South Africa: The Simuma cement plant in KwaZulu-Natal province, which was acquired by Huaxin Building Materials (HBM) in December 2023, is upgrading its equipment after being in operation for decades.
"The operations here started in 1984, so it was in dire need to be upgraded, modernised and made efficient," said Simuma plant manager Rory Govender. "When HBM took over the plant and started the expansion and upgrading, we were very excited. It is something that we wanted for a long time."
Key facilities, including the preheater tower and clinker cooler, have been upgraded, alongside improvements to the limestone quarry and other parts of the production line. A waste heat recovery system has also been introduced, which now generates around 30% of the plant’s power. According to Govender, clinker output from Kiln 2 has risen from about 1500t/day to 4000t/day after removing bottlenecks, while Kiln 1, which has been operating for more than four decades, has increased from about 1500t/day to 2200t/day.
"The plant now has a clinker production capacity of about 1.8Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of around 2.5Mt/yr," said Govender.
