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US: Martin Engineering has launched its new Pin Latch Secondary Belt Cleaner, a tungsten carbide-tipped secondary cleaner that slides in and out for service without requiring any tools. The design features a square, tabbed mainframe with segmented blades connected by a pin mechanism, allowing access and blade replacement by semi-skilled personnel.
The pin latch design provides adjustable tension for varying conditions, such as belt speed, material being conveyed and belt cleaner position relative to the head pulley. It can handle belt speeds up to 5.1m/s and the versatile unit accommodates belt rollback. The carbide tip is acid- and abrasion-resistant, and the assembly is suited for use on belts with mechanical splices, smoothly adapting to and riding over the splices without damaging the splice, belt or blade. The new belt cleaner is considered as a preferred upgrade for Martin SQC2 and SC16 Secondary Cleaners.
“The maintenance-friendly design of the new Pin Latch Belt Cleaner is engineered for a wide range of global applications,” said Martin Engineering South Africa Sales Manager Pieter Opperman. “It can drastically reduce downtime for service or replacement, since no alignment or setting of the blade is required. Inventory is reduced to a one-part blade and buffer, without bolts, nuts or other fasteners.”
Martin Engineering builds products for bulk materials handling. The company has it headquarters in Neponset, Illinois. It has offices in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, India and the UK.
ARM Cement to finalise investor talks by mid-April 2016 04 April 2016
Kenya: ARM Cement expects to conclude talks on a foreign investor taking a US$140m stake in the company by 15 April 2016. The investment is expected to be concluded by June 2016, the Kenyan cement producer said in a statement sent to the Nairobi stock exchange and reported by Mist News.
“The board and management of the company believe that the investment would, if made, strengthen the financial position of the company as it executes its regional growth plans,” said ARM Cement in the statement.
ARM Cement announced in December 2015 that it was in talks with a potential investor. India’s UltraTech Cement was linked to the deal in January 2016. ARM Cement was said to be facing ‘liquidity challenges’ by the Capital Markets Authority in March 2016. The Kenyan cement producer has previously said that the foreign investment will be in the form of a seven-year convertible preference shares. This is not expected to reach the threshold requiring a mandatory takeover bid on conversion to equity in the company. Funds from the investment of up to US$110m will be used to repay company debt. The rest of the balance will go towards expanding the company’s cement business.
Armenia: Minister of Economy Artsvik Minasyan is hopeful that production will continue at the Hrazdan Cement Company once control of the plant is taken over by its creditor, the VTB Bank (Armenia). Minasyan made the comments to the Arminfo news agency.
In February 2016 the Armenian government approved a draft decision to release Hrazdan Cement from a US$1.06m fine. Former Minister of Economy Karen Chshmaritian announced that the VTB Bank would provide a US$4.6m recovery loan to the plant. The intention was to reach a cement production level of 0.2Mt/yr and create 250 new jobs. In 2015 around 80,000t of cement was produced. Most of this was exported.
Hrazdan Cement, originally known as Mika Cement, was built in 1970. The company was privatised in 2001 and has had financial problems since 2013. The cement plant has two production lines and a clinker production capacity of 1Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr.
Derba Cement plans US$300m expansion 04 April 2016
Ethiopia: Derba Cement is planning to build a US$300m expansion to its cement plant. The new plant in Chancho City, Sululta will have a production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr. The project is expected to take 18 – 24 months to complete once started, according to the Cihan News Agency.
The subsidiary of MIDROC is in talks with China National Building Materials Company to build the new plant. It is negotiating with the Development Bank of Ethiopia, International Financial Corp, the World Bank Group investment arm, the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank to finance the project, according to Derba Cement CEO, Haile Assegide.
Haile added that Derba Cement’s decision to build an upgrade in a market with excess production capacity made sense due to the project’s cost efficiency. The new plant will use existing infrastructure to cut its costs. The plant will also benefit if the government implements the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) increasing demand for cement.
Derba Cement has a 2.5Mt/yr cement plant at Chancho City. However, the plant is producing 0.5Mt/yr less than its capacity due to power supply interruptions. The Gilgel Gibe III Dam, that started producing electricity in late 2015, is expected to normalise the electric supply to the plant.
India: OCL India has inaugurated a 5.5MW solar power plant for use by its cement grinding plant in Salboni, Bengal. The 1.35Mt/yr grinding plant was set up in 2014 with an investment of US$93m.
"Our plant at Paschim Medinipore is located strategically to ensure timely and faster delivery of cement across the state. West Bengal is an emerging market for infrastructure development with a host of projects under implementation and thereby auguring well for the cement industry in Eastern India. In our first year of operations in Medinipore we are already operating at 95% capacity utilisation," said Amandeep, director and CEO of OCL India. He added that the solar plant will be the first and largest of its kind in West Bengal
OCL India also operates two cement plants at Kapilash and Rajgangpur in Orissa with a combined production capacity of 5.35Mt/yr.