23 April 2014
India: Italcementi subsidiary Zuari Cement has held the ground breaking ceremony for a cement packing terminal in Kochi, Kerala. The port-based facility will be ready by the third quarter of 2015 and it will have a packing capacity of 1Mt/yr of cement. Roberto Callieri, zone director of the group, was the chief guest at the ceremony.
Guangdong Tapai to build US$570m clinker line 23 April 2014
China: Guangdong Tapai Group plans to invest about US$570m towards building a new clinker production line in Meizhou City in Guangdong Province. The line will include two 10,000t/day rotary kiln clinker production lines and two 20MW low-temperature waste heat power generation system. The project will produce 6Mt/yr of clinker and is pending government approval.
Spain: Workers at Holcim Spain have approved a preliminary agreement for a downsizing plan for 122 employees. With the agreement, the trade unions managed to reduce the number of employees included in the downsizing plan by 13.4% from the 141 workers originally intended.
Lafarge to start fracking waste water trial 23 April 2014
Canada: The Nova Scotia government has said that hydraulic fracturing waste water is going to be shipped to a Lafarge Canada cement plant in Brookfield for use in cement production. Environment Minister Randy Delorey presented details of the pilot project at a community meeting in Truro.
Atlantic Industrial Services will ship 2Ml of waste water from holding ponds in Debert to Brookfield over a three week period. The water will be used as coolant in the kiln and evaporated at 700°C. Lafarge will test its equipment for residual inorganic materials before and after using the water.
Pakistan: A US$130m contract for the construction of Pakistan's first dirty cargo terminal, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), at Port Qasim has been awarded to China Harbour Works.
The total cost of the PIBT will be US$250m, which will include the cost of equipment. In the first phase the terminal will have the capacity to handle 12Mt/yr of imported coal, 5Mt/yr of cement and 2Mt/yr of clinker. In the second phase the PIBT will expand its capacity of imported coal to 20Mt/yr to meet the growing energy demand of the country.
China Harbour Works will start civil work on the terminal within a month and complete it within two years. Coal imports to Pakistan are expected to grow given that most of the new power plants under construction are coal based and many old plants are also being converted to use coal.