Displaying items by tag: Plant
Brazil: Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) has agreed to acquire Switzerland-based Holcim’s Brazilian cement business for US$1.03bn. The business’ assets include five integrated cement plants, four grinding plants and 19 ready-mix concrete facilities. Holcim said that the deal strengthens its balance sheet by ‘significantly’ reducing its debt ratio. It will use the proceeds to invest in its solutions and products business, building its recently acquired subsidiary Firestone. Latin America remains a core strategic growth region, according to the company.
Cheif executive officer Jan Jenisch said “This divestment is another step in our transformation to become the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions, giving us the flexibility to continue investing in attractive growth opportunities. We are pleased to have found a responsible buyer with CSN that will develop the Brazilian business over the long term.”
Storm over Slite
08 September 2021Cementa’s prospects for continued mining limestone in Sweden beyond the end of October 2021 have been looking dubious recently. The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement wants to carry on mining limestone at its quarries near its integrated Slite plant in Gotland after 31 October 2021 when its current permits expire. However, the Supreme Land and Environmental Court rejected its renewal application in July 2021 on the grounds that the impact of the quarries on groundwater had not been sufficiently investigated. Then the Supreme Court ruled that it had no basis for appeal at the end of August 2021. This leaves the cement producer hanging on for proposed government plans to make legislative changes to keep limestone mining ongoing for another eight months until mid-2022 and then for whatever scheme the legislators cook up next.
In July 2021 construction multinational Skanska publicly said that it was taking the situation ‘seriously’ because its concrete suppliers had warned it of the impending risk that they would potentially be unable to meet demand in the third quarter of 2022. At the same time the Swedish Construction Federation and related bodies noted that up to 175,000 jobs in construction could be adversely affected with a loss of investment of nearly Euro2bn/month due to the predicted cement shortage. In their view, increasing imports in the short term was unrealistic due to capacity constraints at ports and import terminals. Understandably, the Swedish government has been scrambling to keep the quarries open to protect cement supply and has been accused by both the local press and environmental bodies of circumventing legal norms in the process.
This is not a good situation to be in for either Cementa or anyone who might want to use cement locally in the near future. The cement producer operates both of Sweden’s integrated plants, at Slite and Skövde respectively, with Slite holding around 80% of the company’s production capacity. On its own, the Slite plant alone supplies 75% of the country’s cement, with about another 10 – 15% provided by importer Schwenk Zement. As a whole Cembureau data shows that the country’s market was just under 3Mt/yr in 2020 and stable despite the coronavirus pandemic. A small decline in the residential segment was reported, coupled with a ‘flat’ infrastructure segment, although increased demand from wind farm construction was noted. Cementa stopped production at a third local integrated plant, Degerhamn, in mid-2019 due to low profitability at the site and tightening environmental regulations.
Cementa and HeidelbergCement are putting up a fight by publishing lots of information on Cementa’s website about the permit application process and working towards both solutions in the short and longer term. In early September 2021 Nordkalk signed a deal with Cementa to supply it with limestone. However, as Thomas Lind, the head of cement for HeidelbergCement Northern Europe, pointed out in August 2021, the agreement won’t cover the entire shortfall, nor would it be ideal from logistical or environmental angles. On the opposing side, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has joined with the Supreme Land and Environmental Court in opposing the quarry permit renewal along with other environmental groups. Plus the government decision to force through a permit reprieve has also given ammunition to its political rivals.
The argument over Slite’s quarry sums up some of the challenges facing society over continued cement production in a world with ever-tougher environmental legislation. Cement plants are likely to face mounting opposition on environmental grounds but most governments will panic when facing the potential consequences of societies running out of essential building materials. There are many ways to avoid this scenario, such as far greater community and political involvement on the part of cement companies, recognition by governments of the importance of building materials, supporting the development and uptake of concrete made with less Ordinary Portland Cement or switching to higher ratios of other building materials and so on. Yet, without preparation, legislators elsewhere will also find themselves in similar positions to the one the Swedish government is in now.
Slite’s problems have arisen in part over a perceived direct threat to local drinking water, although Cementa says that this is absolutely not the case. Typically, cement plants in similar battles find themselves in opposition to local communities due to the immediate impacts of quarrying or production on water, or due to noise or dust. Yet the hidden consequence of clinker production is significant process CO2 emissions with resulting global climate change. The particular tragedy in Gotland is that HeidelbergCement is one of the more sustainable-minded cement companies, with investment to match. In June 2021 it announced ambitions to upgrade the Slite plant to become the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant through bio-based fuel substitution and a carbon capture and storage unit by 2030. This may be eight years away but it is one of very few full scale cement plant carbon capture upgrades that have been promised worldwide.
Cementa comments on Swedish government’s new mining licence bill
08 September 2021Sweden: Cementa has said that it ‘views positively’ the Swedish government's rapid action in proposing a new bill on limestone mining licencing. It lobbied the government to stick to its schedule to have a temporary licence in place for Cementa’s use of its quarries in Gotland by 31 October 2021. The group said that it is working ‘with full force’ to find practical and legal solutions to secure the Swedish cement supply in the short and long term.
