Displaying items by tag: ASEC

Egypt: ASEC Minya, formally Arab National Cement Company, has begun cement production at its 2Mt/yr cement plant in Minya, Egypt. The ASEC Cement subsidiary has been producing clinker at the site since May 2013.

"We are extremely proud to have been able to see this project through to completion despite the challenging operational environment," said ASEC Cement CEO Giorgio Bodo. "The launch of cement production, which marks the official completion of this project, is a clear reflection of our confidence in the Egyptian economy and our belief in the country's ability to recover from the current volatility."

Bodo cited security issues, fuel scarcity and general 'instability' as causing major setbacks that the cement producer had to overcome. Construction of the plant originally began in December 2010 but work was interrupted by the Egyptian Revolution in January 2011.

ASEC Minya will be connected to the Egyptian national electric grid via a 42km transmission line to be completed by the end of 2014. Until then the plant will use rented generators. The new cement plant has created 400 direct and 800 indirect jobs.

Iraq: ASEC Cement and Iraq's Qemmet El-Iraq have won a 14-year contract to renovate and manage the Muthanna Cement Plant in Muthanna Province, Iraq.

Abulla Hussein of Qemmet El-Iraq and ASEC Cement Chairman and CEO Giorgio Bodo attended a signing ceremony in Baghdad with Southern Cement, the state holding company that controls Muthanna Cement, on 28 August 2013. The value of the contract was not released.

"Iraq has embarked on a robust plan to rebuild and modernise its infrastructure and has launched major housing, industrial, and community projects. The rehabilitation of Muthanna is an important part of Iraq's investment in bridging the supply gap, particularly in the south," said Bodo.

Muthanna Cement is located in southern Iraq, between Najaf and Basra. Built in the 1980s, the plant has a total clinker production capacity of 1.92Mt/yr and 2Mt/yr of cement. Due to economic sanctions placed on Iraq in the 1990s, the company's current production capacity is around 20%. Work on the plant will start in the second quarter of 2014 with a plan to reach the plant's original cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr in August 2016.

Egypt: ASEC Minya (formerly the Arab National Cement Company), part of ASEC Cement, has started the production of clinker at its 2Mt/yr cement plant in Minya. Cement production at the US$360m plant is expected to start by the end of June 2013.

"We are extremely proud to have been able to see this project through to completion despite the challenging operational environment," said ASEC Cement CEO Giorgio Bodo. "Security issues, fuel scarcity and a general environment of instability resulted in major setbacks and required us to come up with creative ways of ensuring that the project did not come to a halt." Construction on the plant began in December 2010 but work was interrupted by the Egyptian Revolution in January 2011.

ASEC Minya will produce Portland Grey cement using limestone in Minya governorate. The plant has created 400 direct and 800 indirect jobs in Minya.

ASEC Minya will be connected to the national grid via a 42km transmission line that connects the plant to the Samalloot power station. A slow regulatory approval process will not allow the plant to have a connection to the electrical grid until the end of 2013 but in the meantime ASEC Minya has come up with a temporary solution with rented generators to provide power to the plant.

ASEC Minya is the second greenfield cement plant to be launched by ASEC Cement in five years. The first was Takamol Cement in Sudan, a 1.6Mt/yr plant that began production in November 2010.

Algeria: ASEC Cement has completed an upgrade at its Zahana plant, in western Algeria.

"Zahana Cement Company, our key Algerian subsidiary, has just concluded the largest overhaul in the plant's long history," said ASEC Cement CEO Giorgio Bodo. The upgrade is expected to bring a 20% year-on-year increase in production of both clinker and cement. In addition the deployment of new bag filters has decreased the plant's dust emissions. Following the upgrade Zahana's clinker capacity is 0.90Mt/yr.

ASEC Cement has now begun work on a US$30m project to construct a new raw mill at Zahana that will be fully operational by 2014, raising Zahana's clinker capacity to 1.2Mt/yr. In addition the plant has started work on a new kiln line, for completion by 2015, which will increase clinker capacity to 2.7Mt/yr and cement capacity to 3.0Mt/yr.

Zahana, located 40km from Wahran, had a cement capacity of just 0.65Mt/yr in 2008 when ASEC Cement took over management of the company. ASEC Cement has a 35% equity stake at Zahana in partnership with the Government of Algeria.

Egypt: ASEC Cement expects full production from the Arab National Cement Company (ANCC) in Minya to begin by the first quarter of 2013, creating 400 direct jobs and 1500 indirect jobs.

ASEC Cement has confirmed that it is on track to start commissioning at the US$335m ANCC plant , its 1.9Mt/yr clinker greenfield plant in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya, in the final months of 2012. ASEC Cement is the largest shareholder in ANCC with a 45% stake in the project.

Civil engineering work on site was completed by the end of 2011 but construction delays occurred due to the national political situation. ANCC and ARESCO, the contractor responsible for the steel fabrication and mechanical erection of the plant, and an ASEC Holding portfolio company are now implementing a recovery plan to complete mechanical and steel installation by the third quarter of 2012.

ANCC is one of Egypt's biggest project finance deals. In September 2010 ANCC signed an US$182m loan to finance the construction of its plant in Minya. The syndicated loan agreement involves a consortium of seven leading Egyptian and regional banks, which will cover 52% of the US$335m investment with the balance financed by the equity of ANCC. Other shareholders in ANCC include Misr Qena Cement (13.9%), Safari Investments (30.7%), IFU/FLS (9.2%) and other shareholders (1.1%).