Displaying items by tag: Mali

Mali: Three Indian nationals working at the Diamond Cement plant in Kayes were kidnapped after armed assailants carried out a coordinated attack on the facility on 1 July 2025. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the incident was part of a broader wave of violence targeting multiple military and government sites across western and central Mali.

India’s embassy in the capital city of Bamako is reportedly coordinating with local authorities, law enforcement and plant management, and is in contact with the families of the victims. The MEA condemned the attack as a ‘deplorable act of violence’ and called on Malian authorities to ensure the hostages’ safe and swift release. It also urged Indian citizens in Mali to remain vigilant and exercise extreme caution.

Mali: Morocco-based Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) has held a ceremony marking the laying of the first stone of a new 1Mt/yr cement plant it is building at Natien in Sikasso region. The project has a budget of around US$50m and is intended to be expandable to 2Mt/yr should the market need arise, according to La Nouvelle Tribune newspaper. Cement produced at the plant will be sold domestically and exported. Commissioning is scheduled for early 2026. Moussa Alassane Diallo, Minister of Industry and Commerce, attended the event in addition to members of the National Transition Council, the governor of Sikasso region and, Malick Sefrioui, the Vice President of CIMAF.

West Africa: Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) plans to produce limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) at cement plants in West Africa. Parent company Omnium des Industries et de la Promotion (OIP) plans to build a calcined clay production facility in Burkina Faso to supply the material. Gulf Oil & Gas News has reported that OIP secured a Euro45m loan from World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation on 10 October 2023. It will invest Euro32.4m in construction of its upcoming calcined clay production facility and Euro12.6m in
construction of solar power plants for three CIMAF subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali.

CIMAF CEO Anas Sefrioui said "IFC's green loan provides essential long-term financing for our projects in Africa. Through the green loan structure, we are bringing the best practices in financing decarbonisation initiatives in the region. We look forward to reducing our carbon footprint and replicating these best practices in our African operations.”

Algeria: Amouda Cement plans to start exporting cement to the European Union (EU) by end of 2023. It obtained a certificate of conformity to EU standards in March 2023, according to the Algeria Press Service. Djarmoun Fatimé, the cement producer’s Marketing and Communications Director, made the announcement at the Batiwest 2023 trade show taking place in Oran. The company has exported nearly 200,000t of cement and clinker to Mali and Niger since 2021. It is also hoping to target countries in West Africa such as Mauritania and Senegal.

The company operates a 2.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant with two production lines at El Beïda in Laghouat province.

Mali: Mahamoud Ould Mohamed, the Minister of Industry and Trade, has laid the foundation stone of the Mali Sahel cement plant in Bema, Bamako District. Sacko Holding is financing the project and it was previously reported as costing around US$300m, according to Mali Actu. The plant is expected to create around 600 direct jobs. It is scheduled to become operational in 2025. Sacko Holding and Energie du Mali (EDM), the state-owned electricity company, are also planning to provide an electricity supply to Bema as part of the initiative.

France: Despite a 12% year-on-year increase in consolidated sales to Euro1.75bn from Euro1.56bn, Vicat recorded a net income drop of 17% to Euro77.8m from Euro93.5m in the first half of 2022. The group attributed the decline to increased global energy costs and to non-recurring industrial costs in France, India and the US. These costs included investments in exceptional maintenance at its Montalieu cement plant in France and a debottlenecking capacity expansion at its Kalburgi, India, cement plant. Geopolitical events also impacted the profitability of the producer’s business in Mali. Group cement sales rose by 17% year-on-year to Euro1.1bn.

Chair and chief executive officer Guy Sidos said “The basis for comparison in the first six months of 2022 was unfavourably high given the sales and profitability levels achieved in the same period of the previous year.”

Mali: A foundation stone has been laid for the new Atlas 0.8Mt/yr cement plant in Dio-Gare. The project had an investment of around US$80m, according to Mali Actu. It is expected to be completed in mid-2025. The project is being financed by Papa Oumar Samake, the head of Atlas. The President of the National Transitional Council, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, the Minister of Industry and Trade, the Governor of the Koulikoro region and the local mayor attended the ceremony.

France: Vicat’s consolidated sales rose by 19.6% year-on-year to Euro1.56bn in the first half of 2021 from US$1.30bn in the same period in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 41% to Euro300m from Euro213m. Sales and earnings rose in all territories on an adjusted basis as markets recovered from a poor second quarter in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in India and France.

“Focused on its carbon footprint reduction targets, the group has accelerated the commercialisation of its low-carbon product lines, adapted to the global climate challenge,” said Guy Sidos, the group’s chairman and chief executive officer. The company added that the upgrade of its Ragland cement plant in the US is on track for expected commissioning in the first half of 2022 and that it is ramping up a new mill in Mali.

Mali: Sacko Holding has completed a feasibility study at the site of its upcoming integrated cement plant in Bema, Bamako District. Mali Actu has reported that the plant will directly employ up to 300 people, increasing to up to 400 people after 2 – 3 years. Chief executive officer Ousmane Koné said that the plant would aim to meet local demand and export some cement. Construction is set to begin by the end of 2021.

France: Vicat recorded full-year consolidated sales of Euro2.81bn in 2020, up by 2% year-on-year from Euro2.74bn in 2019. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 6% to Euro557m from Euro526m. Consolidated net income rose by 8% to Euro172m from Euro160m.

The group said that organic sales were ‘strong,’ rising in all regions except in France, by 6% in total. It attributed the decline to a near-total shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March 2020, which lifted incrementally throughout the first half of the year. Vicat France’s cement business recovered ‘robustly’ in the second half of 2020, resulting in an operational sales increase of 3% for the year. Full stoppages of activity lasted for 33 days in India and for 30 days in Italy. Despite these challenges, business growth, cost-cutting and lower energy costs drove earnings growth, with ‘very sharp improvements’ recorded in the Americas and in Asia. Additionally, the ramp-up of a new grinding plant in Mali and production performance improvements in Senegal supported a ‘significant’ earnings increase in Africa.

Chair and chief executive officerGuy Sidos said, “Thanks to our employees’ tremendous efforts and commitment, the Vicat group strengthened its position amid the unprecedented current pandemic situation. Our resilience and flexibility allowed us to make organisational changes in order to reconcile our competing imperatives of keeping everyone safe and healthy, unlocking savings and making rapid adjustments, such as relocating our Paris head office to L’Isle d’Abeau in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Likewise, we made improvements to Vicat’s governance and stepped up our environmental and digital transformation programmes. Given the strength of our cash generation, we were able to resume key productivity investment programmes for the future. Despite the adversity we faced, our teams across all our various regions successfully delivered higher production efficiency levels and met market demand cost-effectively, paving the way for a solid increase in the Vicat group’s results.”

In 2021, the group plans to expand cement production and invest in new cement terminals in India and to continue with the upgrade of its Ragland cement plant in the US. It also says that it will ramp up projects aimed at meeting its carbon footprint reduction targets. The group expects its earnings to rise at constant scope and exchange rates over the full year.