Displaying items by tag: Investment
Ciments Calcia’s Couvrot plant to receive Euro30m investment
28 January 2020France: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Ciments Calcia has announced a planned investment of Euro30m of upgrades in early 2021 to its 1.0Mt/yr integrated Couvrot plant in Marne department. L’Union Ardennes newspaper has reported that the upgrades will be ‘process improvements’ to grinding and energy consumption rather than expansions to the plant’s capacity. HeidelbergCement director Didier Faure said the group wants to turn the Couvrot plant into its ‘leading site in Western Europe.’ Faure also called for improvements to safety procedures after three people were injured on site in 2019 – up by 50% from two in 2018.
Cemex announces US$530m Puebla plant expansion
27 January 2020Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will expand its 7.2Mt/yr integrated Tepeaca plant in the state of Pueblo in 2020 into ‘the largest Cemex plant in the world and one of the largest in the entire American continent.’ It did not enclose the capacity of the upgrade, which will cost a total of US$530m.
Visiting the plant on 24 January 2020, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed hope in a boost in private investment in the Mexican economy, which fell by 12% year-on-year in 2019, in the wake of the new Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US. Cemex said that its planned investment ‘indicates its trust in the country.’
KuzbassTransCement transports 2.98Mt of cement in 2019
27 January 2020Russia: KuzbassTransCement’s total volume of cement transported by rail in 2019 was 2.98Mt – up by 8% from 2.76Mt in 2018. Throughout the year, it implemented upgrades worth US$29m to its transportation facilities, including the lease of an additional 145 covered wagons, 346 cement hoppers and 90 dump cars, representing roughly a 14% expansion to its fleet.
Shree Cement plans US$1.26bn capital expenditure to exceed 55Mt/yr capacity by March 2023
24 January 2020India: Having announced that it will not participate in bidding for Emami Cement, Shree Cement has announced a planned increase to its production capacity of at least 13.1Mt/yr to 55.0Mt/yr or more by 28 February 2023 from 41.9Mt/yr. It would do this through as yet undisclosed upgrades worth a total of US$1.26bn. The Business Standard newspaper has suggested that the measure is aimed at taking on UltraTech, the expected winner in the auction for Emami Cement’s 5.6Mt/yr-capacity installed assets (under expansion to 8.7Mt/yr).
A source of additional capital for Shree Cement’s planned expansion will be a qualified institutional placement (QIP) through which it has raised US$337m. The company acknowledged that it might reach its target through acquisitions from other producers, for which it would not exceed US$80/t of capacity.
Philippines: Phinma Corp.’s cement subsidiary Philcement has ramped up its return to production with the commissioning of a 2.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant with attached terminal facilities in the port of Bataan. The Philippine Star has reported that the company, whose six integrated plants had a majority market share in the country prior to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, has invested US$100m on its re-entry to production, including on the Bataan facility, since it announced the return of its Union cement brand to the market in 2018.
Phinma Corp. president and CEO Ramón del Rosario said, “We believe in this government’s ‘Build Build Build’ program and we want to help ensure the success of this program by augmenting supply and offering the highest quality cement to support critical projects.”
Phinma Corp. is among domestic producers awaiting the result of an appeal by the country’s importers against the legality of the government’s safeguard duty on imported cement.
Village meeting to record public opinion of Dalmia Bharat mining expansion proposals
14 January 2020India: Dalmia Bharat has successfully lobbied the Sundargarh, Orisha district government to request the inclusion of the company’s proposed 446 acre expansion to its Lanjiberna limestone and dolomite mine in the agenda of a village meeting in Kukuda, in which public opinion and suggestions will be recorded. The New India Express Newspaper has reported that, due to the special status of Kukuda as a Scheduled Tribal area, the village meeting forms a necessary preliminary step prior to district government permission of planned works. In October 2018, villagers in nearby Jhagarpur successfully blocked construction of Dalmia Bharat’s proposed Industrial Training Institute. The Lanjiberna mine will serve Dalmia Bharat’s 2.3Mt/yr integrated Rajgangpur plant, which was completed in 2019 at a cost of US$281m and awaits commissioning.
Togo: HeidelbergCement has announced plans to bring the capacity of its subsidiary Cimtogo’s grinding plant in Lomé up to 1.6Mt/yr from 0.6Mt/yr at an investment of Euro27.0m. Agencé Ecofin has reported that this will bring the German group’s total investment in Cimtogo to Euro225m since its acquisition in 2012.
RHI Magnesita plans Dolomite Resource Centre Europe
07 January 2020Austria: RHI Magnesita has published details of a planned raw materials plant in Austria. The company will spend Euro40m in the construction of the Dolomite Resource Centre Europe for the processing of raw local dolomite into sintered dolomite for use in refractory products at Hochfilz in the state of Tyrol. State Governor Günther Platter and French ambassador to Austria François Saint-Paul joined local folkloric figures Krampus and Saint Nikolas in breaking ground at the site of the future plant, which will be the source of dolomite for all RHI Magnesita European operations from 2021. The plant is part of a raft of projects totalling Euro300m in additional investments by the Austria-based refractory products manufacturer in 2020.
Indian government unveils US$102tn infrastructure plan
02 January 2020India: Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty has announced an infrastructure-spending plan consisting of US$102tn expenditure before 30 April 2025. Iran Daily has reported that this includes an investment of US$13.6tn in the 12 months to 30 April 2019 - up by 36% from US$10.0tn in the previous 12 months to 30 April 2018. 25% of the investment will go to the energy sector and 19% spent on roads, 16% on urban infrastructure, 13% on railways and 8% on rural infrastructure and innovation. The Business Standard newspaper has suggested that slow growth in domestic demand in late 2020 may cause cement production capacity utilisation to return to a level above 70%.
Cemex receives Port of Gijón terminal concession
27 December 2019Spain: The Port Authority of Gijón granted Cemex España a 30-year concession for use of 2480m2 of the El Musel terminal for unloading, storage and bagging on 20 December 2019, subject to the Mexican company’s use of the facilities for a minimum of 50,000t/yr of cement and derived products for the first two years of the arrangement, 0.1Mt/yr for the subsequent three years, and 0.15Mt/yr thereafter. La Nueva España newspaper has reported that Cemex España applied for the concession in February 2019. Its plans consist of a Euro5.0m investment in a development including two 6000t-capacity silos, a 44m crane and bagging facilities. Cemex España will take an estimated 10 months to complete the works from beginning the project in early 2020.