Displaying items by tag: GCW465

Vietnam: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has announced the relocation of its Asia Pacific cement regional division headquarters to Hanoi from Singapore. The new headquarters are on the site of one of the company’s “largest cement plant engineering centres.” It retains offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. The main motivation for the move is to better enable ThyssenKrupp to supply Vietnamese cement producers.

Cement technologies chief executive officer (CEO) Pablo Hofelich said, “In our new headquarters, we bring together experts from Germany, Singapore and Thailand to support the Vietnam office. Vietnam is the largest market in terms of cement production capacity in a dynamic and growing Asia Pacific.” Asia Pacific cement business CEO Lukas Schoeneck said, “We are focusing on know-how transfer and the development of solutions that are tailored to the requirements of the local markets in Asia Pacific. Besides, we will expand our service activities to strengthen our local footprint and proximity to clients. Lastly, we will push sustainable technologies within our Grey2Green initiative.”

North Africa: Turkey-based DAL Engineering Group has announced that it has acted upon a contract to design and manufacture a ball mill for a grinding plant project. It shipped the 3.0m x 10m mill to a grinding plant in North Africa in June 2020.

Mexico: Cemex says that it is involved in a working group “focussed on the application of FastCarb aggregates to concrete production” as part of its efforts towards net-zero CO₂ concrete production. FastCarb, administrated by the US-based International Research and Exchanges Board, is a project aimed at the production of aggregates from recycled concrete containing trapped carbon dioxide (CO₂) requisitioned from industrial exhaust streams.

Cemex said, “After completing the first phase of the experimental approach at the laboratory level with promising preliminary results, the project is now entering the second phase seeking to tackle the industrial approach. In this industrial approach phase, Cemex was recently assigned to evaluate the physical and mechanical properties of the carbonated recycled concrete aggregates when used in ready-mix concrete in the laboratory facilities at the Cemex France National Technical Centre.”

Iran: Sistan and Baluchestan Province has reported total exports of 54,000t of cement to Afghanistan in the first quarter of the Iranian fiscal year (21 March - 21 June 2020). Fars News Agency has reported that a total of 2060 trucks made the deliveries with an average load of 26t. Iran exports 11Mt/yr of cement, primarily to North Africa and the Gulf states, against a domestic consumption of 61Mt/yr.

China: Asia Cement China has estimated a 40% - 45% year-on-year decline in profit in 2020 due to lower sales volumes and selling prices. Dow Jones Newswires has reported that this is due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on cement demand outside of China. The company is active in several countries including Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.

Argentina: Employees of two companies hired by LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim Argentina to carry out maintenance work at its suspended 2.4Mt/yr integrated Malagueño plant in Córdoba Province have taken up residence at the Hotel Uruguay in the resort town of Villa Carlos Paz, causing the hotel to lock down because they did not have the proper certification from the Centro de Operaciones de Emergencias (COE) provincial coronavirus lockdown authority.

The El Diario de Carlos Paz newspaper has reported that the workers, from Olavarría and San Nicolás, Buenos Aires Province, planned to remain locked down in the hotel for fourteen days. Due to their lack of COE certification, Villa Carlos Paz security locked down the hotel while coronavirus tests are carried out. Holcim Argentina manager of corporate affairs Belén Dagher said, “Following our application in June 2020, the COE and the Municipality of Malagueño gave us the authorisation for the arrival of the workers. The companies hired the hotel, and negative coronavirus tests for all workers were sent to the relevant authorities.” He added, “We are making a special space for them to stay at the plant.”

Holcim Argentina is carrying out essential maintenance work on the Malagueño plant, which is scheduled to reopen in mid-to-late 2020.

Pakistan: The upcoming Diamer Basha Dam and 21MW Tangir Hydropower Project will use concrete made from Ordinary Portland Cement mixed with fly ash and other additives. The Frontier Works Organisation said, “This reduces thermal loads on the dam and reduces chances of thermal cracking,” according to China Daily News. The Chinese-backed project is scheduled for completion in 2028.

Turkmenistan: Construction firm Turkmen Enjam has begun the second stage of construction of the 1Mt/yr Lebap plant in the Lebap region with the laying of foundation of several auxiliary facilities. The Zolotoy Vek newspaper has reported that development of the 370,000m² site is scheduled for completion in 2022 and will produce cement using gypsum and porphyritic basalt from the Ufra deposit in the Balkan region.

Oman: Oman Cement’s net profit for the first half of 2020 was US$5.39m, down by 9.9% year-on-year from US$5.98m in the first half of 2019. Sales rose by 1.1% to US$68.6m from US$67.9. The results are subject to approval by the audit committee and board.

Russia: The railways transported 11.4Mt of cement in the first half of 2020, down by 11% year-on-year from 12.4Mt in the first half of 2019. Beton News has reported that the figure is the lowest in a decade, down by 33% from17.0Mt in the record first half of 2012.