09 April 2014
French Guiana: Colombia's Cementos Argos has signed an agreement with the French multinational cement giant Lafarge to acquire assets in French Guiana for Euro50m. The purchase is coherent with Cementos Argos' objective of consolidating its operational and logistical cement network and with its expansion strategy, which has recently incorporated assets in the United States and Honduras.
Subject to approvals, Cementos Argos has acquired 100% of the company Ciments Guyanais, which is owned equally by France's Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim. As such the announced deal represents the first sale of Lafarge, Holcim or Lafarge-Holcim joint venture cement assets since the announcement of the intended mega-merger between Lafarge and Holcim to form LafargeHolcim. The assets included in the purchase are a 0.2Mt/yr clinker grinding station and a port, both located in Dégrad des Cannes, close to the capital, Cayenne. They generate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of approximately Euro8.1m/yr.
"This new acquisition in French Guiana nicely complements our current network of assets in the region, especially given its proximity to our grinding facilities in Suriname and our cement terminals in the Antilles," said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos. "This overseas department of France has cement consumption per capita of 433kg/capita/yr, which is almost twice as much as the average in Latin America. Also, the assets are well aligned with the operations that were recently acquired in the United States and our assets in the Caribbean and Colombia."
The transaction is subject to the usual regulatory procedures.
India: Energy management firm Schneider Electric has entered into a strategic partnership with industrial software developer Ramco Systems. The partnership will see Ramco's process optimisation software, OPTIMA, become a part of Schneider Electric's solutions for the cement industry. The partnership is intended to offer cement producers products that optimise production processes by reducing energy and emissions focusing on kiln and mill operation.
"The combined offer of process control, expert system and energy management allows the deployment of a unique optimisation strategy. This strategy will ensure optimum consumption of resources, best use of assets, maintain quality of product and stabilise processes while building an environmentally-sustainable business," said Mining, Minerals and Metals Solution President, Schneider Electric, Diego Areces.
OPTIMA is an process optimisation solution that has been designed to improve plant productivity and efficiency and leverages technologies like fuzzy logic, regression analysis and artificial intelligence techniques.
Lucky Cement opens grinding plant in Iraq 09 April 2014
Iraq: Lucky Cement has started production at a cement grinding plant in Basra, southern Iraq. The US$40m plant is a joint venture between Pakistan-based Lucky Cement and the Al-Shawy family. It has a production capacity of 3000t/day or 0.8Mt/yr. The plant is intended to supply cement for the southern Iraq market.
In comments reported by Mena Report Lucky Cement CEO Muhammad Ali Tabba said that the completed grinding plant is the first phase of development at the site. Lucky Cement may continue development at the plant investing US$125m to build an integrated cement production line with a capacity of 1.25Mt/yr.
Tabba added that Lucky Cement is also working on building a US$240m plant in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It has a 50-50 agreement with the Rawji Group, a local company, to start production via a company called Nyumba Ya Akiba. When operational, the plant in DRC will produce 1.2Mt/yr of cement.
Pakistan: DG Khan Cement is planning to start building a new cement plant at Hub, Balochistan in 2015, according to a company official. The plant will have a production capacity of 2 – 2.5Mt/yr and the project will cost US$250m. The plant will become operation by the end of 2017.
"At present, we are in the phase of finalising vendors for the construction site. In the next phase, we will open letter of credit," the official said.
DG Khan Cement is forecasting development in Balochistan and Sindh and it also hopes to increase movement of its products between provinces in Pakistan. Dispatching cement from the proposed Hub plant will incur lower freight charges compared to transporting cement from DG Khan's existing plants in Punjab.
BUA Cement signs with Nigerian Gas Company 09 April 2014
Nigeria: BUA Cement has signed a gas sales and purchase agreement with the Nigerian Gas Company for its subsidiary, the Edo Cement Company. The agreement is for the supply of about 0.9Mm3/day to the Edo cement plant in Okpella, according to managing director Saidu Mohammed.
BUA Group entered the cement industry in 2008 when the Federal Government of Nigeria issued cement import licenses to 13 companies, including BUA, in an effort to bring down its price locally. BUA Cement subsequently purchased a floating cement terminal in 2008 for processing and bagging bulk cement. In 2009 BUA acquired controlling stakes in the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (Sokoto Cement) and the Edo Cement Company.
Construction starts on two cement plants in Tajikistan 09 April 2014
Tajikistan: Construction work on two cement plants with a total installed production capacity of 1.8Mt/yr has started in northern Tajikistan. President Emomali Rahmon attended the opening ceremonies of both plants.
The first plant, Ghayur-Sughd Cement - with a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr - will be built in Ghafur district on a 48 hectare site. The plant will be built by the Tajik Ghayur company together with a Chinese partner, Huaksin Central Asia Investment. The cost of the project is over US$100m. After the plant is commissioned it will employ 1000 people. The first unit of the plant is scheduled for launch in 2015 and the second in 2016. Previously Tajik Ghayur and Huaksin built the 1Mt/yr Yuvon cement plant, which opened in 2013.
President Rahmon also attended the opening ceremony of the construction of Chjuntsay-Taboshar Cement plant. This 0.6Mt/yr plant is scheduled for completion in 2015 and it will employ nearly 500 people.