Displaying items by tag: Canada
Quebec to approve McInnis Cement’s Port-Daniel-Gascons plant without environmental review
20 February 2015Canada: Former Quebec premier Pauline Marois has announced the go-ahead of McInnis Cement's cement plant project in Port-Daniel-Gascons, Gaspé. Opposition parties and environmentalists have slammed the Couillard government for approving the US$1.1bn project without a review by Quebec's environmental bureau. The McInnis Cement plant could top the list of industrial polluters in the province.
The provincial government plans to exempt the project from an assessment by the Bureau des Audiences Publique sur l'Environnement (BAPE), Quebec's advisory office of environmental hearings. The company has said that the project shouldn't be subject to an environmental review because it was submitted in May 1995, a month before the law requiring such an assessment came into effect.
In 2014, the Marois government announced that Quebec would invest US$350m in the project. The plant will release 1.7Mt/yr of greenhouse gases (GHG), according to an evaluation by a Canadian engineering consultant firm. The greenhouse gas output would make it the top industrial polluter in Quebec.
Agreement between McInnis Cement and the Centre québécois du Droit de l’Environnement (CQDE)
19 February 2015Canada: McInnis Cement has reached an agreement with the Centre québécois du Droit de l'Environnement (CQDE) regarding the proceedings filed in August 2014 against the Environment Minister, aimed at invalidating McInnis Cement's authorisation certificate for its cement plant project in Port-Daniel–Gascons. McInnis Cement and the CQDE have agreed to create an environmental subcommittee and to pursue discussions in a mediation process that will address three issues:
1. The monitoring of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the cement plant and McInnis Cement's efforts to reduce GHG;
2. The monitoring of McInnis Cement's performance in complying with the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) standards with regards to the emission of contaminants;
3. The monitoring of McInnis Cement's compliance with the protocol agreed to with Fisheries and Oceans Canada concerning the protection of marine mammals.
In addition to the CQDE, the Conseil régional de l'Environnement de la Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Nature-Québec have been invited to the mediation process, as well as the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et de la Lutte aux Changements climatiques. The work of the enlarged forum will ensure a long-term dialogue around the future cement plant and is part of McInnis Cement's sustainable development values.
"From day one of Lafarge's filing of the request, McInnis Cement stated that it was a maneuver to slow the arrival of a competitor in the market. The withdrawal of the environmental groups is leaving Lafarge alone in the legal proceedings and highlight its non-competitive purpose," explained Christian Gagnon, CEO of McInnis Cement. "McInnis Cement is aware of its carbon footprint and is committed to gradually reducing its GHG. In this context, we choose the path of dialogue, opting for a mediation with environmental groups about this global issue," said Gagnon.
Canada: The Cement Association of Canada (CAC) has welcomed the British Columbia government's efforts to improve the Province's carbon tax. The British Columbia Carbon Tax is applied only to domestically-produced cement, while imported cement from the US and Asia is exempt, resulting in a net loss to the British Columbia economy. With local manufacturers facing higher costs under the carbon tax, cement imports from jurisdictions without a carbon policy have risen significantly.
The proposed 'transitional incentives,' of US$22m paid over a three year period, to encourage the British Columbia Cement industry to adopt cleaner fuels and further lower emission intensities will assist the current inequality that the industry faces as a result of imports coming from the US and Asia into British Columbia with no carbon tax applied. The cement industry has been working with the British Columbia government and other stakeholders for many years to find a win-win solution to protecting jobs, economic development and the environment.
"British Columbia produces some of the highest quality cement in the world, so the change makes sense both for the environment and for the Province's continued economic prosperity. British Columbia cement is a strategic commodity and a key component of concrete, which is essential to the implementation of the government's ambitious plan for infrastructure development," said CAC president and CEO Michael McSweeney.
"This incentive will help level the playing field for domestic producers of cement. It assists our company to ensure that good jobs stay and continue to be created in British Columbia," said Bob Cooper, vice president of Lafarge Western Canada. "Our competitiveness has been threatened by imports for the past five years and the move by the British Columbia government will also ensure that British Columbia has a long-term and secure local supply of made-in-British Columbia cement."
New appointments at McInnis Cement
18 February 2015Canada: Alexandre Rail has been appointed as plant manager of McInnis Cement's Port-Daniel-Gascons plant in Gaspé. Rail brings with him 15 years of experience in heavy industry. He joins the company from ArcelorMittal, where he served as a Steel plant manager for seven years.
