Displaying items by tag: GCW245

Armenia: Minister of Economy Artsvik Minasyan is hopeful that production will continue at the Hrazdan Cement Company once control of the plant is taken over by its creditor, the VTB Bank (Armenia). Minasyan made the comments to the Arminfo news agency.

In February 2016 the Armenian government approved a draft decision to release Hrazdan Cement from a US$1.06m fine. Former Minister of Economy Karen Chshmaritian announced that the VTB Bank would provide a US$4.6m recovery loan to the plant. The intention was to reach a cement production level of 0.2Mt/yr and create 250 new jobs. In 2015 around 80,000t of cement was produced. Most of this was exported.

Hrazdan Cement, originally known as Mika Cement, was built in 1970. The company was privatised in 2001 and has had financial problems since 2013. The cement plant has two production lines and a clinker production capacity of 1Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr.

Kenya: ARM Cement expects to conclude talks on a foreign investor taking a US$140m stake in the company by 15 April 2016. The investment is expected to be concluded by June 2016, the Kenyan cement producer said in a statement sent to the Nairobi stock exchange and reported by Mist News.

“The board and management of the company believe that the investment would, if made, strengthen the financial position of the company as it executes its regional growth plans,” said ARM Cement in the statement.

ARM Cement announced in December 2015 that it was in talks with a potential investor. India’s UltraTech Cement was linked to the deal in January 2016. ARM Cement was said to be facing ‘liquidity challenges’ by the Capital Markets Authority in March 2016. The Kenyan cement producer has previously said that the foreign investment will be in the form of a seven-year convertible preference shares. This is not expected to reach the threshold requiring a mandatory takeover bid on conversion to equity in the company. Funds from the investment of up to US$110m will be used to repay company debt. The rest of the balance will go towards expanding the company’s cement business.

US: Martin Engineering has launched its new Pin Latch Secondary Belt Cleaner, a tungsten carbide-tipped secondary cleaner that slides in and out for service without requiring any tools. The design features a square, tabbed mainframe with segmented blades connected by a pin mechanism, allowing access and blade replacement by semi-skilled personnel.

The pin latch design provides adjustable tension for varying conditions, such as belt speed, material being conveyed and belt cleaner position relative to the head pulley. It can handle belt speeds up to 5.1m/s and the versatile unit accommodates belt rollback. The carbide tip is acid- and abrasion-resistant, and the assembly is suited for use on belts with mechanical splices, smoothly adapting to and riding over the splices without damaging the splice, belt or blade. The new belt cleaner is considered as a preferred upgrade for Martin SQC2 and SC16 Secondary Cleaners.

“The maintenance-friendly design of the new Pin Latch Belt Cleaner is engineered for a wide range of global applications,” said Martin Engineering South Africa Sales Manager Pieter Opperman. “It can drastically reduce downtime for service or replacement, since no alignment or setting of the blade is required. Inventory is reduced to a one-part blade and buffer, without bolts, nuts or other fasteners.”

Martin Engineering builds products for bulk materials handling. The company has it headquarters in Neponset, Illinois. It has offices in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, India and the UK.

Chile: Cementos Bío Bío has reported that its profit rose by 4% year-on-year to US$30m in 2015 from US$28.5m in 2014. Its revenue rose by 4.4% to US$417m. It attributed the growth to higher cement sales and better prices. The Chilean cement producer also announced that it is upgrading the milling capacity at its lime plant in Antofagasta.

India: Jaiprakash Associates has revised a US$2.4bn deal to sell cement plants to and UltraTech Cement. The new deal excludes a 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in Karnataka. UltraTech will also spend US$71m to complete a cement grinding plant that is currently being built. UltraTech will now acquire Jaiprakash Associates cement plants in five states with total capacity of 21.2Mt/yr. Jaiprakash Associates will retain a cement capacity of 10.6Mt/yr.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed in February 2016 agreed the terms of the sale. However, currency fluctuations between the Indian Rupee and US Dollar have kept the US Dollar value of the revised deal at a similar amount despite a drop in the Indian Rupee amount. The sale is expected to take around 12 to 14 months to complete subject to statutory and regulatory approvals.

India: OCL India has inaugurated a 5.5MW solar power plant for use by its cement grinding plant in Salboni, Bengal. The 1.35Mt/yr grinding plant was set up in 2014 with an investment of US$93m.

"Our plant at Paschim Medinipore is located strategically to ensure timely and faster delivery of cement across the state. West Bengal is an emerging market for infrastructure development with a host of projects under implementation and thereby auguring well for the cement industry in Eastern India. In our first year of operations in Medinipore we are already operating at 95% capacity utilisation," said Amandeep, director and CEO of OCL India. He added that the solar plant will be the first and largest of its kind in West Bengal

OCL India also operates two cement plants at Kapilash and Rajgangpur in Orissa with a combined production capacity of 5.35Mt/yr.

China: China Shanshui Cement Group has reported a loss of US$998m in 2015 compared to a net profit US$53.9m in 2014. Its revenue fell by 28% year-on-year to US$1.73bn. The loss was blamed on a write-down of goodwill assets and an increase in administrative expenses, following a prolonged power struggle between shareholders and management, according to Dow Jones. The Chinese cement producer reported a US$364m write-down of goodwill assets due to forecasted poor results and over-payments for cement plant acquisitions. Administrative expenses increased by 86% to US$359m.

Vietnam: Total clinker and cement sales rose by 9.8% year-on-year to 15.71Mt in the first quarter of 2016, the Building Material Department under the Ministry of Construction has said. The sales figure represents 20.7% of the country’s target for 2016.

In March 2016, the country’s cement sales rose by 17% year-on-year to 6.27Mt, supported by growing construction projects and the recovery of the real estate market. Clinker and cement exports grew by 115% year-on-year to 1.35Mt March 2015. Total export volumes for the first quarter of 2016 rose by 2% to 3.5Mt.

The Ministry of Construction forecasts that Vietnam's sales of cement and clinker will rise 4 - 7% on year to between 75 – 77 Mt in 2016 despite economic concerns. The country now has 76 cement production lines with a combined production capacity of 82Mt/yr.

Ireland: CRH has been named in a Euro34bn lawsuit file in Washington DC launched by Palestinian activists against a group of businesses operating in Israel. The activists who are trying to sue various groups with connections to Israel for allegedly ‘profiteering’ from the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, according to the Irish Times.

The Irish building materials company sold its 25% stake in Mashav, which owned the Israeli cement producer Nesher, in December 2015. However, the lawsuit is targeting CRH over its past co-ownership. The lawsuit accuses Nesher of supplying concrete for the foundations of Jewish settlements and for building barriers in the West Bank and for allegedly extracting minerals from Palestinian territory.

US: Georgia Power has started preparation activity to permanently close all of the company's 29 ash ponds located at 11 coal-fired generation facilities across Georgia. Twelve ponds are scheduled for closure by mid-2018, 16 are expected to close by 2026 and one pond is expected to close by 2030. At present, around 50% of the coal combustion by-products Georgia Power produces are used to make Portland cement, concrete, cinder blocks and gypsum wallboard.

"Our primary focus throughout the closure process is maintaining a reliable generation fleet, while conducting the closure process in the most efficient way possible," said Mark Berry, vice president of environmental affairs for Georgia Power. The company will upgrade each plant to accommodate the dry handling of Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) required by new federal regulations. The closure of all 29 ash ponds is expected to cost over US$1bn over the next 10 years. In addition, the company has invested approximately US$5bn in new environmental compliance technologies for its coal-fired generation fleet.