Displaying items by tag: Hima

Uganda: Hima Cement has completed the installation of new bag filter technology at its Kasese plant. The US$3.2m bag filter technology investment is geared towards bringing the stack emissions in line with the global environmental standards.

"We invested significant resources to conduct environmental impact assessments to ensure that the plant operations met all the required environmental standards for its manufacturing processes and operations," said Peter Robson, Hima Cement's Plant Manager.

Hima Ciment, part of Bamburi Cement that in turn is a subsidiary of Lafarge, expects the plant's target emissions to be below Lafarge's industrial targets. Further testing is expected to be completed by the end of July 2013. Project manager Jackson Molo added that Bamburi Cement achieved 0.01mg/m3 emissions with the same technology at a plant in Mombasa in 2012. The Kasese plant has a cement production capacity of 0.85Mt/yr.

Uganda: Hima Cement says it has successfully challenged the loss of its limestone mining rights in Kasese, western Uganda.

David Njoroge, the General Manager of the Lafarge subsidiary, stated that the company had challenged the move during an Administrative Review process that was conducted in accordance with the Mining Act. It cited various instances of breach of the requirements of the law in the handover of its mining rights to the third party. Njoroge said the matter went to the High Court and has now progressed to the Court of Appeal.

"A stay of the orders of the High Court has been applied for and the appeal process has been commenced seeking to overturn the ruling of the High Court," said Njoroge. Hima lost the rights in early April 2013 to the East African Gold Sniffing Company following a Ugandan High Court ruling.

Uganda: Hima Cement has lost its mining rights to limestone deposits in Uganda following a High Court decision. The court transferred the rights to limestone deposits in Kasese, western Uganda, from the subsidiary of Lafarge to the East African Gold Sniffing Company.

The court ruled that Hima's lease was for 21 years, ending on 31 December 2011, and it had already lapsed without any renewal in accordance with Section 47 of the Mining Act. East Africa Gold Sniffing contested a decision by the Ministry of Energy that restored Hima's mining rights after Hima managed to secure an exploration licence over the same area. The ruling means that mining of limestone and processing of cement must cease until and if an appellate court overturns the decision.

Uganda: Hima Cement has decided to spend US$3.2m to upgrade its bag filter technology at its Kasese cement plant in western Uganda. The move follows a history of complaints from local communities over dust emissions. The upgrade will be installed at the factory's old production line, which plans to bring stack emissions in line with global standards. It is expected to be completed by May 2013.

"We are confident that this time round the problem of emissions will become a thing of the past since the same technology was installed at our Bamburi Cement factory in August 2012," said David Njoroge, Hima Cement general manager.

The upgrade is the second attempt that Hima Cement has made at its old line in Kasese. Previously an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) failed due to frequent power cuts. In 2011 Kasese's new production line, which uses bag filter technology, was opened to increase cement production capacity from 300,000t/yr to 850,000t/yr.