"We are pleased with our recruitment of an experienced manager in the heavy industry who shares our values in the areas of health and safety, environment and quality. Rail has proven abilities to mobilise employees," said Christian Gagnon, CEO of McInnis Cement. "Rail's family comes from Gaspé, so he is undoubtedly happy to relocate to that region and eager to contribute its local economic development."
McInnis Cement has also named Mark T Newhart as vice president of Logistics and Distribution and as a member of the company's management team. He will develop an efficient distribution network, with responsibility for transport management and marine terminals. Newhart will report to Jim Braselton, senior vice president of Commerical and Logistics.
"With his 30 years of experience in logistics, which includes 20 years in the cement industry, the addition of Mark to our management team is a major milestone," said Gagnon. "Since our business model is based on marine transportation of our products, Newhart's expertise in transportation and marine terminal management will be beneficial for our organisation."
With Newhart's appointment, McInnis Cement's management team is now complete. It comprises: Christian Gagnon as CEO; André Racine as senior vice president of Corporate Development and Legal Affairs; Jim Braselton as senior vice president of Commercial and Logistics; Gaétan Vézina as senior vice president of Operations; Claude Ferland as CFO; Mark T Newhart as vice president of Logistics and Distribution; Marc Lachapelle as senior director of Human Resources; Maryse Tremblay as director of Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility. McInnis Cement has also announced the relocation of its corporate office in downtown Montreal.
CRH wins the race to the LafargeHolcim gold
04 February 2015CRH has made good on its intentions. This week it stumped up Euro6.5bn to buy assets from Lafarge and Holcim in four continents. The move follows preparation since at least May 2014 when the Irish building materials group announced a divestment programme. In October 2014 it announced that it would sell its brickwork division.
CRH is finding the cash through a mix of existing cash, debt and equity placing. Interestingly, back in 2012 an Irish stockbroking analyst who was interviewed reckoned that the company could spend up to Euro3.5bn on acquisitions whilst remaining within its banking agreements. Throw in the recent sales and planned divestments and the planned acquisition from LafargeHolcim doesn't seem like too much of a stretch for CRH.
If completed, the purchase will see CRH take on 24 cement plants with a production capacity of 36Mt/yr. As a back of the envelope calculation suggests the sale price of Euro6.5bn isn't far off the occasionally used price of US$200/t for western cement production. The deal also includes aggregates, ready mixed concrete and asphalt assets.
The purchase marks a change in CRH's buying strategy both in terms of scale and distribution. Much of CRH's previous acquisitions have been minority shareholdings that make it difficult to accurately report the company's position in the cement industry. For example, in our Top 100 Report CRH was reported to have a production capacity of 6.49Mt/yr for majority shareholdings with another 19.9Mt/yr for minority shareholdings. The new cement capacity being purchased blows this away because it more than doubles CRH's total capacity and it appears to be all majority owned. CRH thinks that this will propel it to become the world's third biggest building materials manufacturer after LafargeHolcim and Saint-Gobain, leapfrogging Cemex and HeidelbergCement in the process. Strangely there is no mention of the huge Chinese players in the top five manufacturers in CRH's acquisition presentation.
CRH has avoided buying plants in southern Europe but it is relying on the slowly improving growing UK market, where CRH will pick up four plants, to balance the risk. Elsewhere in Europe, the three Holcim plants in France have been suffering from continued low construction rates in that country and the two Lafarge cement plants in Romania are unlikely to have recovered from a production fall in 2013. Outside of Europe growth has been poor in Quebec in 2013 and 2014, where CRH is buying two plants from Holcim. Both Lafarge and Holcim have also seen a slowdown in Brazil. However, the Philippines does seem like a better bet for CRH, with solid cement volumes growth seen by Lafarge in 2013 and the first three quarters of 2014.
With CRH now looking like a company that wants to produce cement rather than one that owns parts of companies that produce cement, all eyes are on the construction markets. 14 of the 24 cement plants CRH are buying are in Europe. Buying at the bottom of a sustained production slump makes sense because the asking price will be low. However, has the bottom been reached yet?
