Displaying items by tag: GCW265
Shree Cement orders 10 mills from Gebr. Pfeiffer
22 August 2016India: Shree Cement has ordered 10 mills from Gebr. Pfeiffer. This deal continues the cement producer’s expansion strategy across India through integrated cement and grinding plants.
Gebr. Pfeiffer will supply MVR 6000 R-6 raw mills with capacities of about 550t/hr and an installed drive power of 6700kW each for the cement plants. These installations will come equipped with MPS 2800 BK type coal mills, each featuring a 720kW drive and an integrated SLS BK classifier. MVR 6000 C-6 cement mills are planned to grind clinker and extenders in at these cement plants or at grinding plants. These types of mill are already in successful operation at various sites belonging to Shree Cement. The cement producer currently runs 24 Pfeiffer mills.
Planned grinding plants will use the MVR 6000 C-6 mill to alternatively produce 300t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement at a product fineness of 3100cm²/g acc. to Blaine or 300t/hr of Portland Pozzolana Cement containing as much as 35% of fly ash at a product fineness of 3500cm²/g acc. to Blaine or 180t/hr of ground granulated blast-furnace slag at a product fineness of 4500cm²/g acc. to Blaine. Each of the mills will come equipped with a 6700kW drive.
Gebr. Pfeiffer SE will supply the core components of the mill and the gear units from Europe. Its Indian subsidiary, headquartered in Noida, Gebr. Pfeiffer (India), will provide the components such as the housings of the mills and classifiers, the steel foundation parts as well as the internal parts of the classifiers. In addition, the Indian subsidiary will design the plant layout and advise the customer on the equipment it will procure on its own.
Bolivia: Menzel Elektromotoren has delivered two motors for a cement mill and a classifier to a cement plant in Bolivia. The mill, which manufactures high-strength cement with 5000 Blaine is the country’s first vertical roller mill for cement grinding. It is also the highest installed elevation, at 4000m above sea level, of an OK mill in North and South America.
Particular technical attention had to be paid to the motors' durability and ruggedness to withstand the special operating conditions. During the planning phase, the drive engineers and the customer decided on a change of voltage levels, construction of a foundation plate and the installation of a vibration monitoring system for integration into the control as requested by the customer.
After commissioning in September 2016, more than 10 motors from Menzel will be powering machines in the Bolivian cement plant.
US: The Essroc cement plant in Speed, Indiana has lots its appeal to burn alternative fuels. Local government officials have decided that the plant will have to apply for rezoning to order to burn hazardous waste, comprising solvents, paints and other chemicals along with coal, according to the Washington Times newspaper.
“I’m disappointed in the decision, but I’m confident that we’ve got other means to obtain the required authorisation to continue with the project,” said Jeremy Black, the plant manager.
Local residents who are suing the plant have accused Essroc of misleading them regarding which fuels the company intends to burn. Essroc have denied the claim.
Tanzanian cement producers asked to complain to government
19 August 2016Tanzania: Charles Mwijage, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, has advised local cement producers to complain to the government regarding imports of cement and a ban on imported coal. Mwijage made the comments at the inauguration of Tanga Cement’s second clinker production line, according to the Tanzania Daily News newspaper.
"We ask the government to either stop the imports or at least impose higher tariffs on imported clinkers. We are also pleading with the government to ensure clinkers on transit reach their destinations. This will remove unfair competition in the market," said Reinhardt Swart, the managing director of Tanga Cement.
The cement producer has complained to the government previously about the same issues. He added that the some of the cheap products were clinker on transit that are diverted to the local market and then sold cheaply because they are not taxed. In addition the government ban on coal imports has raised the company’s energy costs. Swart said that the company is also appealing to the government to secure more reliable electricity supplies.
US: HeidelbergCement, through its subsidiaries Essroc and Lehigh Hanson, has entered into a definitive agreement with Argos USA, a subsidiary of Cementos Argos, to sell its Martinsburg, West Virginia cement plant and eight related terminals. The disposal was required by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address competition concerns arising from its acquisition of Italcementi. The agreement is subject to the approval of the FTC and other customary closing conditions. The transaction purchase price is US$660m on a cash and debt-free basis. HeidelbergCement expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2016.
“With the disposal of the Martinsburg plant we have successfully finalised our disposal programme in the context of the Italcementi acquisition,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “Together with the disposals of the non-core assets and the Belgium assets of Italcementi we have exceeded our Euro1bn target on disposal proceeds and thereby further improved the net financial position of HeidelbergCement.”
Cementos Argos net income rises by 27% to US$96.5m
18 August 2016Colombia: Cementos Argos’ net income has risen by 27% year-on-year to US$96.5m in the first half of 2016 from US$75.9m in the same period of 2015. Its revenue rose by 26.5% to US$1.51bn from US$1.20bn and its cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 6.98Mt from 6.84Mt. The company’s growth in revenue was driven by growing sales in the US.
“The disciplined execution of our internationalisation strategy has allowed us to continue obtaining good results, especially in markets such as the US, a country that keeps representing opportunities for Argos’s sustainable growth and that, added to our other geographies’ performance, enables us to continue contributing to the development of the countries and territories where we operate, through the construction of roads, bridges, homes and other projects in which the dreams of millions of people are materialized,” said Juan Esteban Calle, the CEO of Cementos Argos.
By region the cement producer reported that sales volumes fell by 14.8% to 2.92Mt in Colombia along with a slight fall in sales revenue. In the US its cement sales volumes grew by 29% to 2Mt and its sales revenue rose by 19.7% to US$700m. In the company’s Caribbean and Central American division its cement sales volumes rose by 6% to 2.52Mt and its sales revenue rose by 3.7% to US$283m.
Italy: The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has decided to extend its investigation of the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) and cement producers including Italcementi, Colacem and Sacci. The AGCM has been looking into alleged coordinated increased in cement prices over the past six months. The regulator has now extended its inquiries until May 2017 due to ‘suspicious’ behaviour. The inspections have revealed that simultaneous price rises and similar sales prices communicated to customers in advance has been in practice by the companies being investigated and other players in the sector.
Rock Hard Cement and Arawak Cement spar in Barbados
18 August 2016Barbados: Rock Hard Cement, a cement distributor, and local producer Arawak Cement have been arguing publicly over the quality of their respective products. Arawak Cement took out a paid advertisement advised customers in Barbados, Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean that an unnamed rival company’s product was not ‘not of a higher quality, or strength and is not a superior product’ than its own products, according to the Barbados Today newspaper. The cement producer said it has also made a complaint with the Fair Trading Commission regarding alleged misleading claims that Rock Hard Cement has made about its products.
In response Mark Maloney, chief executive of Rock Hard Cement, has accused Arawak Cement of attempting to stop the newcomer entering the local market since November 2015. Since the entry of Rock Hard Cement into the market the price of cement has dropped by 30%. Arawak Cement has attributed this to a restructuring programme and improved plant efficient. Maloney has also accused his rival of trying to register the Rock Hard name outside of Barbados to deter future expansion.