Displaying items by tag: CNBM

Earlier this year South Africa’s PPC commented on the drought facing Cape Town. It said that cement manufacturing was not water intensive, that its operations were ‘totally’ self-sufficient from its own surface water sources with capacity for several months and that it was working with the local government which viewed construction as an important economic sector. Point made!

Water conservation is an established part of the sustainability toolkit for cement producers. Yet recent weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere may also test how well companies are doing. Above average temperatures have been recorded this summer, in some places accompanied by unusually dry conditions. A news story this week about Cemex Colombia being fined for using water from a river shows one aspect of the problems that can face industrial users. Another story that we’ve covered previously has been the legal action taken against producers using water from a site near to the Katas Raj Temples in Pakistan.

Wet process cement manufacturing uses more water than dry process but even modern plants use water for cooling equipment and exhaust gases, in emission control systems such as wet scrubbers. In addition, quarrying and aggregate production may require water, and concrete production also needs water. Issues also arise with quarry dewatering and discharging water into rivers and the like. Global Cement Directory 2018 data indicates that, where known, about 10% of integrated cement plants still use a wet production method.

Graph 1: Specific water consumption by selected cement producers in 2017. Source: Corporate sustainability reports.

As Graph 1 shows there is some variation between the major cement producers with regards to how much water they use. They all operate with different types of equipment and production methods in different geographical locations so the difference between the companies is to be expected. A cement plant in northern Europe that normally experiences high levels of rainfall will have a different approach to water conservation than one, say, in a water stressed area like the Middle East. Incidentally, the definition used to define a water-stressed or scarce area is one where there is less than 1000m³/yr per person. One other point to note here is that each of the companies has a higher consumption figure than the 100 – 200L/t that the Cement Manufacturers' Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) reckoned that an average dry-process cement plant used when it was promoting water conservation back in 2013.

Looking at specific recent success stories, India’s UltraTech Cement reported a specific water consumption of 54L/t of clinker at its Star Cement plant in Dubai, UAE in 2016 – 2017 following a dedicated initiative at the site. An another milestone that UltraTech Cement was keen to point out in its last sustainability report was that three of 13 integrated plants had achieved water sufficiency though the use of the company’s 360° Water Management Model with its use of rainwater harvesting and recharging groundwater. These plants are not dependent on any groundwater or fresh water sources. The other larger cement producers all have similar water management schemes with reduction targets in place.

Climate change models generally predict hotter and wetter weather but changing weather patterns and growing populations are likely to impact upon water management and consumption. Given the integral nature of water in the cement production process, many cement producers have realised the importance of it and treat it as an input material like fuel or limestone. Hence the highlighting of water conservation in company sustainability reports over the last decade. The test for the success of these initiatives will be how producers cope in drought situations where they may be seen as being in competition with domestic users. Thankfully in PPC’s case, Cape Town avoided having to ration water to the general public, as the rains returned in the spring.

China/Denmark: Denmark’s FLSmdith and China National Building Material (CNBM) have signed a framework agreement about future collaboration. Song Zhiping, chairman of CNBM Group and Thomas Schulz, Group chief executive officer (CEO) of FLSmidth signed the deal at FLSmidth’s headquarters in Denmark in July 2018.

"It was a pleasure to welcome the guests and to participate in such collaborative discussions about future opportunities to work together. Through this framework agreement, we see numerous benefits over the coming years for us and our customers, such as expediting our quotation response time, which will improve our delivery performance and increase productivity," said Schulz.

FLSmidth is an engineering company that provides machinery and connected services to the cement and mineral industries. CNBM Group is both the world’s largest cement producer and a leading cement plant construction company. The companies have worked together on projects previously, such as the Relizane cement plant order for ETHRB Group in Algeria.

Nigeria: Ibeto Cement plans to hire China’s Sinoma to build two cement plants at Nkalagu and Effium respectively in Ebonyi State. The first plant will be built next to the former Nigerian Cement plant at Nkalagu, according to the Vanguard newspaper. It will have a production capacity of 9000t/day. The second plant, at Effium, will have a production capacity of 3000t/day, due to smaller local limestone deposits.

Ibeto Cement signed a deal with Milost Global to secure funding worth US$850m in May 2018. Previously, it entered into an agreement with Sinoma International Engineering in 2015 to build a new plant at Enugu.