RHI gets US$11.6m refractory order from Lafarge
28 January 2015Canada: Austria's Radex-Heraklith Industriebeteiligungs (RHI) has received a US$11.6m order from Lafarge in Canada. RHI will deliver materials for the expansion of Lafarge's cement plant in Exshaw, Alberta. The cement industry comprises 12% of RHI's sales.
Graymont to buy Holcim’s McDonalds Lime for an undisclosed sum
15 December 2014Canada/New Zealand: Canadian lime company Graymont has agreed to buy McDonalds Lime from Holcim New Zealand and Bluescope Steel, owned New Zealand Steel, for an undisclosed sum. The McDonald's sale is subject to regulatory approvals and should be completed in 2015.
Holcim plans to close its Westport cement plant in 2016 and will also sell its Taylor's Lime assets to Graymont. McDonalds Lime is 72% owned by Holcim New Zealand, with the remainder owned by New Zealand Steel. It has the country's largest lime quarry at Oparure, north of Te Kuiti.
Graymont is North America's second-largest supplier of lime and lime-based products and also has an investment in Grupo Calidra, Mexico's largest lime producer. This is the Canadian company's first investment in the New Zealand market.
Holcim has been trying to sell the lime business, which it no longer considers a core business, as it plans for imported cement to replace local production at Westport. It wrote down the value of its Westport cement plant ahead of the coming closure, booking US$24.1m of charges for the plant. The plant will close by the second half of 2016 when new US$77.6m import facilities at Waitemata in Auckland and Timaru are fully operational. Plans for a new cement manufacturing plant at Weston in North Otago remain on hold, but Holcim is keeping the assets so it has the option of 'eventually building a new cement plant.'
LafargeHolcim Canada divestments affected by McInnis cement plant
21 November 2014Canada: Efforts by Lafarge and Holcim to sell assets as part of their planned merger may be complicated by the new McInnis cement plant in Canada, which some claim will inject more capacity into an already saturated market and further depress prices.
McInnis Cement's plant in the northeastern Quebec region of Gaspé will have 2.2Mt/yr of installed cement production capacity and may start shipping to clients in two years, according to Jim Braselton, a senior vice president at the company. That represents about 66% of the local cement capacity that Lafarge and Holcim plan to sell. The assets for sale, including construction and aggregates units, have an estimated value of US$884m, excluding the impact of increased supply by the McInnis plant.
McInnis Cement awards 6000t/day cement plant contract to ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA)
13 November 2014Canada: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions and McInnis Cement have announced a sales/purchase agreement valued at US$133m for the manufacture and supply by ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA) of a complete cement production line.
The new 6000t/day capacity plant is currently under construction on a greenfield site in the Port-Daniel-Gascons area of Quebec, Canada. The new plant will be complete with a POLCID proprietary process control system to monitor and control all aspects of the plant and a POLAB laboratory automation system to assure product quality. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2016 with full production starting later in that year.
"The McInnis Cement project represents the most technologically advanced and environmentally sound plant of its kind, designed to meet or beat the most stringent requirements of both the Canadian and American environmental agencies," said Mark S Terry, president of the resource technologies division of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA). "Combined with the extensive experience of both project teams, we have the complete recipe for success for the Port-Daniel-Gascons facility.''
The main components include: a 1800t/hr quarry crushing plant, a raw material reclaim system comprises a bridge reclaimer for limestone and four portal reclaimers for other additives or fuel, a QUADROPOL vertical roller mill for raw grinding and a blending silo for raw meal storage, with a capacity of 10000t. The Polysius kiln line will consist of a five-stage, two-string PREPOL AS-MSC preheater, a 5.2m x 75m POLRO rotary kiln and a POLYTRACK cooler with intermediate roll crusher. Cement grinding will take place in two QUADROPOL vertical roller mills with SEPOL high-efficiency separators. The plant will be rounded off with three cement silos (with a capacity of 120,000t) as well as cement truck and ship loading facilities.
Canada: McCinnis Cement's US$1.1bn cement plant, which is under construction in Quebec's Gaspe region, could be cancelled if work is suspended in order to conduct environmental hearings.
Lafarge Canada and two non-profit groups mounted a legal challenge in the summer of 2013 after Quebec's environment minister authorised the project without an environmental assessment hearing. In a legal filing McInnis said that the project is subject to old environmental rules that were in place when it was first proposed more than 20 years ago.
Successive provincial governments have confirmed many times that the project is not subject to current rules that require such hearings.