Displaying items by tag: GCW296

South Korea: Hanil Cement says it will buy 10.8 million shares or a 64.4% stake in Hyundai Cement. The transaction will cost US$427m, according to Reuters. The South Korean cement producer was chosen as the preferred bidder in February 2017.

Pakistan: Loesche has released details on its order to supply three grinding plants for DG Khan Cement for a new 9000t/day clinker production line at Hub in Balochistan. The contract, which was originally signed in September 2015, includes one 654t/hr raw meal, one 445t/hr Ordinary Portland Cement mill with a COPE drive and a 66t/hr coal mill. Loesche says that the raw mill with a nominal capacity of 1050t/hr will be the biggest raw material mill in the world. Loesche is responsible for the full mechanical equipment and together with Loesche Automation for the electrical engineering package along with all hardware supply from steel structure to electrical equipment and automation.

Morocco: LafargeHolcim has inaugurated a new Construction Development Lab (CDL) in Casablanca. The CDL will be dedicated to the Moroccan and African construction markets and it will help the group develop construction solutions for the markets it serves. The laboratory is LafargeHolcim’s eighth laboratory in the world after those in Algeria, Argentina, China, France, India, Malaysia and Mexico. The 4000m² facility will house 50 engineers, architects and technicians and marketers. LafargeHolcim’s central research and development site is based in Lyon, France.

The new CDL will also aim to develop partnerships with start-ups, universities and other higher education institutions to promote research and development, test new ideas and reinforce relationships with building and infrastructure construction experts. It will organise specialised training for clients, influencers, product applicators and builders to enable them to use innovative solutions in their projects.

Philippines: Arsenio Balisacan, the chairman of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), says that the commission has 90 days in which to conduct an investigation into the local cement industry. It is expected to complete its probe in the first half of 2017, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper. The investigation period follows the point at which the PCC found reasonable grounds of alleged violations of competitive practice. Potential fines the local industry could face are US$2m for a first offence and US$5m for a second.

The PCC announced in early March 2017 that was preparing to investigate the cement sector for alleged violations of competitive practice following a legal statement by Victorio Dimagiba, the head of Laban Konsyumer – a consumer rights organisation, accusing the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP), LafargeHolcim Philippines and Republic Cement and Building Materials of engaging in anti-competitive agreements.

Philippines: APO Cement Corporation, a subsidiary of Cemex Philippines, has ordered a 4.5MW waste heat recovery unit from China’s Sinoma Energy Conservation. Sinoma will build and operate it. The new unit is expected to reduce the negative effects of power cuts, save energy costs and reduce the cement plant’s carbon emissions. No delivery date or cost of the order has been disclosed.

UK: Pal Chana, the Executive Director of the Mineral Products Association (MPA), has warned of the cost burden from the implementation of climate change and energy related policies on the cement industry. He made the comments as part of the launch of the association’s 2016 Annual Performance Report.

"The report highlights that one of the greatest threats to the UK cement industry currently and in the near future is the considerable cumulative cost burden from the implementation of climate change and energy related policies, which we estimate are going to increase by 40% to 2020 even with the limited discounting provided by Government. If action is not taken to protect the UK cement sector from these rising costs, imports will increase, jobs will be lost and security of supply will be threatened,” said Chana. The MPA added that despite market improvements production is still 27% below the level it was in 2007.

In the report the MPA reveals that the cement industry has reduced its CO₂ emissions by 23% against a 1998 baselines. However, both emissions from calcination and the combustion of fossil fuels rose year-on-year in 2015, the most recent year of reporting. Despite this, emissions of NO_x, SO₂ and dust were all reduced or stabilised and waste fuels usage showed improvement. The MPA also said it was concerned that policy drivers, such as those incentivising the use of biomass in other sectors, is increasing the competition for limited biomass resource. This could result in a market distortion with the potential to drive cement manufacture back towards coal use.

India: Sagar Cement has ordered a vertical roller mill from Gebr. Pfeiffer for grinding granulated blast-furnace slag and granulated blast-furnace slag cements. The mill will be used at a new 160t/hr slag grinding plant at the cement producer’s Bayyavaram Village unit near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Delivery is scheduled to take place before the end of 2017. No price for the order has been disclosed.

The order is for a MVR 5000 C-4 mill equipped with a 4300kW-drive and four grinding rollers with active redundancy. The plant will grind granulated blast-furnace slag with a fineness of about 4,500 cm²/g acc. Blaine and it will also be able to grind composite cements from varying portions of granulated blast-furnace slag, fly ash and gypsum.

Core components of the mills, including the roller, tension system, grinding bowl and planetary gearbox, will be supplied from Europe. The mill foundation parts, the housing and the integrated high-efficiency classifier of the type SLS 4750 BC will be provided by Gebr. Pfeiffer India. The local subsidiary will also supply most of the equipment required to complete the grinding plant, including the plant fan and hot gas generator.