Mongolia: L Naranbaatar, the head of Khutul Cement and Lime, has responded to a strike at the company by outlining changes made since it was nationalised in 2022. Workers are protesting with demands to add wage incentives and to appoint managers from within the company, according to the UB Post newspaper. They have also alleged that the company is spending its budget illegally.

During a press conference Naranbaatar explained that the company produced 403,000t of cement in 2022, an increase from 2021. It reported a profit of US$3.3m in 2022, the first time it had made a profit in the last decade. However, the producer’s wage bill nearly doubled to just below US$6m in 2022. The company also spent US$2.25m on upgrades to the plant in 2022, the first such investment made in five years, compared to US$171,000 spent on maintenance in 2021.

Former economist L Naranbaatar was appointed as the head of Khutul Cement and Lime in March 2022. The company was transferred to the Development Bank of Mongolia when the heir of the previous owners refused to accept the inheritance.

Poland: Lafarge Cement Polska has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with KGAL Investment Management. The KGAL ESPF 4 renewable energy fund will provide the cement producer with around 230GWh/yr of electrical energy from two onshore wind farms. These will be the 35MW Krasin unit, which opened in 2022, and the 27MW Rywald unit, which is scheduled to start feeding the local grid from October 2023. With this latest agreement in place, Lafarge Cement Polska will be able to cover over half of its electrical supply requirements from renewable sources.

KGAL is an independent investment and asset manager based in Germany. It focuses its investments in real estate, sustainable infrastructure and aviation sectors.

Image credit: KGAL GmbH & Co. KG.

Saudi Arabia: Riyadh Cement has ordered an airslide analyser from Switzerland-based SpectraFlow Analytics for its white cement production line. The contract also includes raw mix proportioning software. The product is an online analyser able to measure raw materials in airslides. The vendor says that by using its analyser, and a site-specific raw mix proportioning strategy, the variation in the local raw materials can be balanced out to increase consistency of the raw meal and kiln feed quality. Also the variable MgO, Na₂O, K₂O, Cl and SO₃ content is optimally monitored.

This order is SpectraFlow Analytics’ 49th order for the cement Industry and the first airslide analyser installation in Saudi Arabia. This order raises the installed base in Saudi Arabia to seven analysers (6 crossbelt, 1 airslide) and worldwide to 71 analysers (40 crossbelt and 31 airslide).

SpectraFlow Analytics sells online analysis products to the cement, bauxite, gold, platinum, copper, potash, phosphate, coal and other minerals industries. Its products are based on near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as opposed to using radioactive sources or neutron generators.

Ethiopia: China-based Sinoma International Engineering has signed an agreement with National West International Holding (WIH) Building Materials to build an industrial park development project at Dire Dawa. The project has an investment of US$600m and will include a 6000t/day cement plant and a 1000t/day lime unit, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The proposed industrial park is relatively close to the Port of Djibouti, in neighbouring Djibouti, to allow for access to raw materials and potential export markets.

WIH, a joint-venture between companies based in Ethiopia and China, already operates a cement plant at Lemi in Amhara Region.