drag chain conveyor for Line 2 at Loma Negra’s L’Amali cement plant. The order also includes 19 silo discharge gates. In August 2017 Loma Negra awarded Aumund the order to build a second kiln line with a capacity of 5800t/day at the L’Amali plant in Olavarria in Buenos Aires province. The new line, which will produce 2.7Mt/yr of clinker, will be located adjacent to the existing kiln line. Production will start early in 2020.

In June 2018 Aumund Brazil worked with Aumund Brazil and Sinoma to supply four belt bucket elevators, three chain bucket elevators and three pan conveyors via Sinoma TDI to Cementos Avellaneda. Cementos Avellaneda is a joint venture operated by Brazil’s Votorantim Group and Spain’s Cementos Molins.

Egypt: South Valley Cement says it is in a dispute with China’s Sinoma CDI over an upgrade to its Beni Suef plant. The cement producer alleges that Sinoma has not met its contractual obligations on the project to build new mills. South Valley Cement says that Sinoma has liquidated letters of guarantee worth nearly US$2m, left the construction site and started arbitration proceedings. South Valley Cement is now considering its legal options. The status of the upgrade project remains unknown.

Oman: Raysut Cement Company has ordered a waste heat recovery unit from China’s Sinoma. No cost for the deal or an expected timescale has been disclosed. The company says it is the first of its kind in the country. Once completed it is expected to reduce the company’s power costs at its plant by up to 30%.