Ireland: CRH has appointed Shaun Kelly as a non-executive director and chairman of the Audit Committee.

Kelly, aged 60 years, a dual Irish and US citizen, was the Global Chief Operating Officer of KPMG International until September 2019, where he was responsible for the execution of the firm’s global strategy and for the delivery of various global initiatives. Over a 30-year career with KPMG, the majority of which was spent in the US, he held a variety of roles, including Partner in Charge, US Transaction Services (2001 - 2005), Vice Chair and Head of US Tax (2005 - 2010) and Vice Chair Operations and Chief Operating Officer Americas (2010 - 2015), before his appointment as Global Chief Operating Officer in 2015.

Kelly is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, a US Certified Public Accountant and graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Commerce and Diploma in Professional Accounting. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast.

Denmark: FLSmidth’s chief financial officer (CFO) Lars Vestergaard has agreed with the board of directors to resign from the company, effective immediately. FLSmidth has stated as the reason for the change a need for ‘a different set of competences to strengthen our organisation and execute long-term financial targets.’ It thanked Vestergaard for his commitment and dedication in helping FLSmidth achieve milestones in ‘creating a stronger and more focused organisation. FLSmidth Head of Group Reporting and Compliance Naja Barrisøe supersedes Vestergaard as interim CFO until the newly appointed CFO joins the company on or before 1 July 2020.

US: Lehigh Cement and Lehigh White Cement have agreed to an investment of US$12m for the installation of pollution control technology across their 11 active cement plants. US Fed News has reported that the upgrades can be expected to reduce net emissions of nitrous oxised (NO_x) by 4550t/yr and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) by 989t/yr. Lehigh Cement will additionally pay a US$1.3m civil penalty for past Clean Air Act violations.

India: UltraTech Cement has announced a planned expansion of its Bhogasamundram waste heat recovery (WHR) power plant to 36MW from 20MW. The plant serves its 5.6Mt/yr integrated Andhra Pradesh cement plant. The upgrade is part of an investment of US$14.0m which will also serve to expand the area of the cement plant by 326 hectares.

Pakistan: The Peshawar High Court has rejected a petition by local residents to prevent the construction of a US$245m cement plant in Haripur by the military Frontier Works Organisation. The Balochistan Times has reported that the project will entail the relocation of people from an area of 0.66km2 and the felling of ‘thousands of trees.’ The Supreme Court gave a preliminary hearing to the case on 2 December 2019, giving the Attorney General, Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Defence Ministry until 9 December 2019 to submit their replies.

Azerbaijan: Cement producers in Azerbaijan produced 2.8Mt in the 10-month period ending 31 October 2019, down by 3.4% from 2.9Mt in the corresponding period of 2018. Ready-mix concrete production swelled by 25% to 1.5Mt from 1.2Mt in 2018’s first 10 months. Trend has reported the total value of construction materials produced in Azerbaijan over the period at US$382m.

Belgium: A team of researchers from the University of Mons in Hainaut province has concluded a study in the use of amine-based solvents for carbon capture on between 20% and 60% CO₂ flue gas with funding from HeidelbergCement and the European Cement Research Academy. Lab tests and industrial-scale simulations showed that the solvents lowered regeneration energy, equivalent work and operating costs of carbon capture across the CO₂ concentration range of flue gases tested.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has installed an ash washing facility at a waste incineration plant in Kumagaya, Saitama prefecture for desalination and lowering of chloride content. After rinsing, the installation will supplement cement production at Taiheiyo Cement’s 1.8Mt/yr integrated Kumagaya plant with up to 69,400t/yr of ash. The total cost of investment was US$7.17m.

India: The government of the state of Odisha will invest US$1.25bn in infrastructure development, including construction of several industrial facilities. These will include a 1.0Mt/yr integrated plant owned by JSW Cement subsidiary Shiva Cement and a total of 4.0Mt/yr grinding capacity in new Shiva Cement and Shree Cement plants. The projects will source their cement from Odisha’s existing installed capacity of 7.3Mt/yr, consisting of 3.8Mt/yr integrated and 3.5Mt/yr grinding capacity at plants owned and operated by Dalmia Bharat’s OCC India, Toshali Cement, UltraTech Cement and Lafarge Holcim’s ACC Cement.

India: Czech Republic-based Wikov has announced the conclusion of an agreement with Premium Transmission with the aim of bringing its gearboxes to the Indian market. The agreement entails Premium Transmission assembling Wikov gearboxes to install in projects across the country.