September 2025

China: A cement plant in Xiamen, Fujian province, that was shut down under the China Cement Association’s overcapacity crackdown has found a new lease of life as luxury flats. Dezeen News has reported that the flats incorporates modern industry and the ancient Chinese village through minimalist use of cement to evoke physical stasis and calm.

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement – via the Ohorongo Otavi Community Trust – has donated US$59,800 to the Opuwo district hospital. Ohorongo Cement general manager Rudolf Coetzee sais, “This organisation supports various projects by means of financial and humanitarian means as well as through donation.”

US: FCT combustion has announced that it has won an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Titan Cement for the upgrade of its 5000t/d kiln line to 100% natural gas firing. The upgrade consists of the installation of two new burners: a dual-fuel capability Gyro-Therm Mk3 and a back-up natural gas-firing Gyro-Therm Mk3. The company has said that it will also supply accessories, field instruments, burner management system (BMS) and valve train.

Honduras: Colombia-based Grupo Argos energy subsidiary Celsia has announced that it has installed a 10.6MW solar power plant at Cementos Argos’ 1.0Mt/yr integrated Piedras Azules cement plant in Comayagua. Renewables Now News has reported that the 32,000-panel plant on the roof of the Piedras Azules plant will generate 20% of its operating power needs. Celsia says that the solar plant, its first in Honduras, will reduce Cementos Argos’ annual CO2 emissions by 10,000t/yr.

Azerbaijan: Akkord Cement has indicated that it plans to produce 1.6Mt of cement and clinker at its Gazakh plant in Dash Salahli in 2020. This would represent a 33% year-on-year increase from 1.2Mt in 2019. In 2019, Akkord Cement exported 500t of clinker from the plant to Georgia. Trend News has reported that the company intends to also export clinker to Iran in 2020.

UK: Parliament has voted to grant Her Majesty's Treasury powers to implement a UK emissions trading scheme (ETS) in line with the Climate Change Act (2008). Accountancy Daily News has reported that the ETS will be linked to the EU ETS ‘if such is suited to both sides’ interests,’ but, if not, will be subject to an alternative pricing mechanism. The Treasury said that “in a standalone UK ETS, additional market stability mechanisms can be implemented.”

El Salvador: Holcim El Salvador has enlarged its partnership with the Environmental Fund of El Salvador (FonAES) to provide an environmental awareness education programme to 6000 pupils across six schools. The Noticias Financieras newspaper has reported that Holcim El Salvador will give a total of US$12,400 to the programme in 2020, up by 1.5% year-on-year from US$12,200 in 2019.

Russia: Italy-based Buzzi UniCem subsidiary SLK Cement has concluded an environmental agreement with the Sverdlovsk Oblast Ministry of Energy and Housing and Communal Services for the co-processing of solid municipal waste at its 1.0Mt/yr Sukholozhskcement plant. AMF Online News has reported that the transition, part of a nationwide government initiative called simply ‘Ecology,’ entails a modernisation of the kiln line, which the company says will be commissioned in 2023 or 2024. SLK Cement general director Andrei Immoreev said that alternative fuels use will not only increase production efficiency, but will also contribute to solving the environmental problems of the region.”

South Africa: PPC has reported that it has invested US$548,000 in the construction and installation of a pneumatic offloading facility including a 250t silo at its George Depot cement terminal in the Western Cape. The company said that this ‘allows the business to receive cement by rail, improving its turnaround to customers without compromising quality.’

Zimbabwe: Work has begun on a 43,000t/yr dry mortar production line at Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe’s 0.5Mt/yr Manresa plant in Harare. The plant, supplied by Turkey-based Varlik Industries, will increase the company’s mortar production capacity by 710% to 50,000t/yr from 7000t/yr. Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe chair Kumbirai Katsande said “The expansion project is three-pronged and will include doubling of cement capacity and tripling agricultural lime capacity as well as automation of the dry mortars plant.”