August 2025

Ghana: Nigeria’s Dangote Cement has appointed Brice Houeto as its new country director for Ghana. He replaces Tor Nygard who has retired after two and half years of managing the business, according to the Daily Graphic newspaper. Houeto holds over a decade of management experience in the cement industry across Africa. Previously, he was the country managing director of Lafarge Cement, Guinea.

US: Bulk Handling Systems (NHS) has appointed Matthias Erdmannsdoerfer as managing director of Max-AI. Prior to this new role, Erdmannsdoerfer worked for more than six years as the president of National Recovery Technologies (NRT), a developer of optical sorting technology and subsidiary of BHS. In his new role Erdmannsdoerfer will be responsible for the Max-AI product line including sales, business development and product and application development.

Launched by BHS in 2017, Max-AI technology powers robotic sorters, optical sorters and reporting systems, and will continue to be integrated into new and existing equipment throughout material recovery facilities (MRFs). Since its inception, more than 50 Max-AI AQC (Autonomous Quality Control) robotic sorters have been sold in quality control (QC) applications of both fibre and containers.

Denmark: Aalborg Portland has signed a five-year cement transport deal with Demstrup Autotransport and Silo Trans following a tendering process. The deal covers the producer’s domestic cement distribution of over 1.25Mt/yr. This involves more than 33,000 movements per year. Demstrup Autotransport will be responsible for distribution in North and Central Jutland and Zealand. Silo Trans will handle distribution in Sønderjylland and in Funen.

Greece/UK: Titan Group has joined the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), a global organisation dedicated to strengthening and promoting the sector’s contribution to sustainable construction. The cement producer said that its participation would build on its commitment to, “actively engage in collaborative initiatives aiming to address global sustainability challenges.”

Launched in January 2018, the GCCA intends to become a respected industry voice and trusted source of information on sustainable construction. It complements and supports the work done by cement associations at national and regional level. As of January 2019 GCCA will incorporate the activities of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) following a strategic partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Ghana: Brice Houeto, the new country head of Dangote Cement in Ghana, says that the company expects to open its new grinding plant in Takoradi by end of 2019. The incoming manager made the comments to the Daily Graphic newspaper. The new unit will have a production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. It is expected to create 1000 new jobs in the Western Region.

India: JSW Cement has started building a 1.2Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Kalinganagar Industrial Complex in the Jajpur district of Odisha. The unit will be used to produce Ordinary Portland Cement and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), according to Projects Today. The project had been on hold since 2016 due to issues with the land. The unit is expected to be operational by September 2020.

Philippines: Cemex Holdings Philippines (CHP) is running an assessment to see how a local government order to stop mining operations in Naga will affect its business. APO Land & Quarry has been requested to stop quarrying operations in Naga City, Cebu following landslides, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. APO Land & Quarry supplies raw materials to CHP’s subsidiary Apo Cement, and it is indirectly 40% owned by Mexico’s Cemex.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton is seeking damages from a former credit manager over US$9m in missing funds. The cement producer has accused former employee Glenda Ivy Burgess of the embezzlement following an internal audit, according to the Advertiser newspaper. Burgess worked for Adelaide Brighton for 18 years but was dismissed in February 2018.

The allegations include misallocating customer payments, falsifying accounts, increasing customer credit limits without authority and providing false information.

The construction company launched a civil lawsuit against Burgess at the same time that a police investigation was ongoing. This has subsequently led to a clash between civil and criminal proceedings as the accused successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to delay the civil case whilst the criminal investigation continues.

Pakistan: The Flying Cement Company has ordered a vertical roller mill from Germany’s Loesche for a new 7000t/day production line in Lahore. The raw material mill will be used at Flying Cement’s plant at Mangowal, where it will grind 600t/hr. The plant is mainly used to produce Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC).

Along with the mill, the scope of supply also includes a Hurriclon system from A TEC, a member of the Loesche Group, for separating finished material from the gas flow leaving the mill.

Commissioning is expected to take place at the end of 2018.

Rwanda: Kenya’s ARM Cement is set to auction off its Kigali Cement plant in Nyarugenge District for a second time, following a first attempt. The company forced a legal postponement to the first auction when offers for the unit failed to reach a level it deemed acceptable, according to the New Times newspaper. The only bid it received was for US$113,000 a figure significantly short of the estimate US$1.4m market value of the plant. Kigali Cement operates a 0.1Mt/yr plant.

Kigali Cement plant is being sold in order to pay its creditor, Rwanda Enterprise Investment Company (REIC) in a long running dispute between the companies. ARM Cement owns Kigali Cement but REIC has held shares in it since 2008. ARM Cement acquired a stake in Kigali Cement in 2010 and later took over the management of the company in 2014. Meanwhile, ARM Cement entered administration at home in Kenya in late August 2018.