Displaying items by tag: Plant

Panama: Guatemala-based Cemento Progreso, which acquired Cemento Interoceanico on 21 November 2019, has shared plans to expand its 0.25Mt/yr La Chorrera plant to 0.3Mt/yr production capacity. Noticias Financieras News has reported that the company will also establish three new concrete plants, in David, Chiriquí province, Columbus, Columbus province, and Tocumen, Panama province. Through these it hopes to serve major infrastructure projects such as the construction of a fourth Panama canal bridge and to increase its cement market share from 10%.

India: Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech has announced plans for a 3.5Mt/yr clinker production capacity expansion to its integrated Andhra Pradesh plant in Bhogasamudram, Anantapur district, to 10Mt/yr from 6.5Mt/yr. The new kiln line will cost US$169m and reach completion in March 2022.

North Korea: The Pyongyang Times newspaper has reported that the state-owned integrated Komusan Cement Factory in Komusan, North Hamgyong province, has successfully trialled cement production at a new dry line. The line will reportedly use lignite as fuel.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has shared plans for the installation of a fifth production line at its 13.3Mt/yr integrated Obajana plant in Obajana, Kogi State, that will raise the plant’s capacity to 16.Mt/yr. Business Day newspaper has reported that the upgrade will be a jointly private and public project aimed at ‘boosting the economy and creating jobs for the unemployed youth,’ with tax reliefs and other incentives available to investors. Dangote Cement executive director Edwin Devakumar said during a visit of the Nigerian Minister of State for Mining and Steel Development Samson Ogar that the company ‘will leverage on the state’s support.’

El Salvador: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim El Salvador has announced a planned investment of US$7.5m to establish six concrete plants in 2020, which will bring its total to 18 plants. Esmerk Latin American News has reported that the investment also covers ‘new trucks and other machinery.’ Holcim El Salvador also announced its intention ‘in the long term’ to resume operations at its 1.6Mt/yr Maya cement plant, mothballed in 2008, at an estimated cost of US$20m. It is currently investigating the possibility of installing a US$5m solar power plant at its 1.7Mt/yr El Ronco cement plant.

In 2019 Holcim El Salvador produced 1.2Mt of cement and 710,000m³ of concrete.

UK: Lafarge Cement has appointed Stuart Hutchings as the new plant manager of its Cauldon integrated cement plant in Staffordshire. He holds over 20 years of experience in the cement industry and is a qualified chemical engineer with a master’s degree in business.

The plant produces around 1Mt/yr of cement and employs around 150 staff. LafargeHolcim’s local subsidiary Aggregate Industries is currently planning a potential investment project to develop an additional chloride bypass and a new pre-processing plant for the storage of solid and liquid alternative fuels at the plant.

China: China National Building Material Group (CNBM) has started to resume its operations in various sectors following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Priority has been given to activities related to epidemic control, according to the China Daily newspaper. Its plans are aligned with instructions from the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council to ensure stable production and operations to back the country's economic development while preventing the virus from spreading further.

Zhou Yuxian, chairman of CNBM, said that the company is aiming at grasping ‘the first market share’ after the epidemic. The state-owned company intends to watch market demand and the reactions of companies from the upstream and downstream supply chain. CNBM also released guidelines of resuming work and epidemic prevention for different sectors earlier this month.

For its cement business, CNBM has urged the resumption of full production by subsidiaries related to life and medical waste handling. CNBM has asked its other subsidiaries to restart work gradually in different batches based on market demand.

Vietnam: Xuan Thanh Cement has ordered seven liquid starters from AKA. The plant in Ha Nam Province has a cement production capacity of 5.5Mt/yr from two production lines. The most recent production line was supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth. France’s AKA supplies a variety of liquid starters, electronic starters and power controllers for industrial end users.

India: A worker has been killed after becoming trapped in a crusher at the Bhavya Cement plant in Andhra Pradesh. The incident took place when the 28-year old worker was cleaning the belt of the crusher, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. The local authorities have inspected the plant

India: ACC Limited has announced that it will open a 2.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant with ‘state-of-the-art pollution control technology,’ along with a 25MW coal-fired power plant that will serve the plant in addition to an existing 15MW coal-fired power plant on the site in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. The opening in March 2020 will follow the expiry of a period of respite for continued operation of ACC’s 0.9Mt/yr integrated Cement Nagar plant on the same site.

The Times of India has reported that the plant, the company’s oldest, first shut on 30 November 2010 due to repeat violation of pollution standards, and was permitted to reopen in January 2011 up until 28 February 2020, subject to its adherence to strict conditions imposed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (PCB). The company says that it is investigating the use of cladding in the old power plant to bring noise pollution down to 55dB.