Displaying items by tag: US
US: Lehigh Hanson’s Speed cement plant in Indiana will be converted into a distribution terminal. The decision follows an investment of US$600m towards upgrading the Mitchell cement plant in Indiana, according to the Evening News and Tribune newspaper. At present the Speed plant has a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr and the Mitchell plant has a production capacity of 0.7Mt/yr. Following the upgrade the Mitchell plant will have a capacity of 2.8Mt/yr. Changing the focus of the Speed unit is expected to lead to the loss of 100 jobs. although half of these could be moved to Mitchell.
US: Lehigh Hanson plans to spend US$600m on modernising and upgrading its Mitchell cement plant in Indiana. The project will increase production capacity and reducing energy usage and emissions per ton of cement produced. The project is the largest expansion and modernisation that the subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement has undertaken in North America.
Lehigh Hanson is working with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to obtain the required air permits and anticipates the permitting process to be completed in the summer of 2019. The company is also working with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation regarding available business incentives. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2020 and completion of the new plant is anticipated by the end of 2022. Once finished the upgrades will create around 50 new jobs at the unit.
The cement producer has also worked with local and state officials to develop increased infrastructure surrounding the plant, which will support the expanded operation. This includes a road connecting the plant to a local highway, alleviating truck congestion from the centre of town. Overall logistics will also change to accommodate additional rail activity to handle increased cement shipments from the plant.
Sempertrans USA officially opens Atlanta warehouse
13 July 2018US: Sempertrans USA has officially opened its new Atlanta warehouse in Georgia. The event was attended by distributors and end-customers. The Sempertrans USA team which includes sales, customer service, technical management and finance moved into the new location in December 2017. At the beginning of June 2018 Sempertrans USA was able to process, cut and slit to order and distribute heavy-duty textile belts from the unit. Sempertrans belts from the site can be slit within 24 hours and then distributed across North America.
“Our North America Team is ready to tackle any challenge. From impact and abrasion resistant belt solutions, our wide product portfolio ensures safe and highly efficient conveying even under the most demanding conditions,” said Wes Tyre, Head of Sales North America.
Sempertrans is a conveyor belt manufacturer. Its portfolio includes textile belts and steel cord belts for applications in the cement, mining and steel industries as well as other applications such as ports, quarries and the chemical industry.
US government proposes tariffs on Chinese cement
11 July 2018US/China: The Office of the US Trade Representative has proposed placing a 10% tariff on mineral and other products from China including cement. The list includes over 600 items and it will come into force following a period for public comment in August 2018.
Mineral products affected by the proposed tariffs of interest to the cement industry include limestone flux, quicklime, slaked lime, gypsum, anhydrite, clinkers of Portland, aluminous, slag, supersulfate and similar hydraulic cements, white Portland cement, Portland cement, aluminous cement, slag cement, refractory cements, additives for cement, cement based building materials and more.
The inclusion of additional products to a tariff list follows an earlier decision by the US government to tax imports from China worth US$34bn that came into force in early July 2018.
Head of Environmental Protection Agency quits
09 July 2018US: Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has resigned. The decision follows investigations into his security spending and other expenses, according to the Associated Press. In his resignation letter Pruitt said he had no regrets. He will be replaced by acting administrator Andrew Wheeler.
US: Ametek Brookfield has appointed Vicki Case as Global Marketing Director. She has spent the past 12 years working at Sealed Air in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Most recently she worked as the VP Marketing, Global e-Commerce & Fulfillment Solutions for the company. Case is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering.
US: Welding Alloys has released information about a project to rebuild a FCB Horomill at Buzzi Unicem’s Maryneal cement plant in Texas in early 2018. The engineering company’s Mexican subsidiary Welding Alloys Panamericana has experience of rebuilding these types of mills and it collaborated with the group’s American wing, Welding Alloys USA, on the project.
UK: Micromeritics Instrument Corporation, a US-headquarted manufacturer of products for advanced material characterisation, has purchaed Freeman Technology. Freeman Technology specialises in providing instruments for the measurement of powder flow properties and other behavioural properties of powders. It manufactures instruments that deliver data to assist its customers in maximising process and product understanding, accelerating research and development toward formulation and commercialisation as well as supporting the optimisation of powder processes.
CRH completes acquisition of Ash Grove
21 June 2018US: Ireland’s CRH has completed its acquisition of Ash Grove Cement. It agreed to buy Ash Grove Cement in mid-2017 for US$3.5bn. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its consent for the transaction on the condition that CRH sell the Three Forks cement plant in Montana. It also forced CRH to sell other assets in Montana, Nebraska and Kansas.
US: The first ship from McInnis Cement’s plant in Canada has docked at the company’s terminal in the Bronx, New York. The NACC Alicudi docked at the terminal in mid-June 2018. The event follows the start of commercial production at McInnis Cements’ plant in Port-Daniel–Gascons, Quebec in June 2017.