UK: The Mineral Products Association (MPA) has appointed Simon Willis as its chairman for the next two years. He succeeds Martin Riley, Senior Vice President at Tarmac, as the eighth incumbent in the role. Willis is currently the chief executive officer (CEO) of HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson UK. He holds experience in the aggregates and construction materials industry and has held previous directorship roles at Eurovia Infrastructure, Midland Quarry Products and Tarmac.

India: Ambuja Cement has appointed Rajani Kesari as its chief financial officer (CFO). She succeeds Sonal Shrivastava, who has moved to a new role in LafargeHolcim Group.

Kesari holds over 26 years of experience in accounting, finance, taxation, audit and general management in manufacturing, pharmaceutical as well as auditing and consulting companies. She is currently the CFO of ACC, another subsidiary of LafargeHolcim. Prior to that she was the Head of Finance for Asia Region for LafargeHolcim Group. She joined LafarqeHolcim Group in 2018 from Schneider Electric, an energy management and automation company where she was the CFO for East Asia and Japan Zone.

Kesari started her career in 1991 in finance and auditing with Lovelock & Lewes. Apart from LafargeHolcim Group, she has worked in senior positions with organisations including KPMG, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Schneider Electric. Kesari is a qualified chartered accountant from ICAI, a Cost Accountant from ICWAI and a certified public accountant from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant.

India: JK Cement has appointed Sushila Devi Singhania as the chairperson of its board. She has been a director of the cement producer since 2014. She also holds directorships with Yadu International and GH Securities, as well as leading roles with several educational organisations in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Denmark: FLSmidth has appointed Tamer Eid as the new president for the Australia region, with effect from 14 September 2020, and Claudio Garcia Bernal as president for the South America region. The group also announced that Ramanathan (Ram) Chandran, who was appointed president for the Subcontinental India region in August 2020, will start his role on 4 September 2020.

Tamer Eid has held various senior executive and technical roles in the mining and oil and gas sectors including working with Weir in the US and UK and in various senior roles within Outotec. He holds an MBA and a degree in mechanical engineering. He will be based out of FLSmidth’s Welshpool facility in Perth, Australia.

Claudio Garcia Bernal previously served as acting president for the South America region since April 2020. Ramanathan Chandran joins FLSmdith from Minerals Technologies Inc. where he was Vice President (Minteq Asia) & MD (Minerals Technologies India).

US: Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) has appointed Thomas Brooks as its chief technology officer (CTO). He previously worked as BHS’ Director of Technology and Product Development. Brooks was recently named a Waste360 40 Under 40 award winner. He has served in management and new product development roles in the aerospace, biomedical, industrial and automotive industries, among others. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Tennessee Tech University in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on controls and fluid dynamics.

Canada: Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos is in talks with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) over possible acquisition of the investment company majority stake in McInnis Cement. Quebec Premier François Legault said, “Quebecers have already invested a lot in the cement plant. For nationalism reasons, I would like a Quebec company to be ready to invest,” according to the Journal de Montreal newspaper. Béton Provincial has registered for a government grant of US$115m in order to acquire the stake, which has been for sale since January 2020. Investissement Québec and the Beaudier Group are both minority shareholders.

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.

China: Huaxin Cement’s sales and profit fell in the first half of 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. It said that the health situation, “resulted in grave insufficient demand in the markets of main products and rapid slump in price, coupled with restrictions on personnel flow and traffic, equipment maintenance plan was affected severely.” The cement producer disposed of medical waste for free at its Yangxin, Wuxue and Yichang plants before the market recovered in the second quarter.

Huaxin’s sales revenue fell by 12.7% year-on-year to US$1.84bn in the first half of 2020 from US$2.11bn in the same period in 2019. Its net profit dropped by 29% to US$330m from US$463m. Cement sales and concrete volumes declined by 8% to 32.7Mt. The company also started clinker production at its 2Mt/yr Jizzakh cement plant in Uzbekistan in June 2020.

Kazakhstan: Private businessperson Azmi Wan Hamzah has increased his stake in Steppe Cement to 31% of issued share capital from 29%. RNS News has reported that Wan Hamzah holds shares in Steppe Cement via Alwah Fund Limited, Halfmoon Bay Capital and Mango Bay Enterprises.

Brazil: Aumund Brazil will supply a type BZB bucket apron conveyor to Votorantim’s Xambioá integrated cement plant in Tocatins. It will replace a pan conveyor being used to transport clinker from the cooler to the silo. The new conveyor will have a centre distance of 92m and a conveying capacity of up to 170t/hr. The upgrade is expected to reduce dust levels at the site. Supply and commissioning of the new bucket apron conveyor in Xambioá is due to take place in October 2020. The order follows a previous order to Aumund for a similar project at Votorantim’s at Vidal Ramos plant in Santa Catarina.