Displaying items by tag: commissioning

Nepal: Huaxin Cement Narayani has completed construction of its 3000t/day Dhading cement plant in Bagmati and plans to commence production before November 2021. The Xinhua News Agency has reported that construction of plant, a joint venture of Vaidya’s Organisation of Industries and Trading Houses and China-based Huaxin Cement subsidiary Huaxin Central Asia Investment (Wuhan), started in early 2019 but was delayed by floods, disputes over land acquisition and the coronavirus pandemic. It is Nepal’s second cement plant backed by Chinese investors following the opening of Hongshi-Shivam Cement in 2018. In 2020, the country produced 7.49Mt of cement, towards serving a demand of 9.05Mt/yr nationally.

India: Ambuja Cement, part of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim, plans to commission its upcoming Mundwa cement plant in Rajasthan by September 2021. The plant will have a total capacity of 5Mt/yr, consisting of 3Mt/yr of integrated and 2.0Mt/yr of grinding capacity. The Hindu newspaper has reported that the company aims to achieve 50Mt/yr total installed capacity in the medium term. It said that it is evaluating possible plant upgrades at Bhatapara in Chhattisgarh and Maratha in Maharashtra.

Nigeria: BUA Cement has announced that it will commission the second production line at its Kalambiana cement plant in Sokoto state in July 2021. The Daily Independent newspaper has reported that the upgrade will bring the plant’s cement production capacity to 3Mt/yr. The group intends for the plant to serve the growing domestic cement demand and to stabilise prices.

Ethiopia: Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says that a new 7000t/day cement plant is almost ready for commissioning. New Business Ethiopia News has reported that the government hopes that the unnamed unit will be operational by June 2021. The 2.5Mt/yr Abay Cement plant at Dejen in Amhara region was previously scheduled for opening in 2021. The news comes at a time of rapid cement price rises in the country. A large black market has also arisen to serve overextended demand.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement plans to further upgrade its integrated Pezu plant following strong results in the first half of its financial year. It intends to increase the production capacity at the unit by 3.15Mt/yr. The cost of the project will be announced following the conclusion of negotiations with suppliers. Work is expected to start in 2021 and be completed in 2023.

The cement producer recorded sales of US$188m in the first half of its 2021 financial year (1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021), up by 42% year-on-year from US$132m in the first half of its 2020 financial year. Cement and clinker sales volumes grew by 36% to 5Mt from 3.7Mt. Its profit after tax more than doubled to US$28.3m from US$12.1m. It attributed this to higher production capacity at its Pezu plant as well as higher demand in the market generally.

Lucky Cement also reported that its new 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant at Samawah in Iraq started its kiln in the first week of January 2021 and trial production started in mid-January 2021. Commercial production is scheduled to start in February 2021.

Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Côte d'Ivoire commissioned a new clinker discharge equipment at its Abidjan cement plant in June 2020. Aumund France supplied the equipment. It consists of a 75,000t-capacity silo, two Aumund KZB pan conveyors with ten gravity discharge gates, four Aumund GF belt conveyors and a dedusting system comprising five filters, as well as the complete electrics and automation package for the new discharge system. The supplier says that it also supervised installation and commissioning of the equipment.

Gabon: A new 0.35Mt/yr production line has started production at Ciments d'Afrique’s (CIMAF) Owendo grinding plant. Spain-based Cemengal supplied a 50t/hr Plug&Grind X-treme grinding plant for the project. Successful commissioning and start-up of the unit was managed remotely from Madrid in Spain due to the coronavirus pandemic. The upgrade cost around US$16m.

The addition brings the plant’s total production capacity to 0.85Mt/yr, according to Direct Infos Gabon. The cement producer is also planning to spend US$120m towards building an integrated plant in the country. Nationally, the country reportedly now has a production capacity of around 1.2Mt/yr.

Rwanda: Prime Cement has inaugurated its new 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant in Rwanda in Musanze, Northern Province. It also announced the start of commercial production at the US$40m unit, according to the Rwanda New Times newspaper. It plans to ramp up production to 1.2Mt/yr by mid-2022. Germany-based Loesche installed a Loesche Jumbo CCG (Compact Cement Grinding plant) with type LM 30.2 mill at the site.

The cement plant is owned by Milbridge Holding, a group of companies involved in manufacturing and distribution of construction materials in Angola, the UAE, Rwanda and South Africa. It employs 110 workers directly.

Rwanda: Milbridge Group subsidiary Prime Cement has said that its upcoming 0.6Mt/yr Prime Cement grinding plant in Musanze, Northern Province will enter production in August 2020. KT Press News has reported that the US$66.6m plant will create 600 jobs. Plant manager Eric Rutabana said, “We hope that with our coming to the market, the cement prices will be reviewed downward. Sincerely speaking, the existing price is beyond purchasing power on the local market.”

France: Cem’In’Eu has announced plans to establish a Euro23.0m grinding plant at Portes-lès-Valence in Drôme department. The La Tribune newspaper has reported that the plant will receive imported clinker produced at Adana Çimento’s 5.2Mt/yr integrated Adana plant in Turkey by river and rail from the port of Sète. Cem’In’Eu president and Vincent Lefebvre said that the location “allows us to be in the middle of a Lyon-Marseille-Montpellier triangle but also to be connected to the Alpine valleys.”

The grinding plant is due for commissioning in mid-July 2021, however the coronavirus has delayed the start of construction.