Displaying items by tag: Gypsum

Croatia: Zeljeznice, the Bosnia & Herzegovina railway federation, has signed a partnership with Croatia’s PPD Transport to transport gypsum to Nasicecement. The deal is to transport 20,000t of raw gypsum by the end of 2017 from supplier Rudnici Gipsa based in Donji Vakuf in Bosnia & Herzegovina, according to Klix media. Shipments were scheduled to start from the beginning of July 2017. No value for the contract has been disclosed.

Nigeria: Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, the chairman of the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), has warned that the price of cement may rise if the Naira continues to devalue. He made the comments at the company’s Annual General Meeting according to the Nation newspaper. Imported inputs such as fuel, machinery, spare parts and gypsum would all be affected by local currency depreciation. The cement producer was forced to shut down its Sokoto cement plant for intermittent periods in late 2015 due to poor supplies of low pour fuel oil (LFPO) from the Kaduna refinery.

The subsidiary of BUA Group reported that its turnover fell by 14% year-on-year to US$41.4m in 2015 from US$48m in 2014. Its profit after tax fell by 37% to US$3.81m from US$6.09m.

India: The Centre of Mining has decided to put 31 minerals under the control of state governments by scaling down their status from major to minor as part of a mining policy change, according to Mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar. This allows states to decide the mining lease of the minerals, which account for about 60% of the total leased area in the country.

The decentralised minerals include gypsum, quartz, chalk and china clay. The change in policy will let states decide the rate of royalty, contribution to the district mineral foundation, procedure for grant of mineral concessions and rules. The Mines Ministry will allow states' public sector undertakings to explore minerals in areas under their jurisdiction.

"It is an important step in fulfilling the minimum government, maximum governance motto of our government," said Tomar. "This is being done to devolve more power to the states and expedite the process of mineral development in the country." States cannot lease out major minerals such as coal and iron ore without mandatory clearances from central ministries. High revenue earners, coal and iron ore, retain their positions as major minerals even after the policy shift.

The decision to broaden the list of minor minerals should drastically shorten the lease approval process because the state would be dealing with all the paperwork. Production should also increase. However, India could be treading on a minefield of environmental degradation if adequate protection measures are not taken.

Azerbaijan: Construction materials producers manufactured goods worth US$585m in 2014, some 22.2% more than in the same period of 2013, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee's report. During the period, Azerbaijan produced 2.98Mt of cement, a 40.5% increase compared to the same period of 2013 and 192,800t of gypsum, 23.3% more than in 2013.

India: Indian cement companies are on the lookout for overseas mines to secure supplies of gypsum for cement production.

Domestic gypsum supplies are limited, which is forcing Indian cement makers to look to acquire gypsum mines in countries like Thailand, Oman and Iran. Indian cement producers are also looking into synthetic gypsum production.

The domestic gypsum deficit has led to increased dependence on imports and synthetic gypsum to meet cement demand. Manufacturing one tonne of cement requires 4 - 5% of gypsum as a raw material.

In India, gypsum reserves are found in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. About 90% of the total Indian production of gypsum comes from western and north-western Rajasthan. At present, usable gypsum reserves in India amount to 140 - 150Mt, of which around 125Mt is available to the cement industry. These numbers are for Rajasthan and Gujarat, as reserves in other states are unusable. This supply will be enough to support the cement industry for seven or eight years.

Vinod Juneja, managing director of Binani Cement, said that the shortage of domestic gypsum has forced the company to consider the possibility of overseas mine acquisitions, but the high cost of such acquisitions is a deterrent. "We have looked at gypsum mines for acquisition in the Middle East, South Africa and Iran, but the prices are too high so it does not prove to be viable since the returns are not high," he said. "Gypsum is a very important raw material for cement production and we don't want to depend totally on imported gypsum," Juneja added.

Some others, like JK Cement, are yet to decide how to tackle the gypsum shortage. "Gypsum is in shortage and we are working out a solution for it," said Madhavkrishna Singhania, special executive at JK Cement. "There are two options; either we acquire a mine overseas or produce synthetic gypsum, so right now we are contemplating these options and in a year or two we will have to figure out what needs to be done," he added.

The most common solution to tackle the shortage is importing gypsum. However, imports attract a 2.5% duty, thus increasing costs for an industry that has also been facing other increased costs in an economic downturn. High transport, logistics and raw material costs have hit margins across the cement sector.