Displaying items by tag: Investment

Belgium: Holcim Belgium has received an environmental permit for the kiln upgrade for its 100% decarbonisation of its Obourg cement plant. Agency Belgium News has reported that the upgraded kiln will employ a 'new incineration concept' to enable it to replace limestone with alternative raw materials. It will reduce the plant's thermal needs by 40% and its CO₂ emissions per tonne of clinker by 30%. Construction will commence in late 2023. The kiln replacement will support a carbon capture installation as part of the GO4ZERO project.

The first phase of the GO4ZERO project is running from 2022 to 2025, and commands total investments of over Euro350m.

Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) now expects to commission its upcoming 1.3Mt/yr Potosí cement plant in June 2023. It would then begin selling bagged cement from November 2023 onwards. The La Razón newspaper has reported that ECEBOL has recorded 'physical progress' on the project of 92%, and executed US$264m-worth (85%) of a total planned investment of US$311m.

ECEBOL ran successful empty tests on installed equipment earlier in March 2023. Government representatives and local stakeholders will visit the plant on 30 March 2023.

India: Credit rating agency Crisil expects the Indian cement sector's capacity to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4 - 5% over the four-year period up to the end of the 2027 financial year on 31 March 2027. It would thus begin the 2028 financial year at 715 - 725Mt/yr in installed capacity, compared to 570Mt/yr at the end of the 2023 financial year. The industry's total investment in the expansion is expected to be US$14.5bn. Major multi-state producers are expected to contribute over US$7.25bn (50%) of investments towards the total sum.

Over the same period, Crisil expects all-India cement demand to rise at a CAGR of 6 - 7%.

Jamaica: Local investor Mark Hart plans to establish a new cement terminal at Montego Bay, St James. Hart plans to invest US$8m in the terminal's construction. The Jamaica Observer newspaper has reported that construction will commence later in 2023. Once operational, the terminal will supply local roadbuilding and hotel, home and hospital construction. Current projects in this vein include a widening of the North Coast Highway and construction of the Montego Bay perimeter road and Runaway Bay and Discovery Bay bypasses, worth a total US$274.5m, and of new hotels with a total of 20,000 rooms.

Buying House Cement operates the only existing cement terminal in Montego Bay. The company imports cement produced in the Dominican Republic by Domicem. It currently serves 10% of Jamaica's demand. Hart is chair of Cargo House Handlers, which holds a 30% stake in the importer.

Hart said " We have highways, we have hotels, we have the hospitals being built in the west, we have a lot of housing projects. The government has a very ambitious plan to provide a lot of housing units. And all these things rely on stable, well-priced cement." He continued "We are proposing to offer an alternative to the one supplier that exists so that they have stability of supply and stability of pricing for the customers, so that the construction industry can continue to do what they do."

UK: The UK government has committed to investments worth Euro22.8bn in early deployments of carbon capture technology. It will announce a shortlist of new projects for deployment later in March 2022.

The government said "This unprecedented level of funding for the sector will unlock private investment and job creation across the UK, particularly on the east coast and in the North West of England and North Wales. It will also kick-start the delivery of subsequent phases of this new sustainable industry in the UK."

Ireland-based Ecocem responded to the budget with a call for funding for more short-term areas besides carbon capture. It said these will be essential in order for the UK cement and concrete industry to reach its 45% decarbonisation target by 2030. The slag-based cement products company called for funding for low-clinker technologies which have already been developed and can be rolled out at scale before 2030, until carbon capture becomes a 'scalable, viable option.'

Azerbaijan: OJSC has bought a site in the Araz Valley Economic Zone Regional Industrial Park in Araz, Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Local press has reported that company plans to build a cement terminal at the site. In addition, it will also establish a ready-mix concrete plant there. Its total planned investment in the project is US$2m. When operational, the new complex will employ 20 local people.

Croatia: Nexe has awarded a contract to Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions for the construction of a new clinker line and carbon capture installation at its 0.6Mt/yr Nasice cement plant. The Poslovni Dnevnik newspaper has reported that the work will cost Euro400m. When commissioned in 2029, the upgraded plant will produce carbon neutral cement and despatch 700,000t/yr of CO₂ by pipeline for storage near Bockovac in Osijek-Baranja County.

US: Continental Cement will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new 114,000t-capacity cement storage dome at its Davenport cement plant in Iowa on 20 March 2023. The dome will replace existing winter storage bars (barns? In which case let’s change to something else) at the plant, resulting in a safer and more efficient operation, according to the subsidiary of Summit Materials.

The company’s president, David Loomes, said "The investment by Summit Materials of US$30m in the largest cement storage dome in North America represents a strong vote of confidence in Continental Cement and a commitment to sustained operations and investment in the State of Iowa."

Continental Cement plans to invest an additional US$32m in an expansion to its Green America Recycling programme, whereby it expects to achieve an alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate of 55%.

Afghanistan: The government's Mines and Petroleum Ministry has awarded a contract for construction of a new 1Mt/yr cement plant in Kandahar Province. Bakhtar News Agency has reported that the project will have a budget of US$100m.

Vietnam: Xuan Thien Group has secured permission for the construction of a US$1.25bn, 10Mt/yr cement plant in Hoa Binh Province. Việt Nam News has reported that the plant will occupy a 48 hectare site in Lac Thuy District. Construction will also involve the clearance of 48 hectare of jungle. Xuan Thien Group is currently also engaged in the construction of a lime plant and solar panel assembly plant in the district.