Displaying items by tag: GCW305
Al Safwa signs ash co-operation deal with utility
05 June 2017Saudi Arabia: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has signed a co-operation agreement with Al Safwa Cement Company to reuse carbon ash and oil residues byproducts that result from the burning of heavy fuel in power generation plants. They will be used as an alternative source of energy at the cement plant, instead of being landfilled.
Khalid Bin Abdulrahman Al Tuaimi, the executive vice president for the generation at SEC, pointed out that SEC was the first company to adopt this policy. "This will reduce the dependence of the cement plant on heavy fuel, thereby reducing dependence on oil, which is a key element of the Kingdom Vision 2030 to restructure the national economy," he said.
France: The Syndicat Français de l'industrie Cimentière (SFIC) forecasts that cement consumption will grow faster in the second half of 2017 due to an increase in domestic house building. Association president Raoul de Parisot, said that he expected growth of 3 – 4% in the second half of the year, according to La Croix newspaper. Cement sales grew by 1 – 2% in the first quarter of 2017. The association expects cement consumption to reach 17.9 – 18.1Mt in 2017.
India: Members of the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) have met with Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, to discuss price concerns around the country’s road building campaign. Local producers stand accused of increasing prices despite no rise in input costs amidst a national plan to build more roads, according to the Hindu newspaper. Producers dismissed these concerns, saying that price were lower than they had been in 2015. Instead they bashed discrepancies in export taxes between India and Pakistan.
Delegates from the cement producers at the meeting included N Srinivasan, managing director of India Cements, HM Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement, KK Maheshwari, managing director of UltraTech Cement, Ajay Kapur, managing director of Ambuja Cement, Mahendra Singhi, Group chief executive officer and wholetime director of Dalmia Cement, Ujjwal Batria, country chief executive officer and managing director of Nuvoco Vistas Corp and Aparna Dutt Sharma, Secretary General of the CMA.
India: Orient Cement has signed a deal with Jaiprakash Associates to buy three cement plants from it for US$302m. The arrangement, which was originally announced in October 2016, includes a deal to buy a 74% stake in Bhilai Jaypee Cement for US$225m and the acquisition of the Nigrie cement grinding plant in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh from Jaiprakash Power Ventures for US$77m, according to the Hindu newspaper. Bhilai Jaypee Cement, a joint venture between Jaiprakash Associates and the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), has a 2.2Mt/yr integrated Portland slag cement plant in Satna Madhya, Madhya Pradesh and a grinding plant in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
The transaction will be funded by Orient Cement through a mix of internal accruals, debt and equity funding. The acquisitions will increase Orient Cement’s production capacity to 10.2Mt/yr from 8Mt/yr and it will grant it access to the central and eastern regions of the country.
Sri Lanka: A leaked letter from investment body the Agency for Development has revealed Chinese state pressure towards a tender for building a new cement grinding plant in the Hambantota investment zone. In the letter, reported upon by the News First television network, the head of the agency states that the Chinese Embassy asked that a Chinese investor, Sinoma Nanjing, be given priority for the project otherwise it would ‘lose confidence’ in the scheme. He added that the Chinese investors would pull out if other investors were also allowed to produce cement in the zone. The letter also reveals that the agency has proposed that Sinoma Nanjing form a joint venture with Ceylon Steel Corporation.
Mozambique: Alfredo Sitoe, the general director of the National Norms and Quality Institute (INNOQ), has said that all cement imports must be tested for quality. The new legislation was set up in July 2016 but took effect in January 2017, according to the Mozambique News Agency. Cement importers are required to provide origin details to the INNOQ that will then check certification with the relevant organisation in the exporting country.
Diamond Cement secures US$22.5m loan from African Development Bank for grinding pant in Guinea
01 June 2017Guinea: Diamond Cement Guinea has been awarded a US$22.5m loan from the African Development Bank (AFDB) to build a 0.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Souguta. Overall the AFDB has pledged around US$37.5m for the project to the cement producer’s owner Wacem, according to African Manager financial news service. The AFDB previously part-financed a 0.5Mt/yr plant in Conakry with a value of US$15m.
Man Diesel & Turbo supplies six engines to China Gezhouba Group cement plant project in Iraq
01 June 2017Iraq: Germany’s Man Diesel & Turbo has delivered six Man 18V32/40 engines, including gensets and mechanical equipment to CGGC-UN Power Co (Gezhouba Group) in Samawah. CGGC is acting as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor in a project building a 50MW captive power plant for a cement plant to be operated by Kairat Al Abar Iraqi (KAAI). The engines will run on heavy fuel oil (HFO) in base load mode. The cement plant is being built by China’s Sinoma.
Cemex USA terminals in San Diego and La Mirada achieve Energy Star Challenge for Industry status
01 June 2017US: Two Cemex USA terminals in California have achieved the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star Challenge for Industry status by reducing their energy consumption by more than 10% each. The San Diego terminal achieved a 12.2% reduction in 2016, compared to the prior year. The La Mirada terminal achieved a 23.2% reduction year-on-year. The Energy Star Challenge for Industry is a national call-to-action to improve energy efficiency by 10% within five years.
The La Mirada and San Diego terminals reduced their energy consumption by completing projects and executing strategies to improve their onsite energy intensity. Workers were educated on energy-management practices and procedures for the proper operation of plant equipment. Out-dated light bulbs at the terminals were replaced with more energy-efficient LED lighting. The process of enhancing lighting at the terminals continues in 2017, and workers at the terminals are focused on looking for more ways to save energy in the future. Cemex also plans to roll out programme to all of its logistics operations.
Cemtec successfully transports 170t mill to Bavaria
01 June 2017Germany: Cemtec has successfully transported a 170t cement grinding mill from its headquarters in Enns, Austria to a client in Bavaria. The transported equipment had an internal diameter of 4.6m, an outside diameter of 5.2m and a length of over 17m. Due to the size of the mill the transportation could not be carried out on motorways and the engineering company was forced to use smaller roads and inland waterways include the River Danube. Extra challenges included using additional haulage vehicles to cope with inclines of up to almost 14%, temporarily removing electricity and telephone cables in certain locations, laying road slabs at crossroads and shutting a motorway while the mill crossed it. The total transportation time took eight days.