06 May 2016
US: The US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Cleveland Area Office has cited Essroc Cement for one repeated and 10 serious safety and health violations at its site in Middlebranch, Ohio. OSHA found that the company had exposed workers to machine, noise and respiratory hazards following an investigation started in November 2015 after a complaint was submitted alleging unsafe working conditions. The US subsidiary of Italacementi faces fines of up to US$92,000 for the violations.
"Employers have a responsibility to protect workers from exposure to noise and respiratory hazards that can lead to debilitating health conditions," said Howard Eberts, OSHA's area director in Cleveland. "Essroc needs to immediately re-evaluate its safety and health programs to keep workers safe on the job."
Essroc operates a slag grinding plant and a cement terminal at the site.
Long Son Company orders mill from Loesche 06 May 2016
Vietnam: Long Son Company has ordered a cement grinding mill from Loesche for its Dong Son Bim Son cement plant. The order is part of a contract with Sinoma-NCDRI. The contract includes a type LM 56.4 Loesche mill with a performance of 520t/hour. It will grind cement to a fineness of 12% R DIN 0.09mm. The gearbox of this mill has a power output of 3600kW.
Somaliland: Raysut Cement, a cement producer based in Oman, has revealed that its project with Barwaaqo Cement Company in Berbera, Somaliland is progressing well. Raysut Cement signed a joint venture agreement with the Barwaaqo Cement Company in September 2014 to build a terminal for packing and distribution of bagged and bulk cement. The terminal will have a storage capacity of 12,000t and will be built with a capital expenditure of US$7.5m, according to the Times of Oman.
South Korea: Baring Private Equity Asia and Glenwood Private Equity have completed their acquisition of Lafarge Halla Cement from LafargeHolcim. The company will be rebranded as Halla Cement.
“The Baring Asia team impressed us with its knowledge and experience within the cement industry, and we have confidence in their ability to support our growth in the future. The industry in Korea is seeing a period of strong demand and we expect that to continue in the medium- to long-term, so we are looking forward to capitalising on this as an independent company,” said Jong Goo Moon, CEO of Halla Cement.
Halla Cement operates one 7.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant with four kilns. It runs two slag grinding plants located in Gwangyang, Jeonnam and Pohang, KyongSang with a capacity of 0.8Mt/yr and 1.5Mt/yr respectively. It also operates 10 distribution centres in the country. The company employs around 500 workers.