Displaying items by tag: Plant

Kazakhstan: China Gezhouba Group has inaugurated a 0.9Mt/yr clinker production plant in the Kyzylorda region. Central Asia News has reported that the plant will produce nine types of cement, with oil well cement its major product. This is aimed at diminishing the Kazakh oil industry’s dependence on cement imports. China Gezhouba Group chairman Li Ming said: “the alignment of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan’s Bright Path economic policy brings great prospects for the China-Kazakhstan cement production capacity.”

The new cement plant is the first in the region and will employ 260 people.

Niger: Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Cement, has cleared plans for the construction of a 1.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Keita, Niger. The project, which includes the construction of a 100MW coal-fired power station, has a budget of US$275bn and is expected to take 26 months.

Uzbekistan: The multinational cement enterprise Surkhoncementinvest has revealed plans for a 1.1Mt integrated cement plant in the Surkhandarya region. The Uzbekistan National News Agency has reported that the first stage of the project, which will total US$144m, has already been completed, with technology from Austria, Germany, China and Russia installed. The majority of cement produced at the plant will be for export overseas.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has announced a forthcoming investment of US$40m in the construction of a 0.7Mt/yr grinding plant in the state of Yucátan. Jamie Hill Tinoco, general director of Holcim Mexico, said that the plant, which will receive clinker from Holcim Mexico’s Macuspana and Orizaba cement plants, signifies the company’s commitment to the state, enabling it to ‘optimise local solutions with greater benefits for customers and communities.’ The plant will be Holcim Mexico’s sole dedicated grinding unit in an integrated cement production apparatus totalling 11.8Mt/yr capacity.

Holcim has had a presence in Yucatán since 1992 through its Uman distribution centre.

Cambodia: Thai-based Thai Boon Rong Cement is conducting pilot testing at its newly constructed 1.3Mt/yr integrated cement plant in La’ang, Kampot province, with a view to it entering production in November 2019. Asia News Network has reported that the cement plant, located in the Thai Boon Rong Special Economic Zone, will be the fourth in Kampot, bringing the province’s total production capacity to 6.4Mt/yr. Fellow producer Chip Mong Insee, whose plant in Kampot, owned jointly with Siam City Cement, produces 1.5Mt/yr of cement, released a statement expressing hope that the new plant will help to “slash imports by a great amount, which means that we can be nearly 100% self-reliant.”

Including the fifth plant in Battambang, Cambodia’s cement production capacity will stand at 8.2Mt/yr as of the November 2019 inauguration of the new plant by Prime Minister Hun Sen. The figure confronts a rapidly growing domestic demand which is 7.7Mt/yr and shows no signs of slowing. Figures from Chip Mong Insee estimate that national cement demand in 2020 may be as high as 9.0Mt/yr.

Kenya: The new owners of Athi River Mining Cement entered the company’s 0.7Mt/yr integrated Kaloleni cement plant on 14 October 2019. The Standard has reported that Narendra Raval, chairman of Devki Group, which also owns National Cement, was held up for some time at the entrance, because security guards had not received orders to let him in. Raval spoke to employees, promising that all 1100 would keep their jobs following completion of the takeover, whereupon all salaries would be harmonised with those of their National Cement colleagues.

Oman: Al Tasnim Cement Products has opened a 425m³/hr ready-mix concrete plant in Duqm’s Special Economic Zone. Arab Finance has reported that four batching plants will supply cement to the facility; one on-site and three elsewhere in Duqm.

UK: GyroMetric Systems has signed an agreement to install digital monitoring equipment on a 11kV raw mill drive at Tarmac’s Tunstead cement plant in Derbyshire. Measured digital parameters will include dynamic torque across the coupling, radial displacement of the shaft (and therefore misalignment), and torsional vibrations of the drive system. The data will also provide information on the condition of the gearbox. GyroMetric Systems is controlled by Remote Monitored Systems. No value for the order has been disclosed.

US: Cemex USA’s Miami and Brooksville South cement plants in Florida have been awarded Energy Star certification for 2019 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for work on energy efficiency and sustainability. The current year’s recognition marks nine consecutive years of Energy Star certification for the Miami plant and the Brooksville South plant has achieved the certification seven out of the last eight years.

“Cemex is committed to delivering world-class products and services to its clients across the US and the globe while maintaining the highest sustainability standards in our industry,” said Cemex USA president Jaime Muguiro.
To earn the recognition, operations at each plant followed energy-efficiency principles established by the EPA’s Energy Star guidelines and implemented energy conservation technologies along with energy-reduction projects. The recognised facilities were among the top 25% of similar US facilities for energy conservation and met the Energy Star Plant Energy Performance Indicators.

Argentina: Loma Negra plans to close its Olavarría integrated cement plant. The unit has 45 employees who will be relocated elsewhere in the business, according to the Buenos Aires Económico newspaper. In recent years the plant has been operating solely as a grinding and bagging unit. The cost of upgrading the plant and the relative distance of its raw materials were factors in the decision to close it. The Olavarría cement plant was the first to be built in the country.

In September 2019 the subsidiary of Brazil’s interCement said it was converting its San Juan integrated cement plant to grinding and bagging only. Earlier in the year it came close to closing its Barker plant as it was unable to reach an agreement with the local union over staff redundancies. Alongside this it is building a new production line at its L'Amalí cement plant.