Displaying items by tag: Plant

Argentina: Loma Negra has converted its 0.2Mt/yr San Juan integrated cement plant to grinding and bagging only. 14 people have resultantly lost their jobs, five of whom have accepted relocation to the company’s Catamarca plant. Catamarca is the largest of Loma Negra’s seven production facilities in Argentina, with a cement production capacity of 1.8Mt/yr.

Niger: Dangote Cement has expressed an interest in establishing a 1.64Mt/yr cement production unit, complete with a grinding plant and gas energy plant, in Niger. Agence Ecofin reports that Dangote, Africa’s leading cement producer, aims to fill the Nigerien cement supply gap amidst an infrastructure boom fuelled by the country’s oil ambitions.

Russia: Eurocement has appointed Stefan Noev as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its Maltsovsky Portland Cement subsidiary. The company operates a 4.2Mt/yr integrated plant in Bryansk Region. Noev is a graduate of the Technical University of Sofia in Bulgaria and he has worked for Italcementi and Suez Cement. He joined Eurocement in 2016 and managed its Sengileevsky integrated plant in Ulyanovsk region.

Panama: Argos Panama plans to install a line for the production and storage of clinker at its plant in Buena Vista, Colón Province. In an environmental impact study submitted to Panama’s Ministry of Environment, Argos estimated the total cost of the project, called the Balboa Project, at US$168m.

Afghanistan: The Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has reported progress in discussions on projects totalling an investment of US$350m, including improvements to the Jabal Siraj and Samangan cement plants worth US$170m and US$136m respectively.

Wadsam reports that the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries has voiced concerns as to delays caused by the lengthy approval process for the ‘much-needed projects.’ With the successful conclusion of these talks, the plans will require the ratification of the High Economic Council and subsequently the Afghan Cabinet.

Pakistan: Power Cement has shutdown the older production lines at its integrated Nooriabad plant due to falling demand and prices. Chairman Nasim Beg said that the old lines were shut because they were ‘inefficient’ and not competitive under present conditions, according to Bloomberg. The plant had a production capacity of around 3150t/day from its older lines. In July 2019 it completed the installation of a new 2.46Mt/yr clinker line supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth.

US: Allied Minerals has completed a US$11m upgrade to its Pell City plant in Alabama. The refractories manufacturer has been working on the project since mid-2018. The company originally operated two sites in Alabama at Anniston and Pell City. After it purchased Riverside Refractories in 2017 it decided to focus on the Pell City unit.

Liberia: The management of Star Cement has welcomed government approval from the Government of Liberia that will allow it to build a cement grinding plant in Monrovia. The special investment incentive was signed into law by President George Manneh Weah in a move stated to be consistent with his promise of giving ‘power to the people.’

The US$41m facility will have the capacity to produce 0.6Mt/yr of cement. Star Cement’s management is optimistic that it will create employment opportunities, both directly at the plant and via the wider construction and distribution sectors. It is also expected that the new capacity will cause a reduction in cement prices, to the benefit of Liberians, particularly those building their own houses.

Meanwhile, the company is aggressively making efforts to ensure that Liberia benefits from the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) by commencing cement exports. This will help the country to earn US Dollars.

Star Cement expects to begin production within the second half of 2020, at which point it will share shares to Liberians who wish to invest in the cement sector.

India: UltraTech Cement’s net sales grew by 15% year-on-year to US$1.42bn in the quarter to 30 June 2019 from US$1.23bn in the same period in 2018. Its profit before interest, depreciation and tax rose by 61% to US$402m from US$250m. Its local sales volumes increased by 3% to 17.3Mt from 16.8Mt but exports fell by 7% to 0.6Mt from 0.65Mt.

It said that it had fully integrated its UltraTech Nathdwara Cement subsidiary with its systems and processes. The plants it acquired from Jaiprakash Associations in June 2017 were operating in line with its existing plants and had achieved break-even profit before tax during the reporting quarter. The commissioning of its 4Mt/yr Bara grinding plant in Madhya Pradesh has been delayed to late 2019.

India: India Cements is planning to spend up to US$200m on a new integrated plant in Madhya Pradesh and a grinding unit near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The move will increase its production capacity to 20Mt/yr by 2023 from 16Mt/yr at present, according to the Hindu newspaper. N Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman and managing director of India Cements said that the company was in the process of buying land in Madhya Pradesh and that it hoped to complete this by late 2019. The company holds mining lease for more than 100Mt of limestone following its acquisition of Springway Mining in Madhya Pradesh in 2018.