Germany: Pietro de Michieli has been appointed as the managing director of Aumund. He assumed the role at the start of September 2018 and will focus on equipment sales, spare parts and after sales service.

Previously, de Michieli was the managing director of OMG MGM Cranes, part of Bedeschi Group. Prior to that he was chief operating officer of Bedeschi and a member of the board of directors responsible for the business unit bulk handling, marine logistics and mining and minerals, with a particular focus on sales, marketing, design, manufacturing, purchasing and project management.
Earlier in his career he was projects director with Endeco Engineering Design Construction and project manager at Danieli. He holds a doctorate in electro-mechanical engineering from the University of Padua, Italy.

Since January 2018 de Michieli has been a member of the board of directors of PEMA (Port Equipment Manufacturers Association), a forum and public voice for the global port equipment and technology sectors. He will support a bid for membership of PEMA by the Aumund group of companies.

Spain: Miguel Ángel López has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens Spain following the resignation of Rosa García García. García has decided to leave the company and will handover the role on 1 December 2018 and then continue in an advisory role until the end of the year. López, aged 53 years, has been working most recently as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE). The CFO role will be filled by David Mesonero, currently SGRE's Head of Corporate Development, Strategy and Integration.

Italy: Giulio Bozzini has been appointed as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Tenova. He will report to chief executive officer (CEO) Andrea Lovato.

He holds 30 years of financial and operational experience working for multinational companies. Since 1994, he has worked in Saipem, eventually becoming chief financial and strategy officer. From 2012 to 2016 was the executive vice president planning and control for Eni, an oil and gas subsidiary of Saipem. Bozzini graduated in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan.

Spain: Cemex España is preparing to close its cement plants at Gádor in Almería and Lloseta in Baleares. It has blamed reduced demand for cement and European regulations on CO₂ emissions for the decision, according to the Cinco Días newspaper. The closures will affect 200 employees and the cement producer is has started to hold union discussions. Cemex will retain integrated plants at Morata de Jalón, Alicante, Alcanar, Castillejo Anover and Buñol.

Lesotho: Lafarge South Africa and Lephema Executive Group have launched a cement plant project, Maloti Mountain Cement. Thesele Maseribane, Minister of Communications, attended the ceremony with representatives of Lafarge South Africa, according to the Informative newspaper. Although reported at an ‘initial stage’ of development, the project has hired 150 employees.

China: Guangdong Tapai has ordered two coal mills from Germany’s Loesche for its two 10,000t/day clinker production lines in Jiaoling, Meizhou in Guangdong. This is a repeat order, following an order for two LM 35.3 D coal mills that was made in 2015. The 3-roller mill grinds 50t/hr of pulverised coal to a fineness of 3% with a sieving residue of 0.08 mm. The installed power is 1200kW. The order has been placed through Loesche Shanghai and the two newly ordered coal mills are expected to be delivered in April 2019.

Peru: Cal & Cemento Sur (Calcesur) plans to add a sixth production line to its cement and lime plant in Puno at the end of October 2018. The upgrade will increase the unit’s production capacity to 1Mt/yr from 0.63Mt/yr, according to the Gestion newspaper. The company says that following the expansion the site will be the largest lime plant in Latin America.

The subsidiary of Gloria Group has targeted a 12% year-on-year growth in sales in 2019. It plans to sell lime to the mining sector in northern Chile and it is also focusing on Ecuador and Bolivia. The company plans to launch lime-sand bricks in 2019 for local demand and in Chile.

The cement and lime producer also plans to launch its Tipo LH cement product at the end of October 2018 and to sell cement in 25kg bags. At present, the company sells 42.5kg bags.

France/Syria: A judicial investigation has seized Euro4m from former Lafarge executives, including former chief executive officer (CEO) Bruno Lafont, as part of a probe into the company’s conduct in Syria. Sources quoted by the Agence France Presse said that Euro2.5m was confiscated from Lafont’s leaving package of Euro8.4m as Lafarge merged with Holcim to form LafargeHolcim. Funds were also taken from Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois, the former directors of Lafarge Cement Syria, and from Christian Herrault, a dormer deputy general regional manager with overview of Syria.

Lafarge SA, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, has been placed under judicial investigation over its actions in Syria between 2011 and 2014. It has been accused of complicity in crimes against humanity and financing terrorism. A panel of three judges in Paris has ordered Lafarge to pay over Euro30m as a security deposit ahead of the trial. Eight former executives, including Lafont, have been charged in connection to the investigation.

Sweden: Cementa says it is considering decommissioning clinker and cement production at its 0.3Mt/yr Degerhamn plant due to increased environmental regulations. Production will be shifted to other local plants at Slite on Gotland and Brevik in Norway, and the site retained as a port terminal.

The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement said that although the unit had made several investments over the years to reduce its environmental impact its production equipment was difficult to adapt to future requirements for lower CO₂ emissions. Concentrating production to the other plants would mean a reduction in CO₂ emissions of 260,000t/yr.

75 employees work at the plant at Degerhamn. Union negotiations will start immediately and upon their conclusion the cement producer will make a final decision about the future of the plant. If decommissioning goes ahead then clinker and cement production will cease in 2019.

Niger: Nigeria’s Dangote Cement has started building a 2.5Mt/yr cement plant at Keita, near Tahoua. The project has a cost of US$275m, according to the Agence France Presse and local media. Construction is expected to last until the end of 2020. The unit will also include a 100MW captive coal-fired power plant.

The new plant is expected to reduce the price of cement locally, as the country mostly imports cement from Nigeria and Benin. Nouvelle Cimenterie de Niger (NCN) has been intermittently building an integrated plant at Malbaza since 2011.