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Russia: Sibirsky Cement expects that demand for cement in Siberia will fall by 8 – 10% to 4.7 - 4.8Mt in 2017. The cement producer said that its output decreased by 22% to 2.15Mt from its Kemerovo Region-based Topkinsky Cement, by 3% to 0.75Mt from its Krasnoyarsky Cement plant and by 10% to 0.27Mt from its Timlyuisky cement plant, according to the Prime Tass news agency. Overall its cement production fell by 17% year-on-year to 3.17Mt in 2016. It has blamed falling production on an overall decline in Russia’s cement market.
Algeria/Nigeria: CBMI Construction (Sinoma) has issued paperwork passing over completed projects to Lafarge Africa, a part of LafargeHolcim, for projects in Algeria and Nigeria.
A provisional taking-over certificate (PTC) was signed by representatives of Unicem, a joint venture partly operated by Lafarge Africa in Nigeria, at Sinoma’s Beijing headquarters on 18 January 2017. Tomas Lorent, Lafarge Africa Project Manager and Liu Xinwang, CBMI Project Manager signed the paperwork on behalf of their companies. The certificate was signed eight weeks ahead of the contract. The new production line at the Calabar cement plant in Cross River State started operation in the summer of 2016. It includes one of the world’s largest vertical roller mills supplied by Loesche.
Meanwhile, a different PTC was signed on the same day by Didier Michel, Lafarge Algeria’s Project Manager and Gu Jinjun, CBMI Project Manager at Lafarge Algeria’s headquarters in Algiers. The 2.7Mt/yr CILAS Biskra cement plant, a joint operation between Lafarge Algeria and Souakri Group, was commissioned in the summer of 2016.
India: UltaTech Cement’s net profit has risen by 20% year-on-year to US$292m for the first nine months of its financial year to the 31 March 2017 from US$244m in the same period in the pervious year. Its total income from operations rose slightly to US$3.04bn. However, net sales fell slightly in the third quarter.
The cement producer reported that its board of directors had approved the setting up of a 3.5Mt/yr cement plant at Dhar, Madhya Pradesh for a cost of around US$382m. Commercial production at the plant is anticipated to start in early 2019. The plant is intended to grow the company’s markets in southwest Madhya Pradesh.
UltaTech Cement added that it had deposited a penalty of US$17.3m, 10% of a fine imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in August 2016. It is also facing a separate fine for U$10m from the CCI in relation to alleged misconduct in Haryana. The company intends to appeal both fines.
Holcim New Zealand in talks to sell Westport plant 20 January 2017
New Zealand: Holcim is conducting negotiations with prospective buyers for its Westport cement plant and associated assets. The cement producer closed the site in June 2016 with the loss of 100 jobs, according to the Daily Post newspaper. The assets on sale include the cement plant site, a quarry, a packing plant site, wharf silos, a water treatment plant and 11 houses. The assets comprise about 500 hectares of land, including 200 hectares of farmland. Expressions of interest closed in July 2016.
Flexicon launches weigh hopper with fill-pass valve 20 January 2017
UK: Flexicon has launched a weigh hopper with a ‘Fill/Pass’ valve for dilute-phase pneumatic conveying systems. The ‘Fill/Pass’ valve allows material to pass through the valve or to fill a hopper based on weight gain signals transmitted from load cells to the system's controller.
Suspended from three small-scale load cells, the bulk handling company says that the gain-in-weight hopper delivers higher accuracy than loss-of-weight systems requiring higher-capacity load cells. Single or multiple hoppers can be positioned along a common vacuum or positive pressure pneumatic conveying line for the discharging of dry bulk solids into single or multiple process equipment, storage vessels or downstream use points by weight. Downstream of the last ‘Fill/Pass’ valve, the conveying line can be routed to the original material source point or into a dust collection device.