Global Cement News

US: Jose Llontop has joined Giant Cement as its new CEO and president. He joins the company with 14 years of experience in the industry. Previously he has held senior level positions at Cemex, including being the regional president for a US$1bn sales operation for countries in Central Eastern Europe and being the president of Cemex Egypt.

"Llontop is a professional with a long and successful career in the cement industry, who has held positions of high responsibility in different countries and achieved excellent results," said Juan Bejar, chairman and CEO of Cementos Portland Valderrivas, the Spanish company that owns Giant.

Llontop received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, completed his MBA at Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA, and attended the Harvard Business School's General Manager Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Llontop served as chairman of the Cemex supervisory board in Austria and as vice chairman of the Cemex board in Egypt. Since 2010 Llontop was the president of Saudi Readymix, and the senior vice president of Building Materials for Alturki Group in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Germany: Dr Michael Mutz has been appointed as the new head of division, Minerals & Mining, at Aumund Fördertechnik GmbH in Rheinberg.

"We are thus strengthening the team and we are advancing the business segment expansion in this prospering market," commented Aumund managing director Jörg Hoffmann on the appointment.

The 41 year-old from Westphalia, Germany comes from a mining family and has continued the family tradition, studying geology specialised in the exploration of solid mineral raw materials, oil and gas. Mutz started out with various mining prospecting projects, including Roland Berger and CPRM, the Brazilian state geological service.

After many years' activity in iron ore mining in Brazil (ThyssenKrupp) Mutz graduated from the Technical University of Clausthal in geology. His experience in the machinery and equipment business started in 2006 at Hazemag & EPR where he headed-up international sales and coordination of key accounts from 2008.

"The good reputation of the Aumund Group and the decades of successes in the cement, power and metallurgy sectors are a solid foundation to also gain a foothold as a supplier in the very service-oriented mining business," said Mutz.

Mutz has been in post at Aumund since April 2012.

Philippines: Lafarge Republic plans to increase its production capacity by roughly 1Mt/yr starting in 2013 to meet strong public and private sector demand for cement in the Philippines.

The firm, whose production capacity was reported at 7.7Mt/yr in early 2011, said it will be refurbishing its grinding plant in Danao, Cebu and the mill at its plant in Norzagaray, Bulacan, yielding a capacity of 650,000t/yr in Visayas, as well as another 200,000t/yr in Luzon and 100,000t/yr in Mindanao.

"Based upon the strong demand growth for building materials during the first half of 2012 and our understanding of the order backlog of construction projects for the leading construction companies, we expect another year of sales and earnings growth in 2013," said Dong H Lee, country chief executive of Lafarge in the Philippines.

Israel: Mashav Initiation and Development, a subsidiary of Clal Industries and Investments, will invest US$90m to expand its private power station, which supplies electricity to Nesher Cement Enterprises. The power station's production capacity will be initially expanded by 50MW and then by 70MW.

Clal Industries owns 75% of Mashav, and Ireland's CRH owns 25%. Mashav's 50MW natural gas-driven power station received a 20 year independent power producer license in 2010. The expansion, scheduled for mid-2014, will increase production capacity to 100MW and then to 120MW in the second half of that year. The surplus power not used by Nesher will be sold to private customers.

Clal Industries' board of directors has instructed Mashav's management to secure financing for the project from external sources.

China: An accidental explosion at a quarry supplying a cement plant in southern China has killed ten people and left 18 with confirmed injuries.

Workers were in the process of unloading 13t of explosives from three trucks at a quarry of the Longshan Cement Company in Yingde city in Guangdong Province when some of the explosives ignited on 27 August 2012. Of the 18 injured, nine are workers from the cement company and the others are residents in the nearby town of Yinghong, which is separated from the quarry by a river.

At least nine people living in a nearby town were also injured in the blast when windows shattered. Among the dead were quarry workers and others who transported and unloaded the explosives.

An investigation team has been set up and sent to the site of the accident to search for evidence and handle the remains of the explosives. A probe into the cause of the blast is underway.

Longshan Cement Company, a subsidiary of Anhui Conch Cement, employs 950 people, including 240 who work at the quarry.