China: China National Building Material (CNBM) has agreed to buy a further 18.7% stake in Southwest Cement for US$295m from Zhonshai Trust. The building materials producer already owns a 70% majority stake in its subsidiary. The remaining stake in Southwest Cement is owned by Shanghai Zhentong (6.3%) and Beijing Huachen (5%).

China: Peng Shou has been appointed as the president of China National Building Materials (CNBM). Other new appointments announced in the wake of the company’s annual general meeting include the assignment of Chang Zhangli as a non-executive director and Yu Kaijun as secretary to the board.

Peng Shou, aged 57 years, holds has over 30 years of experience in business and management in the building material industry with various senior roles at both CNBM and Triumph International Engineering. Peng holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Wuhan Institute of Building material industry (now Wuhan University of Technology) and a master’s degree in management from Wuhan Polytechnic University (now Wuhan University of Technology).

Chang Zhangli, age 47 years, has held a variety of senior management roles at companies including CNBM, Jushi Group, Southwest Cement, China Triumph International Engineering, China United Cement, China Composites Group, North Cement and Beijing New Building Materials.

Yu Kaijun, aged 55 years, is a vice president of CNBM. He holds over 35 years of experience in financial management and corporate governance with positions at Sinoma, BBMG, Xinjiang Tianshan Cement, Ningxia Building Materials Group. Notably he was the chief financial officer of Sinoma from 2010 to 2018 and Sinoma International Engineering from 2001 to 2011. He holds a masters degree in accounting from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Saudi Arabia: Sinoma International Engineering has agreed to pay an outstanding tax bill of US$3.5m to the Saudi tax bureau. The bill relates to a dispute in 2009 and 2010. The settlement includes delay charges and further charges are applicable if the bill is not paid by the end of June 2018. In 2016 the subsidiary of China national Building Materials (CNBM) was appealing against a charge of US$18m for unpaid tax in the mid 2000s.

UK: Albert Manifold, the head of CRH, has been elected as the president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) at its first meeting. Fernando A González, chief executive of Cemex, and Jianglin Cao, chief executive of CNBM, were named as vice-presidents.

“We are proud to launch this new global cement and concrete advocacy platform. Cement and concrete are integral elements of the built environment around the world and the GCCA represents a strong sector-wide voice and responsible industrial leadership in the manufacture and use of these materials,” said GCCA President, Albert Manifold.

The GCCA comprises 10 cement companies including Cemex, CNBM, CRH, Dangote, Eurocement, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Taiheiyo, UltraTech and Votorantim. All board appointments are on an interim basis until formal elections can take place of the full board comprising 15 members at the organisation’s first annual general meeting to be held in London, UK in November 2018. The association will also present a work programme, launch its sustainability charter and run a conference at the same time. The GCCA has established its headquarters in London.

China: Song Zhiping will step down as the director and the chairman of the board of directors of China National Building Material (CNBM). He will leave the posts at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in mid-June 2018. He will remain as chairman, and secretary of the Party Committee, of China National Building Material Group, the major shareholder of CNBM. Song Zhiping was appointed as chairman of the board of directors in 2005. Since then the company has become one of the largest building materials manufacturers in the world.

Other personnel changes include the departure of Guo Chaomin as director of the company and Xu Weibing will leave as supervisor and the chairman of the supervisory committee. Guo Chaomin has originally appointed as a non-executive director in 2011.

Proposed staff to be elected at the AGM include Peng Jianxin as executive director of the company, Xu Weibing, Shen Yungang and Fan Xiaoyan as non-executive directors and Li Xinhua and Guo Yanming as supervisors of the company.

South Africa: PPC and China’s Sinoma Construction have successfully ignited the kiln at the Slurry Kiln 9 project in North West province. The new clinker production line will now undergo a three-month test period, according to the China Economic Daily newspaper. Once testing is finished, the 3300t/day line will be transferred to PPC to start commissioning.

China: The merger between China National Building Material (CNBM) and China National Materials (Sinoma) is looking likely to be completed in early May 2018. The companies have issued a scheduled timeline for key events of the withdrawal of Sinoma shares and the implementation of a share exchange. This process is expected to be completed on or around 3 May 2018 with CNBM updating its business registration at the Beijing Municipal Administration of Industry and Commerce as soon as possible thereafter. The merger marks the conglomeration of the leading Chinese cement producer and equipment manufacturer.