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Back in 2001 a UK government advisor gained infamy for trying to use the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 to bury bad news. This week’s column is trying hard NOT to be about the UK vote to leave the European Union (for more on that try our editorial director’s column in the latest issue of Global Cement Magazine). They’ll be plenty of time for that later on when the repercussions for the cement and construction industries sink in. However, it has inadvertently buried some bad news coverage for LafargeHolcim.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported on 21 June 2016 that Lafarge’s Syrian subsidiary paid money to Islamic State (IS) militants in order to keep its Jalabiya cement plant in operation in 2013 and 2014. The paper said that the plant was kept in operation until September 2014 as the result of ‘agreements with local armed groups, including the Islamic State.’ It added, that Lafarge ‘indirectly financed the jihadist organisation.’

LafargeHolcim issued a statement on the story on same day. However, it didn’t deny the accusations. It stated that the company, as Lafarge, was under control of the plant in Jalabiya between 2010 and September 2014 and that the safety of its employees had always been its first priority. Part of the statement read, “Once the conflict reached the area of the plant, the first priority for Lafarge was the safety and security of the employees, while planning for the eventual closure of the plant. In September 2014, Lafarge stopped operating the Jalabiya plant. After that, all employees were evacuated, put on paid leave and were no longer allowed to access the plant. In December 2015, given the evolution of the situation in Syria, the decision was taken to terminate all employee contracts and, where possible, transfer employees to other parts of the group.”

The company may yet face prosecution for the dealings if it is found to have financed any terrorist organisation. Emmanuel Daoud, a specialist in international law quoted by various media sources, speculated that the outcome of any potential investigation might depend on whether the company was protecting its staff or protecting its profits. Additional complications also arise from the subsequent merger of France’s Lafarge and Switzerland Holcim to form LafargeHolcim.

It should be remembered though that cement plants and their staff are often very real targets in regional conflicts. They can also be held under switching jurisdictions. We reported that a Lafarge Syria plant near Aleppo was attacked and set on fire in 2014. Before the site was abandoned to protect the staff the site was first under the auspices of the Syrian army and then the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party. Paying ‘taxes’ to the loosing side in a civil war might well be interpreted as funding terrorists in the aftermath.

A similar story resolved itself this week with the news that seven quarry workers kidnapped in Nigeria were released. Unfortunately there was one death and injuries sustained in the ambush that trapped them. Sy van Dyk, the chief executive of Macmahon, the company involved, refused to comment to local press on whether his company had paid a ransom to release the workers.

This all links to the wider issue of how multinational companies should deal with armed groups and de-facto governments in unstable areas. For example, the UK and US governments discourage paying ransoms to kidnappers because they say it encourages it as a business. Yet, other European nations notably paid to release their nationals during the earlier stages of the Syrian conflict and elsewhere. This in turn offers insight towards why Lafarge, a French multinational company, might have been more likely to negotiate with armed groups in Syria than say a British or American one. If an official investigation into Lafarge’s dealings follows then more details may emerge but there are no easy answers to these kinds of issues.

India: Jagdish Chander Bhutani has resigned as a director of Burnpur Cement. The resignation takes effect from 21 June 2016.

Georgia: Construction has started on a new US$120m cement plant in Senaki, Samegrelo. The project, Black Sea Cement, is a joint venture between China’s Hualing Group and a Georgian construction company. The plant will have a clinker production capacity of 0.9Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. It is expected to create over 500 jobs. Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili launched construction of the plant on 25 June 2016.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement plans to build a 75MW biomass plant at its Ofunato cement plant in Iwate prefecture. The new unit will burn both domestic and imported biomass fuel. The new power plant will replace units damaged at the site during the earthquake in 2011. As such Iwate prefecture has decided there would be no requirement for a new environmental assessment.

