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Dangote Cement to start coal mining coal towards end of 2016 09 August 2016
Nigeria: Dangote Cement intends to start mining its own coal at Ankpa, Kogi State in order to cope with gas shortages in the country. The coal will be of a high enough quality to be used without blending. Most of the cement producer’s production lines in Nigeria will have operational coal mills by September 2016. At present the company is using locally purchased coal that is blended with imported coal to ‘assure optimal quality.’
“Our investment in coal is enabling us to reduce our dependence on both oil and gas as fuel sources, thus protecting our production from disruption and improving margins,” said chief executive Onne van der Weijde.
CILAS Biskra cement plant starts production 09 August 2016
Algeria: The CILAS Bikra cement plant started production in mid-July 2016, 11 days before the scheduled start of operations. The 2.7Mt/yr plant is a joint venture between Lafarge Algeria and Souakri Group. The project had an investment of Euro270m and it took 21 months to build, according to Le Matin newspaper.
Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement Group entered into a collaboration agreement with Ube Industries from 1 August 2016 for technical support services and to import raw materials from Japan, to manufacture ‘high quality’ cement.
Meghna Cement Mills worker dies at Mongla port 08 August 2016
Bangladesh: Masud Sheikh, a technician working at Bashundhara Group's Meghna Cement Mills, has died from inhaling ‘poisonous gas’ in an abandoned barge owned by Meghna Cement Mills at the port of Mongla. Sheikh, aged 42 years and a Bangladeshi national, was attempting to rescue a Chinese national who also died in the incident, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The Chinese employee of Sinohydro supporting the construction of the Padma Bridge was checking the barge prior to its sale.
Secil Lobito struggling to import raw materials 05 August 2016
Angola: Augusto Miragaia, the director of Secil Lobito, has said that he expects his company’s sales volumes of cement to drop by 25% year-on-year to 150,000 in 2016. He attributed the fall in sales to difficulties in obtaining foreign currencies to import raw material, according to the O País newspaper.
The company, which operates a cement grinding plant in Lobito, is unable to import sufficient clinker, other raw materials or hire skilled workers. It also faces mounting fuel and electricity costs. During the past three months the plant has used clinker purchased from the Cuanza Sul Cement plant but this source stopped supplying it in late June 2016.
Angola has five cement plants and an installed capacity of about 8Mt/yr. Demand exceeded production capacity by 2.7Mt/yr in 2015. The Lobito cement plant is majority owned by Secil-Angola. The remaining 49% stake is held by Angola’s state-run company Empresa Nacional de Cimentos.