Sustainability manager Karin Comstedt-Webb said “It will be important that the time frames are not limited by the new bill, but that it enables flexibility to secure Swedish cement supply in the future, so that we avoid ending up in the same problematic situation again in just a number of months.” She added “I want to emphasise that Cementa in all situations works with high environmental requirements. Our ambition remains to be able to show that our industrial operations and the production of the building material cement can go hand in hand with protection of Gotland's nature, water and people.”
Court orders Empire Cement Ghana to stop building plant
08 September 2021Ghana: The High Court of Ghana has ordered the Empire Cement Ghana to stop all activity related to building a new cement plant in the southern part of the McCarthy Hills. It has forced this until a hearing takes place for an injunction application by the McCarthy Hill Residents Association, according to the Ghana News Agency. The site was previously raided by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agents and the police in late June 2021 after a tipoff by local residents. The association alleges that the Chinese-run plant project has been misusing a temporary permit from the EPA to manufacture cement as a mandate to instead start installing equipment at the site.
US: Italy-based Bedeschi has been awarded a new order for the supply of two BED RNSH 1800/6 type apron feeders for Lehigh Cement’s integrated Mitchell plant in Indiana. The new feeders will be able to process up to 1300t/hr of crushed limestone and they will be placed in the primary and secondary crushing area to replace the old existing machines. They feature super duty design with CAT type chains and a Bedeschi super duty belt. As part of the installation Bedeschi has used a three dimensional survey to define the exact room availability in the existing plant. The new feeders will join three others at the plant that were already ordered as part of an upgrade programme for clay crushing and additive dosing. No value for the order has been disclosed.
Lehigh Cement, a subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement, resumed work on its US$600m upgrade project at the Mitchell plant in February 2021. Work on the upgrade was suspended in early 2020.
Caribbean Cement to export 200,000t/yr more cement from 2023
07 September 2021Jamaica: Caribbean Cement says that it will export an additional 200,000t/yr of cement after it completes the 40% capacity expansion of its 1.0Mt/yr Rockfort cement plant to 1.4Mt/yr. In 2020, the producer exported 1580t of cement, all to North America, at a total value of US$156,000.
CBR News has reported that general manager Yago Castro said “We believe the right way is to invest in local manufacturing and make it bigger, solid and more powerful. This is why we’ve been increasing our production capacity over the past three to four years. Our team is always working on improving the supply to the market, quality of our products and service.”
The Jamaica Observer newspaper reported on 5 September 2021 that regular three-day lockdowns begun in Jamaica in August 2021 to stem the spread of Covid-19 have slowed Caribbean Cement’s distribution.
Nepal: The Cement Manufacturers Association of Nepal (CMAN) recorded average capacity utilisation across the local cement sector below 30% following the start of a national coronavirus lockdown that started in late April 2021. Despite the end of the Clockdown over the summer, demand is currently low due to an economic slowdown, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper. It reported that three or four of the country’s 64 cement plants have shut down.
CMAN president Dhruba Thapa said, “There is a huge gap in output and demand in the market currently. Nepal's cement industry has a production capacity of 22Mt/yr, and this will rise to 25Mt/yr in the 2022 financial year. Demand reached around 9Mt in the 2021 financial year."
Documentary on cement plant pollution in Meghalaya wins 2021 Yale Environment 360 prize
06 September 2021US/India: Judges from Yale University have awarded first place at the 2021 Yale Environment 360 video contest to Aarti Srivastava for her documentary film entitled the 'Story of Lumshnong.' The Indo-Asian News Service has reported that the film tracks the ‘disaster’ ensuing from the establishment of eight cement plants near the town of Lumshnong in a forested area of Meghalaya state. It claims that the intensive activity has led to water problems, high dust levels in Lumshnong and deforestation.
Tamil Nadu government launches Valimai cement
03 September 2021India: The state government of Tamil Nadu has announced the launch of a new cement, called Valimai, by one of its subsidiary cement producers. The United News of India agency has reported that the government anticipates a drop in cement prices as a result of the launch. It is currently targeting a total cement capacity of 19Mt/yr with the establishment of a planned 10Mt/yr plant.
On mid-June 2021, the state government asked cement producers operating locally to lower their prices.
Anhui Conch’s profit falls due to rising costs and competition
03 September 2021China: Anhui Conch’s operating revenue grew by 8.7% year-on-year to US$12.5bn in the first half of 2021 from US$11.5bn in the same period in 2020. However, its net profit fell by 7% to US$2.32bn from US$2.49bn. The group blamed this on rising raw material prices and ‘fierce’ competition. Anhui Conch reported that its production and sales volumes of cement and clinker increased by 11.5% to 208Mt. By region, sales grew in east, central and south China but fell in the west.
The group said that one clinker production line and two cement grinding units for Hunan Yunfeng Cement had been commissioned during the first half of 2021. Construction work on two grinding projects based in Haimen and Ganzhou also started. Outside of China, work on the group’s Qarshi project in Uzbekistan progressed to the installation of equipment.