Mexico: Cemex has announced that it has become the first company in the cement industry to successfully operate plants by remote control, from its central location in Monterrey, Nuevo León. According to the company, the Cemento Control Center (C3) operates 365 days a year, tracking live data from the operation of 14 cement plants, 25 kilns and 86 mills in Mexico. It also monitors a cement plant in Colombia and another in the US.

In a statement, Cemex said that the continuous monitoring of the system provides information on each stage of the production process, as well as the performance of the equipment installed in the cement plants. It allows the C3 operators to not only monitor the plants, but also to take immediate corrective actions, in coordination with local operations staff and with access to existing intelligent control systems. This helps to minimise any deviation from the objectives of safety, environmental control, efficiency and product quality.

"Cemex created the C3 system to take more effective advantage of the resources and technological innovation available through the company's global operating network," said the statement from Cemex. The company's vice president of operations, Edgar Ángeles, added that the company has applied the most modern technology to develop a unique system in the current cement industry. With the operation of C3, Cemex says that the plants have already seen a 50% reduction in the number of operational accidents as well benefits from immediate sharing of best practice and the generation of shared knowelege and expertise.

Algeria: Work on the construction of low CO₂ cement plant will commence shortly in Bellara, El Milia, according to the local Minister of Environment. The plant, a project by an Algerian-Emirati-Indian partnership, will produce cement using slag and fly ash from the nearby Bellara power station and steel complex, as well as its own clinker. It will have a capacity of 2Mt/yr for the local and export market. It will generate 143 direct jobs when fully operational.

India: France’s Vicat plans to spend Euro223m towards upgrading a cement plant and building a new one in India. Group chairman Guy Sidos signed two memoranda of understanding on a recent French business delegation to India, according to the Economic Times newspaper. Vicat’s local subsidiary, Kalburgi Cement, plans to spend Euro140 on an upgrade to its Karnataka cement plant. The upgrade will add 2.25Mt/yr of cement capacity and will be completed by the first quarter of 2023. It also plans to invest Euro60m towards building a new 1.75Mt/yr plant in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. The new plant is scheduled for completion in mid-2022. Once both projects are completed Kalburgi Cement will have a total cement production capacity of 6.75Mt/yr from two units.

India: The government of Haryana is investigating the transfer of around 122 acres belonging to the Associated Cement Companies’ (ACC) closed Bhupendra Cement plant to a Mumbai-based builder. According to Kalka MLA Latika Sharma, the land’s lease said it could only be used for industrial use, according to the Times of India newspaper. However, the builder it has been transferred to intends to build a town. Education minister Ram Bilas Sharma Sharma told the state congress that the Haryana Police had gathered ‘strong’ material on alleged irregularities in the entire issue and the government had decided to get the matter probed by the state vigilance bureau. The Bhupendra Cement plant at Surajpur near Pinjore was originally built in 1937. It was closed in 1997 on environmental grounds.

Cambodia: Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem says that a new 1.7Mt/yr cement plant in Battambang province is set to start production in mid-march 2017. Although the minister did not specify which plant was due to open, the only unit with that production capacity is Battambang Conch Cement, a joint venture between China’s Conch International Holdings and local cement firm Battambang KT Cement, according to the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. Construction at the site started in late 2016 with an investment of around US$230m. With the completion of this latest plant the country is now expected to be able to meet its own domestic demand with local supply.

Ivory Coast: Intercem has received an order for a ship-unloading project for Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) and has completed a project for Cim Ivoire. Both projects were received from Sea Invest on behalf of the end clients.

The CIMAF project for a cement grinding plant in San Pedro was agreed in February 2018. The order is an expansion of an existing ship unloading system. The contract was agreed by the Vice President of CIMAF in San Pedro, Melik Sefrioui, and Intercem’s General Manager, Olaf Michelswirth. The order includes a 3D scan of the existing system to ensure planning security. Intercem will perform the engineering, the foundation works, the deliveries, the assembly and the commissioning. Completion of the order is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2018.
The order for Cim Ivoire was first received in late 2016. It included the delivery of trough belt conveyors as well as all related components and the transfer tower on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) base: from the piling, the foundation works, the steel construction, the cladding of the building, the roofing of the belt bridges, the necessary filters and chutes to the electrical equipment.

The ship unloading system includes two belts with a length of 100m and a capacity of 1200t/hr. The first belt can be charged with material from a hopper over its entire length. Two towers were built, one with a height of about 8m and one of about 34m of height. A generator situated in the lower part of the transfer tower two assures the emergency power supply.

The ship unloading system is connected to two 50,000t clinker silos and the raw material shed for Cim Ivoire. Thus a truck-free unloading of clinker and raw material will be achieved to suit the new regulations of the port authorities in Abidjan.

US: The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that shipments of Ordinary Portland and blended cement rose by 2.4% year-on-year to 95.5Mt in 2017 from 93.3Mt in 2016. Increases of over 5% were reported in Arizona and New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and Washington. However, shipments fell by 14% in Illinois. Imports rose by 5.6% to 11.3Mt. Clinker production increased by 1.4% to 76.8Mt from 75.8Mt. Major importers of cement into the US were Canada with 4.4Mt, Greece with 2.3Mt and China with 2Mt.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s sales and earnings have increased due to a strong market recovery in its domestic market. Its sales revenue rose by 54.8% year-on-year to US$752m in 2017 from US$486m in 2016. Its adjusted earnings before, interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 67.7% to US$194m from US$116m. Its cement and lime sales rose by 18.6% to 6.99Mt from 5.89Mt. The cement producer also benefited from an increased equity share of Paraguay’s Yguazú Cementos during the year.

“2017 was a pivotal year for Loma Negra marked by achieving significant milestones. Key events for the company last year included: volume and sales expansion benefitting from the economic momentum in Argentina, record EBITDA, commenced expansion of the L’Amalí plant and ending the year with the successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) – the largest Argentine IPO in almost 25 years and the largest ever for a cement company,” said Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s Chief Executive Officer.

Bolivia: Residents near the Potosí cement plant being built by Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) are querying the project. They say that they never signed the paperwork to transfer land to accommodate the facility, according to the El Potosí newspaper. However, they say they are not opposing the project. They merely want preferential treatment such as compensation for old people that will be affected by the project and agreements for transport and jobs for local people.

Australia: The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has fined Port Kembla Milling’s cement and slag grinding plant US$23,000 for allegedly storing raw materials in the open, in breach of its licence conditions. Raw materials, including gypsum and limestone, were allegedly stored in the open at the subsidiary of Cement Australia on at least five occasions since January 2016 in breach of the site’s planning approval and licence conditions. Such materials should be stored in an enclosed location to prevent dust emissions.

“The requirement to store materials in an enclosed building is a key way to ensure dust emissions from bulk materials are prevented. A measure that is very important given the residential areas near Port Kembla port,” said EPA Regional Director Metropolitan Giselle Howard.

In addition to the fines, the EPA has also required Port Kembla Milling to complete an independent raw materials handling audit to confirm appropriate storage and management systems are put in place. The company has made some initial steps to respond to this request, and the EPA will continue to work with the licensee to ensure full compliance.