Displaying items by tag: Plant

Namibia: The Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation has shut down production at the Whale Rock Cement plant near Otjiwarongo due to non-compliance with labour laws on the health and safety of employees. A notice was delivered instructing the factory to close its grinding station, packing machine, cement warehouse and cement workshop, according to the Namibia Press Agency. The plant has been ordered to remain closed until all hazardous areas have been made safe. This is expected to take a week. Affected employees are entitled to full remuneration during this period.

The decision to close the plant followed labour inspections in April and May 2022. During the inspections one employee reportedly lost a finger at the pallet stacking area and another sustained finger injuries when he was unblocking the dust collector. Workers said that they work in a dusty environment with no dust masks. They also alleged that a Chinese supervisor brings a gun to work to intimidate them.

The cement company is a Chinese joint-venture and it also trades under the Cheetah Cement brand name. Around 210 Namibians and 44 Chinese nationals work for the company. In April 2022 eight workers at the plant were deported to China for working without adequate work permits.

India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) plans to invest US$38.9m in an upgrade to 2.5Mt/yr Belagavi cement plant. The work will consist of a capacity expansion and the installation of a new 9MW solar power plant at the facility. The latter is expected to halve the plant's grid electricity consumption. When commissioned in March 2024, the expanded plant will directly and indirectly employ 700 additional people.

India: UltraTech Cement has taken legal advice for its planned bid for Holcim's Indian business and says that it will volunteer to divest 15Mt/yr-worth of cement assets in order to accelerate the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approval process which would follow on from the acceptance of any offer. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that UltraTech Cement has filed five long form merger notifications for acquisitions of this type since 2013. These included its purchases of Binani Cement and Century Cement, and of Jaypee Group's Gujarati cement assets.

The Financial Express newspaper has reported that fellow contender Adani Group has offered 'more than' US$10bn for the assets, while JSW Group plans to offer US$7bn. BusinessLine Online News has reported that a fourth company, steel producer ArcelorMittal, has also held initial talks with Holcim over the assets.

In considering possible competition issues arising under any future deal, the CCI will factor in planned and upcoming cement capacity. In Gujarat, where Holcim India subsidiaries ACC and Ambuja Cements operate 6.8Mt/yr-worth of capacity, Adani Group plans to build a new 10Mt/yr cement plant at Lakhpat.

Mexico: The local government in Santiago de Anaya has revealed that Cementos Fortaleza is planning to build a second production line at its integrated El Palmar plant in Hidalgo. The project is expected to cost US$210m, according to the El Sol de Mexico newspaper. Cementos Fortaleza currently operates a 1Mt/yr plant at the site.

Germany: Holcim Deutschland says that the preliminary test phase of a new CO₂ separation unit at its Höver cement plant in Lower Saxony has delivered positive results. Plant manager Stephan Hinrichs said that the company was “delighted” with the results so far. In late 2021 Cool Planet Technologies and Hereon signed a memorandum of understanding with Holcim Deutschland to deliver a carbon capture system for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) trial at the plant based on Hereon’s PolyActive membrane technology.

The next stage of the project will start in August 2022 and it will last until late 2024. This will include a one-year active test phase, in which the system is to be examined in long-term operation, planned to start in September 2023. If the results are good enough then the carbon capture unit will be expanded step-by-step so that after the final expansion stage it can separate around 90% of the CO₂ emissions and deliver high-purity CO₂ in liquid form for sequestration or further use. The ultimate aim of the project is to demonstrate performance, economy and operational behaviour on a larger scale in order to check whether the technology can be used at both Höver and other cement plants. Continued funding for the scheme is dependent on an application to the Competence Centre on Climate Change Mitigation in Energy-Intensive Industries (KEI) as part of the Decarbonisation in Industry program.

US: Cemex USA has applied for a permit to continue mining at Dowe Flats to support operations at its integrated Lyons cement plant in Colorado. It has asked the Boulder County Community Planning and Permitting department to allow it continue mining for 15 years until 2037, according to the Daily Camera newspaper. It then says it will close the cement plant. Its existing mining permit will end later in 2022.

UK: Aggregate Industries’ Cauldon cement plant in Staffordshire has become the first industrial facility to operate a PRISMA liquid air energy storage system. Green technology developer Innovatium developed the product in collaboration with the University of Birmingham. The supplier says that it can deliver 25% energy savings for air compression and will help Aggregate Industries to realise its 2030 goal of 500kg/t of CO₂ emissions for its cementitious products.

Aggregate Industries sustainability director Kirstin McCarthy said “We are very proud to be the first partner to install the PRISMA system in an operational environment. Aggregate Industries is committed to transitioning to net zero, and supporting innovations like PRISMA is vital in helping us achieve that goal. McCarthy continued “We believe PRISMA can play a major role in addressing the ‘energy trilemma’ of managing energy efficiency, energy cost and energy security, and we're confident that its installation at Cauldon will further prove its decarbonisation credentials - a big step towards full commercialisation of the technology.”

Nigeria: Dangote Cement sales volumes in the first quarter of 2022 have been hampered by disruptions to gas supplies domestically and by high freight rates restricting its exports of cement and clinker to Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Its sales volumes of cement fell by 3.6% year-on-year to 7.25Mt in the first quarter of 2022 from 7.52Mt in the same period in 2021. Its revenue grew by 24% to US$994m from US$801m. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 18.6% to US$508m from US$428m.

Michael Pucheros, the chief executive officer of Dangote Cement, said “Our group volumes were down 3.6% mainly due to energy supply challenges in Nigeria. Our operations relying on cement and clinker imports – namely Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Cameroon - were impacted by the global supply chain challenges.” Additionally, its operations outside of Nigeria was also negatively affected by a cement plant in Congo being shut for over two months due to maintenance and repairs and extended power plant maintenance in Senegal.

US: Argos USA has launched its new Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) brand EcoStrong.The company says the its will complete its conversion to 100% EcoStrong PLC cement production across all facilities in 2023.Its Roberta, Alabama cement plant and Atlanta, Georgia grinding plant will transition by mid-2022, while its Newberry, Florida cement plant will transition by October 2022.Argos USA plans to use EcoStrong cement at all of its Eastern US ready-mix concretesites by mid-2022.

Cement technical director Steve Wilcox said“I am excited to be part of Argos’ brand announcement for our PLC Type IL product. EcoStrong PLC encompasses everything we have worked for over the past decade, to offer a high-quality product with lower embodied carbon, which contributes to the ultimate goal of decarbonising across our operations. Our PLC product is engineered to reduce the harmful effects on the environment and perform similar to or better than our ordinaryPortland cement (OPC) Type I/II. EcoStrong PLC empowers our customers, specifiers, architects, and engineers to design and execute their projects with resilience and sustainability.”

Canada: The Government of Quebec says it will allocate up to US$36m towards a US$110m upgrade project at Ciment Québec’s integrated St Basile plant. The plant intends to build a new grinding unit including new reception, storage and raw material handling systems and two mills. The work is intended to reduce the CO₂ emissions from the plant. France-based Fives FCB previously said that it had won a contract for the project. Commissioning of the new equipment is scheduled for the beginning of 2024.