Displaying items by tag: Plant

US: Lhoist North America has received permit approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to build a new lime kiln at its Marble Falls plant. The new vertical kiln, which is expected to be operational in 2021, is primarily driven by growing demand for Lhoist's dolomitic lime products for the steel industry. The upgrade is also expected to create new jobs at the site.

"This project at Marble Falls aligns with our company's commitment to environmentally sustainable growth," said Ron Thompson, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Lhoist North America. The building materials company added that, despite the impacts of coronavirus on the economy, it is investing to create jobs and meet critical supply chain demands, like steel production, which support future infrastructure growth in North America.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s sales of cement, masonry and lime fell by 26% year-on-year to 1.13Mt in first quarter of 2020. The decline was driven by the coronavirus lockdown in Argentina, where the subsidiary of Brazil’s InterCement has most of its sales. Concrete and aggregate sales volumes declined also. The company’s new revenue dropped by 29.6% to US$115m and its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 17.9% to US$38.6m. However, the company’s accountant adjustment for use in so-called ‘hyperinflationary economies’ made a negative impact on these figures. With this adjustment removed both revenue and earnings reportedly rose in the first quarter.

“By the end of the first quarter the coronavirus broke out, bringing additional challenges to the already adverse background,” said Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s chief executive officer (CEO). He added that cement demand in Argentina nationally contracted by around 29% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020.

The cement producer temporarily suspended its production facilities and its L´Amalí Expansion project in late March 2020 due to the government lockdown. Production and dispatches of cement were restarted in early April 2020 following the implementation of new sanitation protocols. The company has now resumed working on its upgrade project at L´Amalí.

US: Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua’s (GCC) Rapid City plant in South Dakota is working with Black Hills Energy to use wind power for around 50% of its electricity requirements. GCC has joined Black Hills Energy’s Renewable Ready Program, which will supply energy for 15 years.

Black Hills Energy will build a wind-power generating facility in 2020 to supply the plant located near Cheyenne in Wyoming. The Corriedale Wind Energy Project is anticipated to produce energy by the first quarter of 2021 that will be shared with subscribers in South Dakota and Wyoming. The program was designed for large commercial and industrial customers and governmental agencies in the company’s electric service territories in South Dakota and Wyoming.

“By choosing low-cost renewable energy resources to power our business, we’re able to advance our business goals and sustainability objectives while also supporting the expansion of affordable, renewable energy development in the region,” said Ron Henley, US division president of GCC.

Trinidad & Tobago: Trinidad Cement has been granted permission by the government to resume operations at its Claxton Bay integrated plant. It closed production in early April 2020 due to coronavirus-related government advice. General manager Guillermo Rojo said that the subsidiary of Cemex has implemented multiple protocols, including temperature testing at all access points and the activation of a local Rapid Response team.

Gabon: Data from the Directorate General of Economy and Tax Policy shows that national cement production rise by 10.6% year-on-year to 0.54Mt in 2019. The improving trend has been attributed to better use of existing manufacturing equipment and the resumption of activity at the CimGabon plant in Ntoum, according to the L’Union newspaper. Clinker imports also grew, by 14.6% to 0.44Mt. Overall cement sales increased by 8.5% to 0.53Mt.

Morocco: Ciments du Maroc has completed its acquisition of Atlantic Ciment and Cimsud from the Anouar Invest Group following an agreement originally signed in July 2019. The subsidiary of HeidelbergCement now owns 100% of the capital of the companies. Atlantic Ciment is building an integrated cement production plant in the province of Settat and Cimsud operates a grinding unit in Laâyoune with a capacity of 0.5Mt/yr. The cement producer said that the acquisition was part of its strategy to develop its cement, aggregates, and ready-mix concrete activities in Morocco.

India: Tata Chemicals has resumed full production of salt and sodium bicarbonate at its Mithapur site in Gujarat. It said that production levels have been matched to market demand for soda ash and cement. The 1500t/day integrated cement plant at the industrial complex manufactures two varieties of cement under the brand name Tata Shudh. Tata Chemicals has also resumed the operations at its chemical plants at Mambattu-Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu and Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu). Operations at the company’s various production sites were scaled down in late march 2020 in response to the Indian coronavirus lockdown.

Democratic Republic of Congo: China-based Sinoma International Engineering has announced the construction of a 1.0Mt/yr-capacity integrated cement plant in Lubudi Territory, Lualaba Province. Dow Jones Newswire has reported that the cost of the plant, which includes a lime production line, will be US$236m.

Vietnam: Vietnam Cement Association (VCA) chair Nguyễn Quang Cung has announced the suspension of all cement plant projects scheduled to begin in 2020. Cung said that oversupply and a lack of financial liquidity have made it unfeasible for cement producers to finish cement plant projects, according to Vietnam News Brief Service. The average cost of an integrated cement plant in Vietnam is US$194m.

Two projects - the 2.5Mt/yr Tan Thanh cement plant and 2.3Mt/yr Long Son cement plant - will be completed in 2020, bringing the domestic integrated production capacity of Vietnam to 106Mt/yr across 86 plants.

Australia/New Zealand/US: Ireland-based James Hardie has announced the planned closure of three of its fibre cement board plants. The Cooroy, Queensland plant in Australia, Summerville, South Carolina plant in the US and Penrose, Auckland plant in New Zealand will close permanently in mid-2020, resulting in a total of 375 job cuts. The NZ Herald newspaper has reported that the decision to shut the plants came about due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economic situation. James Hardie will now supply the New Zealand market from its Carole Park, Queensland and Rosehill, New South Wales plants. James Hardie also closed its Siglingen, Baden-Württemberg plant in Germany on a temporary basis, ‘in order to better match supply and demand in the European market.’

James Hardie revised its 2020 profit forecast to US$355m, down by 4.1% from US$370m.