Oman: Raysut Cement Company’s new cement terminal at the Port of Duqm is likely to start operations in the third quarter of 2016, according to an official at the Port of Duqm Company. Reggy Vermeulen, the port’s CEO, told the Oman Tribune that the unit is currently at the pre-trial stage and the firm and various authorities, including Royal Oman Police, are testing equipment at the facility, including that used for fire-fighting. Once this process is over, trials will take place in the third quarter of 2016 and operations could start in the same quarter.

Turkey: Bedeschi has been awarded a contract by Sönmez Çimento to help build a clinker and cement export terminal with a loading capacity up to 1000t/hr. The terminal will serve a new 1.7Mt/yr integrated cement plant being built by Sönmez Çimento in the Adana Yumurtalık Free Zone. A slewing, luffing and travelling type shiploader will be installed at the plant’s port terminal.

Belgium/US: HeidelbergCement has made a shortlist of potential bidders for assets in Belgium and the US that should be divested as part of its acquisition of Italcementi, according to Bloomberg. Bidders for Italcementi’s Belgian business include Turkey’s Çimsa Çimento and Italy’s Cementir Holding. The business are valued at around US$400m. Bidders for Italcementi’s US assets include Summit Materials and CRH. This business are valued at around US$600m according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. All shortlisted bidders will face a due diligence process.

Russia: China National Building Materials Group Corporation (CNBM) plans to become a shareholder of Eurocement Group. The companies signed an agreement on cooperation in production of construction materials in China on 25 June 2016 in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.

The companies have agreed to upgrade Eurocement’s cement plants and construct new production lines for dry process production of cement. The agreement also envisages establishing clusters for production of construction materials in seven Russian federal districts at the basis of the local company. Local media reports that CNBM will invest US$5bn in the project.

Brazil: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed an agreement with the National Union of Cement Industry (SNIC) and the Brazilian Portland Cement Association (ABCP) to support the preparation of the Cement Technology Roadmap in Brazil. The project is being developed in partnership with the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI). It will be technically coordinated by Professor José Goldemberg, a former Minister of Education and former Secretary of Science and Technology.

In addition to co-financing the initiative, IFC will also use its experience to help produce two of the project's technical studies: energy efficiency and the use of alternative fuels. IFC’s present portfolio includes 30 investments and 10 advisory projects in the cement sector in 26 countries. IFC has already invested more than US$4bn in the sector globally and US$838m in Latin America.

The Brazilian edition of the Cement Technology Roadmap will map current and future technologies and their potential for energy efficiency improvement and greenhouse gas emissions reduction per tonne of cement produced up to 2050. Its main objective is to contribute to the development of the cement industry in Brazil towards a low CO₂ economy, using technical solutions allied to a range of recommendations from the academic, government and financial sectors.

Four major themes are being analysed by the Cement Technology Roadmap - Brazil, which includes the direct participation of major academic and research institutions from various regions of Brazil. They are: Energy efficiency; the use of alternative fuels for co-processing; the use of additions to replace clinker; and the capture, storage and use of CO₂.

Worldwide, two other studies on the cement industry have been previously carried out using the same methodology and with the same partners (IEA and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development) - the global Cement Technology Roadmap, in 2009, and the Low Carbon Technology Roadmap for the Indian Cement Industry, in 2013. The latter was also supported by IFC.

The Brazilian project was launched in September 2014 and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017. The preparation of the Cement Technology Roadmap - Brazil is being supported by more than 90% of the country’s cement producers.

Nigeria: Seven quarry workers who were kidnapped near the operations of Macmahon in Calabar on 22 June 2016 have been released. Five of the men have been injured, two of them seriously, the mining services company said in a statement. Company chief executive Sy van Dyk commended the men for their courage and mourned the loss of local driver Matthew Odok who died in the incident.

Dyk refused to comment to local press on whether a ransom was paid for the workers’ release. However he did thank the Nigerian authorities for their assistance.

Australia-based mining company Macmahon has been contracted by LafargeHolcim to mine material for processing at Lafarge Africa's UniCem cement plant at Mfamosing, in the southeast of Nigeria.