Displaying items by tag: GCW652

Syria: The General Company for Cement and Building Materials has successfully restored Plant No. 3 in Hama province to operation, following comprehensive maintenance of its machinery and equipment. The maintenance, which began last January, was completed by the company’s engineering and technical teams.

General Manager Engineer Issam Al-Abdullah noted that the company is focused on developing its production processes to meet local cement demands. Upcoming maintenance work on Plant No. 2 is planned to enhance its production capacity to around 1000t/day.

Germany: The Supervisory Board of Heidelberg Materials has extended the mandate of Dr Dominik von Achten as chair of the Managing Board for an additional three years, until 31 January 2028. Dr von Achten has been leading the company since February 2020 and according to Heidelberg Materials, he has been instrumental in its global growth and the digitalisation and decarbonisation of the building materials industry, complemented by strong financial performance.

Dr Bernd Scheifele, chair of the Supervisory Board said “With Dr von Achten, we have an experienced manager at the helm of the company who has excellently positioned Heidelberg Materials on a global scale and set the course for the future with great commitment.” He continued "We look forward to continuing the trustful work with him. We are convinced that he will keep driving the transformation into a sustainable and digital future with verve and continue to successfully lead the company in the coming years.”

Dr von Achten has been part of Heidelberg Materials' Managing Board since 2007, serving as deputy chair since 2015 and as chair since 2020.

India: Shree Cement has launched Bangur Concrete, inaugurating its first Greenfield Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) plant in Hyderabad. The new plant has a production capacity of 90m³/hr.

Earlier in March, Shree Cement acquired five operational plants from StarCrete in Mumbai, raising its combined RMC capacity to 512m³/hr. This move marks a significant step in the company's diversification and growth in the concrete segment.

Australia: Boral's independent directors have dismissed Seven Group's takeover bid, which valued the company at US$6.9bn. The directors argue the deal does not fairly or reasonably reflect Boral's value, especially considering its billion-dollar surplus property portfolio. Seven Group's offer of US$6.05 per share could potentially rise to US$6.25, but an independent expert from Grant Samuel has assessed Boral's fair value between US$4.24 and US$4.65 per share.

Seven Group's CEO, Ryan Stokes, said “We obviously disagree with their assessment strongly.”

Currently, Seven Group holds 71.6% of Boral and is offering a mix of cash and shares for the remaining stake, with potential incremental increases based on share acquisition levels and board recommendations.

Anthony Aboud, deputy head of equities at Perpetual, said "Our view is that Boral owns a unique and hard to replicate set of assets with an excellent management team led by Vik Bansal which is early on in its turnaround strategy."

A spokesperson for Boral said "We have carefully evaluated the Seven offer and recommend that shareholders should reject the Seven offer as it undervalues Boral. The independent expert has concluded that the Seven offer is neither fair nor reasonable, supporting the bid response committee's view. We encourage shareholders to remain with Boral and fully participate in the future value available through continued direct ownership of Boral."

Peru: Grupo Gloria subsidiary Yura plans to build a solar power plant in Yura, Arequipa. The plant will have a peak power of 31MWp and a nominal power of 27MW. The installation involves a 1.3km-long, 30kV transmission line. Gestión News has reported that the project is intended to reduce the costs associated with the company’s cement production.

Sweden: Umeå University is part of the ELECTRA project, a €20m EU initiative aimed at advancing green transition in cement and lime production through electrified processes. This project, involving global industry leaders, is funded under the Horizon Europe initiative and led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

The Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Umeå University has collaborated with the Swedish quicklime and cement industry since 2007. Matias Eriksson, director of the Centre for Sustainable Cement and Quicklime Production at Umeå University, said “This is an important project. It is the first Horizon Europe project we are participating in," He continued "We are pleased with the confidence the European Commission, heavy materials industry and other research performers show in our work. ELECTRA can play an important role in the industry's green transition, first and foremost in Sweden and the rest of Europe. But because the technology and the industry are global, the effects can be extensive."

Sweden: Alternative cement producer Cemvision has concluded its seed funding round, the largest in the green cement sector to date, according to the company. Participants included BackingMinds, Polar Structure and Zacua Ventures. The fund raised €10m, which the company says will contribute to its short-term growth. Cemvision announced its first commercial supply contract for its Re-ment alternative cement in December 2023.

CEO Oscar Hållén said “This investment will accelerate our near-future operations, right before we make the next jump, which is not too far away. Having met and retained interest from venture capitalists worldwide, we concluded some of the very best ones were right around the corner, and we are delighted to have them doubling down on Cemvision. Furthermore, Zacua Ventures’ global understanding of the green transition of the built environment is the most impressive we’ve ever come across.”

Nigeria: The governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu, has officially commissioned a 20km road built by Lafarge Africa. The road is being constructed at Mfamosing, Lafarge's operational base, and ends at Odukpani junction near Ayade’s Flyover. It was initiated in 2010 as a bypass to alleviate traffic congestion.

Governor Otu said “What you have done has taken this whole traffic completely out of town and straight to the road where they are actually looking to take things out of the state. I commend you and wish that other corporate bodies would emulate Lafarge.”

Alade Akinyemi, group managing director and CEO of Lafarge, informed the governor that the project was started in 2010, but was delayed due to challenges associated with geotechnical studies and the design. He said “The road will improve safety, drive economic growth, and enhance productivity due to reduction of man hour as a result of no traffic and congestion.”

Finland: Boliden says it has a developed a 95% reduced-CO₂ alternative cement production process based on the use of slag. Nordic Daily News has reported that the process has received verification from ‘established players in the cement industry.’ A preliminary study is underway, wherein Boliden will establish a 250,000t/yr production plant. Additionally, the process extracts usable metal from slag.

UK: Capsol Technologies has been selected to conduct a study on its carbon capture technology at Aggregate Industries Cauldon cement plant in Staffordshire. Owned by the Holcim Group, the company’s plant will undergo a feasibility study by Capsol Technologies for its CapsolEoP® carbon capture system. The potential for carbon capture at this plant is 600,000t/yr of CO₂. The CO₂ captured will be stored geologically through the nearby MNZ Cluster or HyNet North West.

CCO Johan Jungholm said “CapsolEoP® provides a cost-efficient carbon capture solution for cement, and our solution can be run on electricity alone without expensive heat integration or external steam supply. It offers flexibility in the optimisation of the designs, allowing for high capture rates, high reliability and low energy consumption."

The contract includes supplier input for the feasibility study, and further pre-FEED engineering if Capsol's technology is selected. The UK Government's Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) is funding the study, with Petrofac as Aggregate Industries engineer. This study is part of Peak Cluster's objective to reduce over 3Mt/yr of CO₂ from cement, lime, and refuse facilities by 2030. Capsol Technologies is focusing on the cement industry, which accounts for about 8% of global CO₂ emissions.