Displaying items by tag: Limestone

Germany: Ireland-based CRH has agreed to sell its subsidiaries Opterra Zement and Opterra Beton to Thomas Gruppe. Thomas Gruppe expects to complete its acquisition of the businesses later in 2022. Opterra Zement owns the 1.4Mt/yr Karsdorf, Saxony-Anhalt, cement plant and 0.5Mt/yr Sötenich, North Rhine-Westphalia, grinding plant, the latter of which is closed. Opterra Beton operates the Neufahrn, Bavaria, ready-mix concrete batching plant.

Thomas Gruppe said "For years, we have been pursuing a steady and long-term growth course in the field of cement and precast and ready-mix concrete. In the cement segment, our competitive position improved significantly with the purchase of the Erwitte (North Rhine-Westphalia) plant in 2017. Together with the grinding plant in Dorndorf (Thuringia), we have achieved a significantly larger area coverage in Germany, and also in the Netherlands, and benefit from synergy effects." It continued "We would like to continue on this growth course. An opportunity like the one to take over the cement plant in Karsdorf does not come often. The Karsdorf plant, with its gigantic limestone deposits, its market position of well over 1Mt/yr of cement and its experienced team, enables us better to supply our customers, and to leverage improvement potential. In addition, Karsdorf is of sufficient size for us to install CO₂ separation technology in its production of clinker for the Dorndorf grinding plant." Thomas Gruppe concluded "We are convinced that cement will become a clean building material and believe in its future."

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has agreed to buy the cement business of chemicals company Denka for an undisclosed sum. Denka operates an integrated plant in Itoigawa City, Niigata Prefecture where Taiheiyo Cement’s subsidiary Myojo Cement also operates a plant. The three companies have been working on a joint-development plant for local limestone resources since 2018. However, Denka has decided to leave the cement market due to poor local demand and the necessity of upgrades at its plant from 2025 onwards.

From April 2023 cement sold from Denka’s Omi plant will carry the Taiheiyo Cement brand name. Taiheiyo Cement and Myojo Cement have also agreed to continue supplying Denka’s other businesses, such as carbide production, with limestone from 2025. Denka will send by-products and other waste streams to the cement producer. Finally, Taiheiyo Cement, Myojo Cement and Denka will carry on developing the local limestone resources near to Itoigawa City.

Nepal: Udayapur Cement has urged the Nepalese government's Ministry of Finance to process its application for a loan of US$3.82m. The Kathmandu Post newspaper has reported that the producer plans to invest in an upgrade to its 800t/day-capacity Gaighat cement plant in Province No.1. The plant is reportedly unable to meet its capacity due to frequent issues with its 33-year-old equipment. The producer hopes that an upgrade will increase the plant's production capacity by 41% to 2.5m bags/yr. It also expects its expenditure on coal to fall by 25% as a result.

Director general Gopi Neupane noted the Gaighat cement plant's access to high quality limestone not available elsewhere in the country. He said "We will turn the factory into a profit-making enterprise if the additional investment is provided. We have huge scope for exporting cement to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (in India)."

UAE: Asian Paints has partnered with Riddhi Siddhi Crusher & Land Transport and Associated Soap Stone Distributing Company in a 60:40 joint venture for the purpose of white cement and white cement clinker production. The joint venture will invest US$66.5m in the construction of a planned 265,000t/yr integrated cement plant in the Emirate of Fujairah. The project will take until October 2024 to complete. In addition, the new company plans to establish grinding units in India to serve the export market.

Riddhi Siddhi Crusher & Land Transport and Associated Soap Stone Distributing Company operates limestone mines in Fujairah.

Spain: Cementos Portland Valderrivas plans to make Euro6m-worth of investments in its Alcalá de Guadaira cement plant in Seville. The funds will go towards the construction of a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) line to help reduce the plant's petcoke consumption, as well as the renewal of the plant's mining licence for its quarry.

India: India Cements has agreed to sell Springway Mining to JSW Cement for US$57.9m. Springway Mining is currently building an integrated cement plant in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, with dedicated limestone reserves in nearby Panna.

India Cements has received US$45.4m-worth of its payment for the business, and expect to receive the outstanding US$12.5m by 31 December 2022.

India: UltraTech Cement and India Cements are reportedly poised to conclude a deal for the acquisition of the latter’s 185ha Pawai limestone mine in Panna, Madhya Pradesh, by Mumbai-based UltraTech Cement. Marketline News has reported that the Aditya Birla subsidiary expects to pay US$98m for the asset.

US: The Board of County Commissioners of Boulder, Colorado, has denied Cemex USA’s application for a 15-year extension to its Dowe Flats quarry mining licence, following its expiry on 30 September 2022. Commissioner Claire Levy cited dust, traffic, noise and disturbances to wildlife as reasons behind the decision.

Cemex USA’s nearby Lyons cement plant has previously relied on the quarry for the supply of 760,000t/yr of limestone.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem has obtained technical evaluation certification for CEM II/C-M Portland composite cement products to be manufactured at its Trino, Vernasca, Settimello, Guidonia, Barletta and Augusta plants. The new cements will be part of its C-Green product line and the sustainability objectives from its 2030 roadmap. The new products will reduce their clinker factor by using granulated blast furnace slag, fly ash, pozzolan and limestone. They potentially offer up to a 40% reduction in CO₂ emissions per tonne compared to CEM I equivalents. They will be available in 32.5 N/R and 42.5 N/R strength classes for a range of applications. The cement producer hopes that the new products will quickly establish themselves in the market and even becoming the “standard cement” in Italy by 2030.

Bangladesh: The high rate of the US Dollar against the Bangladeshi Taka is forcing local cement producers to raise their prices despite an increase in imports of volumes of raw materials. The country imported 5.12Mt of clinker, granulated slag, limestone, gypsum and fly ash in July and August 2022, a rise of 34% year-on-year, according to the Daily Star newspaper. Golam Kibria, the general manager of Premier Cement, said that the negative currency exchange effect was the main cause of local price rises for cement since the cost of raw materials on international markets had remained stable in recent months.

The country imported 36.1Mt/yr of raw materials for cement production in the 2021 – 2022 financial year. These materials mostly came from Thailand, Vietnam and China through ports in Chattogram and Mongla. This compares to imports of 16.8Mt in the 2017 – 2018 financial year.