Displaying items by tag: Plant
Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) has officially restarted cement production at its integrated Oruro cement plant in Caracollo. The La Razón newspaper has reported the cost of the restart at US$8.41m. The producer received a cash injection from the government in order to enable it to restock cement bags, pay outstanding salaries and have working capital, according to Bolivian President Luis Arce. The head of state alleges that the previous administration ‘paralysed’ many of the country’s public companies through mismanagement.
US: Colombia-based Cementos Argos is planning to export 0.4Mt of cement to the US in 2021. The cement producer’s exports to the country grew by 419% year-on-year to 135,000t in the first five months of 2021 from 26,000t in the same period in 2020. It says that it expects the US cement market to grow by 2.2% year-on-year in 2021.
The company is currently upgrading its integrated plant in Cartagena, Colombia and improving the associated port terminal. The US$40m project is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2021. It is intended to support the export market to the US and elsewhere.
India: The state government of Telangana has renewed The India Cements’ mining licence for two sites in Guntur district until 2037. These are the Pondugula and Pulipadu mines, which supply the company’s Vishnupuram cement plant in Nalgonda district. The Times of India has reported that the producer first received its licence for the mines in 2000 and applied for the recent extension a decade later.
Morocco: LafargeHolcim’s Settat plant has been ranked as the second most efficient integrated cement plant in LafargeHolcim Group. The classification is based on industrial performance criteria in terms of efficiency, cost and sustainable development covering 129 of the group’s integrated plants around the world. Five of the six plants operated by LafargeHolcim Morocco are also reported to be in the Top 20 of this list. The 1.7Mt/yr Settat plant has also become a pilot in the group’s ‘plant of tomorrow" initiative whereby automation technologies, robotics, artificial intelligence and predictive maintenance will be used to improve its production efficiency further still.
Egypt: Saudi Arabian-based Mohammed Hassan Al Naqool Sons has started pilot production at its Cement Industries subsidiary based in El Alamein. The project has an investment of around US$5m. It will manufacture cement-based products, including blocks and concrete. Commercial production at the site is expected to start in the third quarter of 2021.
Germany: Opterra’s Wössingen integrated cement plant was awarded gold certification status from the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC) in late May 2021. It follows the Karsdorf plant achieving the same certification in late 2020.
Turkmen Enjam orders new 3000t/day kiln line at Lepab cement plant from Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions
14 June 2021Turkmenistan: Germany-based Thyssenkrupp has received an order for a new 3000t/day line for the Lebap cement plant from Turkmen Enjam. The Arab Times newspaper has reported that the line will include a raw materials crushing and preparation plant and storage facilities.
Italy: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Italcementi has announced a planned investment of Euro5.0m to restart clinker production at its Trentino cement plant in Sarche di Madruzzo. The plant will have an integrated production capacity of 0.25Mt/yr when it resumes full operation from January 2022. The company aims to establish a ‘reference plant for the Northeast’ at the facility. It will begin hiring 30 new staff in late 2021. The unit has been operating as a grinding plant since 2015.
Technical director Agostino Rizzo said, “The cement plant is equipped with the technologies necessary to guarantee high level environmental performance. To this will be added a landscape integration. The relationship with the region and local communities is of great importance for us.”
Huaxin Cement to buy plants in Zambia and Malawi
14 June 2021Malawi/Zambia: China-based Huaxin Cement plans to spend US$160m towards buying cement plants in Zambia and Malawi. It intends to spend US$150m on purchasing a 75% stake in Lafarge Zambia and US$10m on acquiring Pan African Cement from Lafarge Cement Malawi. The former operates two integrated cement plants in Zambia with a combined production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. The latter operates a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant at Blantyre in Malawi. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in each of the relevant countries.
Trinidad and Tobago: Rock Hard Cement says it intends to raise the price of its imported cement in July 2021 due to increasing prices around the world and volatile shipping rates. It added that it expected prices to stabilise in 2022, according to the Trinidad Express newspaper. Cement shortages have been reported at retailers in the country. This has been attributed to local manufacturer Trinidad Cement stopping production in early May 2021 dye to government coronavirus-related health regulations.