Kazakhstan: Gezhouba Shieli Cement has launched its 1Mt/yr oil well cement plant in the Kyzylorda region. 260 jobs have been created at the site and 48 of the local staff were trained in China. The project is a joint venture majority owned by Chinese investors with a minority stake from a local cement company. China Triumph International Engineering built the plant.

Jamaica: Caribbean Cement has taken out a five-year loan for US$3bn from the National Commercial Bank Jamaica to repay debt. It also said that some of the loan would be used for general corporate purposes, according in the Gleaner newspaper. The cement producer is also planning to expand its gypsum and limestone operations at two sites but it is unknown if the new borrowing will be used to fund this. The latest loan follows a US$102m loan from its parent company, Cemex España in June 2018.

Slovenia: Salonit Anhovo has spent Euro10m towards upgrades at its Anhovo cement plant. Most of the funding went towards automation and environmental works, according to the Slovenian Press Agency. The unit built new cement silos, set up devices to reduce NO_x emissions, purchased new machinery for its quarry, reduced noise levels and upgraded its business information system. The company has also started to replace asbestos roofing on an old building and started demolishing disused buildings. These two last projects are valued at around Euro3m and are expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

UK: The MPA has released its Sustainable Development Report 2018 covering the performance of the local cement industry to 2017. Key indicators include a alternative fuels co-processing rate of 43.8% in 2017 compared to 39.2% in 2016. This is the second highest rate since 2010, just below 44% in 2013. It reported CO₂ emissions from calcination (process emissions) of 465kgCO₂/tPCe, a slight increase from 2016. Emissions of NO_x, SO₂ and particulate matter all fell or remained stable. Cement production from MPA members remained stable at 9.4Mt in 2017.

Germany: Holcim Deutschland’s Lägerdorf cement plant has won a training award from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). Peter Krohn of the IHK praised the plant’s quality of training, focus on younger people and attention to worker development. Holcim Deutschland employs around 2100 people in Germany and the Netherlands. Around 40 young people are undergoing training at Lägerdorf in various engineering and mechanical disciplines.

Philippines: China’s Huaxin Cement is preparing to sign a US$245m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Holcim Philippines to build a new production line at its Davao plant. The Kalayaan 2 project includes a 6000t/day clinker production line, a 7MW waste heat recovery unit and upgrades to a 3000t/day production line. The contract follows a previous project between the companies on a mill at the plant.

Iran: Masoumeh Mousavi, the head of the office of industries affairs for Industries, Mining and Trade Organisation of Hormozgan province says that around 0.4Mt of clinker was exported from the Hormozgan plant in the first eight months of the Iranian year that started on 20 March 2018. Exports from the plant rose by 40% year-on-year, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. The region has been exporting clinker to Oman, the UAE, Tanzania and South Africa. The plant has a cement production capacity of 1.9Mt/yr.

Algeria: Hafid Aouchiche, the import and export head at LafargeHolcim Algeria, has called for improvements to how the country manages its exports of cement and clinker. At a logistics symposium he emphasised the importance of better storage and loading infrastructure at ports, according to the El Moudjahid newspaper. He also noted the higher rates at Algerian ports for exporting clinker compared to ports in other countries. The cement producer has exported nearly 0.35Mt of cement and clinker so far in 2018.

Spain: The regional government of Andalucia has fined Cementos Cosmos’ Córdoba plant Euro3000 for dust emissions in September 2016. The local environmental board criticised the subsidiary of Brazil’s Votorantim for only reporting the incident after the board contacted the plant about a dust cloud, according to the ABC newspaper. However, the fine was small because the dust pollution had no effects on the environment or local residents.

India: The state government of Himachal Pradesh has invited tenders for the Chamba cement plant project for a second time. To attract sufficient bids the government has also decided to build a US$2m road to the project site, according to the Times of India newspaper. Other rules and regulations surrounding the project have also been relaxed. All of the clinker used at the plant must be produced in the state and a quarter must be ground into cement in the region. The project has a proposed budget of US$140m. It has been in development since 2002.