Global Cement News

South Africa: PPC has appointed Roann Heunis as its National Technical Manager. Prior to this he worked as a manager and a technical consultant for the building materials producer. Earlier in his career, Heunis was a Technical Sales Representative for Chryso Southern Africa. He holds a qualification in civil engineering from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

US: Command Alkon has appointed Ron Carlson as Senior Vice President, Industry Liaison. The role will involve enhancing customer engagement, providing strategic industry insights, and fostering long-term relationships with key accounts.

Carlson previously worked as the Executive Vice President of Operations at Superior Materials, a Votorantim Cimentos North America company based in Detroit, and Wingra Ready-Mix and Stone Company based in Madison, Wisconsin. Prior to this he spent a decade with Ozinga Ready-Mix in Chicago. Carlson currently sits on the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s Operations Environment and Safety Committee, and he has also served as an elected board member of the Wisconsin Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

US: Saxum has appointed Jared Weston as General Manager for North American Operations & VP of Strategic Planning. He previously worked as Director of Sales and VP of Strategic Planning for the engineering and project management company. Earlier in his career he spent over 15 years working for FLSmidth, starting as a commissioning engineer in 2006 and becoming head of Capital Sales from 2020 to 2023. Weston is a graduate in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from Penn State University.

Kenya: The government has decided to sell its entire 25% stake in East African Portland Cement Company, as part of a strategic reform of its investments, guided by the International Monetary Fund. The Star newspaper has reported that the government expects to earn US$134m from the sale. It reportedly sold 30% of shares in the producer for US$117m in 2023.

Of East African Portland Cement Company’s multiple minority shareholders, the largest is Lafarge South Africa, with 42% of shares, followed by the Kenyan National Social Security Fund, with 27%.

Canada: Hyperion Global Energy has fired up its pilot Tandem Carbon Recycling System at Lafarge Canada’s Bath cement plant in Ontario. The system mineralises captured CO₂ to produce mineral components for alternative building materials. It has a capture capacity of 1000t/yr. The partners will test the Tandem Carbon Recycling System in producing Lafarge Canada’s 30 – 90% reduced CO₂ ECOPact concrete.

Lafarge Canada’s Eastern Canada regional president and CEO of David Redfern said "Our collaboration with Hyperion marks an exciting milestone in our decarbonisation journey and the advancement of our circular construction technologies. We look forward to advancing our net zero strategy by leveraging carbon utilisation technology like Hyperion's, enabling us to further reduce CO₂ emissions from our operations while at the same time producing innovative and sustainable building solutions."

Hyperion CEO Heather Ward said "Working together with an innovative partner like Lafarge on this exciting pilot project allows us to apply our proprietary carbon recycling technology to large-scale industries, and make an immediate, measurable reduction on carbon emissions. At the same time, we are advancing our vision to offer a scalable and affordable decarbonisation solution for industry, and a market-driven profit incentive on the cost of carbon removal."