Displaying items by tag: Ministry of Mines
Ethiopia: The Ministry of Mines (MoM) has granted a mining license to Habesha Cement for the excavation of minerals for the company's cement production.
The contract allows Habesha to mine limestone, gypsum, clay and sandstone from 1.12km2 of land in the West Shoa Zone, Oromia Region, at four different locations. The mining operations will be undertaken with a capital of US$1.38m. The land that Habesha requested for pumice is reserved for forestation and wildlife development and it has asked for a replacement.
The mines will provide raw materials for the Habesha cement plant, which will have a production capacity of 1.4Mt/yr of cement. The company is expected to begin production in November 2015.
The mining contract will be valid for 60 years, until the minerals are fully excavated. Habesha is expected to produce over 100Mt of limestone in that time. When the company starts cement production, it is expected to use 1.1Mt/yr of limestone, 70,000t/yr of gypsum, 288,000t/yr of clay, 72,000t/yr of sandstone and 450,000t/yr of pumice.
"To get the approval, we conducted a feasibility study and environmental assessment on the areas and paid US$1.55m as compensation to the former owners of the land," said Mesfin Abi, CEO of Habesha.
Habesha Cement was established in September 2008 by 30 shareholders with an initial capital of US$30,671. Construction of the cement plant, which will cost US$120m, is underway in Beketa and Koro Odo Kebele, Oromia Region, Ethiopia.
Afghan Cement plants to return to tender
22 January 2013Afghanistan: The Afghan Ministry of Mines has announced that the management of three cement factories, including the Herat Cement Factory, in Afghanistan will be put out to tender by the end of March 2013. The operation of the Herat Cement Factory was previously contracted to an Iranian company but the ministry terminated the contract.
"The Iranian company could not address the articles in the contract and its commitments in due time. Following review and discussions, the Ministry of Mines terminated the contract with this company," said Ministry of Mines spokesman Ahmad Tamim Asi.
The Herat cement plant has a production capacity of 3000t/day. However, according to the ministry the company failed to meet this in 27 months because it did not have the essential technical and financial facilities to excavate the raw materials needed to produce the cement.
The ministry also said that in the next Persian year of 1392 (March 2013 to March 2014), the cement factories of Jabul Saraj in Parwan province and Ghori in Baghlan province will also be put up for bidding in order for the factories to produce more and meet domestic cement demand. Afghanistan currently imports much of its cement from its southern neighbour Pakistan, which has a cement overcapacity.