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Phoenix Industrial wins CalPortland Mojave cement plant raw mill installation contract 26 February 2021
US: Phoenix Industrial will install the raw mill for Denmark-based FLSmidth’s raw mill upgrade of CalPortland’s integrated Mojave cement plant in California. The company said that it will conduct civil, concrete, structural steel, mechanical and electrical work on the project. Mobilisation of crews to the site is due to begin in March 2021 with commissioning scheduled for December 2021. Saxum Engineering is also working on the upgrade.
Cementos Argos reports consolidated sales and profit drop in 2020 25 February 2021
Colombia: Cementos Argos’ full-year consolidated net sales in 2020 were US$2.52bn, down by 4% year-on-year from US$2.62bn in 2019. The group’s cement volumes declined by 9% to 14.7Mt from 16.1Mt. Net profit for the year was US$21.8m, down by 36% from US$34.1m. Volumes, sales and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined in all three of the group’s regions.
The company said that in the fourth quarter of 2020 the construction sector maintained a ‘positive trend,’ supported by the strong performance of the residential segment. It also recorded a slight improvement in the infrastructure segment. The producer said that warehouses and data centre projects had partially offset the weak performance of the segment, as offices and retail had been the most impacted during the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief executive officer Juan Esteban Calle, “I would like thank each one of our employees for their full commitment and resilience during 2020. I believe the experience we all lived over the last year will lead us to be even stronger and more prepared to face the opportunities and challenges of the future.”
Clinker grinding halts in Lami 25 February 2021
Fiji: Grinding units in Lami have ceased operations since mid February 2021. The reason for the pause is complaints by community stakeholders about pollution, including clinker spillages on the road from the Port of Suva. The Fiji Times newspaper has reported that plant owners met stakeholders on 23 February 2021.
Environment and Waterways Ministry permanent secretary Joshua Wycliffe said, "The origins of the issue are the transport itself: there was spillage on the way to the cement factories. We have stopped the companies; if it is the transport companies that are breaching, we have stopped them. We are open to someone else doing it provided they have the permits, proper paperwork and also follow the rules and conditions.”
Egypt: Arab Swiss Engineering Company (ASEC) has launched legal action against Misr Beni Suef Cement. The latter terminated the supplier’s technical management contract in mid-February 2021. Arab Finance has reported that the producer alleges that ASEC breached its commitments regarding its Beni Suef cement plant’s production capacity.
Netherlands: Malvern Panalytical has launched a new version of Aeris, a compact X-ray diffractometer (XRD) product. The supplier said that the upgrade contains capabilities previously seen only in much larger systems. The device provides data from polycrystalline materials at ‘competitive’ speeds. Its operational interface simplifies XRD measurements. Grazing-incidence XRD (GIXRD) will enable the examination of thin films and coatings, while transmission measurements will provide more accurate data that are not affected by sample preparation artefacts.
Product manager Wilijan Vissers said, “I’m very proud that we’re launching our new Aeris – a model that continually raises the bar for powder XRD. By providing the data quality of a floor-standing system in a compact instrument, the new Aeris will enable a wider range of our customers to carry out in-depth materials analysis and optimise their processes – helping push the scientific frontier even further forward.”