02 September 2020

Canada: Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos is in talks with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) over possible acquisition of the investment company majority stake in McInnis Cement. Quebec Premier François Legault said, “Quebecers have already invested a lot in the cement plant. For nationalism reasons, I would like a Quebec company to be ready to invest,” according to the Journal de Montreal newspaper. Béton Provincial has registered for a government grant of US$115m in order to acquire the stake, which has been for sale since January 2020. Investissement Québec and the Beaudier Group are both minority shareholders.

Rwanda: Prime Cement has inaugurated its new 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant in Rwanda in Musanze, Northern Province. It also announced the start of commercial production at the US$40m unit, according to the Rwanda New Times newspaper. It plans to ramp up production to 1.2Mt/yr by mid-2022. Germany-based Loesche installed a Loesche Jumbo CCG (Compact Cement Grinding plant) with type LM 30.2 mill at the site.

The cement plant is owned by Milbridge Holding, a group of companies involved in manufacturing and distribution of construction materials in Angola, the UAE, Rwanda and South Africa. It employs 110 workers directly.

China: Huaxin Cement’s sales and profit fell in the first half of 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. It said that the health situation, “resulted in grave insufficient demand in the markets of main products and rapid slump in price, coupled with restrictions on personnel flow and traffic, equipment maintenance plan was affected severely.” The cement producer disposed of medical waste for free at its Yangxin, Wuxue and Yichang plants before the market recovered in the second quarter.

Huaxin’s sales revenue fell by 12.7% year-on-year to US$1.84bn in the first half of 2020 from US$2.11bn in the same period in 2019. Its net profit dropped by 29% to US$330m from US$463m. Cement sales and concrete volumes declined by 8% to 32.7Mt. The company also started clinker production at its 2Mt/yr Jizzakh cement plant in Uzbekistan in June 2020.

Kazakhstan: Private businessperson Azmi Wan Hamzah has increased his stake in Steppe Cement to 31% of issued share capital from 29%. RNS News has reported that Wan Hamzah holds shares in Steppe Cement via Alwah Fund Limited, Halfmoon Bay Capital and Mango Bay Enterprises.

Brazil: Aumund Brazil will supply a type BZB bucket apron conveyor to Votorantim’s Xambioá integrated cement plant in Tocatins. It will replace a pan conveyor being used to transport clinker from the cooler to the silo. The new conveyor will have a centre distance of 92m and a conveying capacity of up to 170t/hr. The upgrade is expected to reduce dust levels at the site. Supply and commissioning of the new bucket apron conveyor in Xambioá is due to take place in October 2020. The order follows a previous order to Aumund for a similar project at Votorantim’s at Vidal Ramos plant in Santa Catarina.

Brazil: RHI Magnesita plans to spend Euro30m towards building a rotary kiln in its mining site at Brumado, Bahia. The upgrade is expected to increase the production at the unit by more than 30% as the kiln is designed to process up to 140,000t/yr. The announcement follows a planned investment of nearly Euro40m towards the construction of a new headquarters for its South American operations in Contagem, Minas Gerais that was revealed in 2019.

“This investment in the construction of a rotary kiln with innovative technology will enable us to develop a new portfolio of raw materials, in addition to those already available on the market. The new raw materials include noble sinters at very competitive costs on the international market. This will bring operational flexibility, the ability to offer differentiated value-added products to our customers in the Brazilian market, and will put us in an even more competitive position in the global environment,” said Francisco Carrara, president of RHI Magnesita in Brazil and South America. He added that the group was seeing a ‘considerable’ recovery in the steel and cement segments in Brazil.

Mexico: Workers at Holcim Mexico’s 1.6Mt/yr Hermosillo cement plant in Sonora have voted to award a contract for their collective union representation to Confederation of Workers of Mexico (CTM) member Cement Industry Worker’s Union (STIC). The El Economista newspaper has reported that 50 workers at the plant, which employs 95 people, voted for the STIC. The runner up, the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Allied Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSSMR), garnered 17 votes.

The STIC said, “In the framework of this day, under an atmosphere of respect and civility, with rich and enthusiastic participation, the workers have chosen the Cement Industry Workers Union as responsible for continuing to represent with honour the workers of this noble industry."

France: LafargeHolcim has said that Lafarge Béton is not responsible for the discharge of ‘particles of cement, treatment liquids and plastic microfibers’ from its Bercy concrete plant in Paris Department. The La Télégramme newspaper has reported that the plant has been under environmental inspection since late August 2020. The company says that the pollution resulted from a single incident ‘caused by malicious parties’ who knew of the on-going investigation.

The mayor of Paris has contacted the public prosecutor to request a criminal action against LafargeHolcim.