Displaying items by tag: Plant

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has reported that its first quarter pre-tax profits fell by 1.25% year-on-year to US$331.7m. Gross earnings rose to US$652.5m compared with US$599.9m in the same period of 2013.

Dangote's chairman, Aliko Dangote, disclosed that its expansion drive would increase capacity and add an additional 9Mt/yr of production capacity by July 2014, expressing satisfaction that cement imports into Nigeria had continued to fall. An estimated 1.1Mt of cement was imported in 2013, down from 1.9Mt in 2012.

Dangote vowed that the company would stop at nothing to expand, as most of Nigeria's neighbours are currently importing cement from the Far East. "We are confident that Nigeria's cement will prove more attractive than the imports, particularly within the 15 member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)," he added.

To stabilise the price of cement and free the consumers from 'profiteering middlemen,' Dangote said that his company would intensify its direct-to-consumer deliveries.

Mongolia: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a US$65m loan to Senj Sant to build a cement plant as part of a financing package dating from May 2013, which included a US$20m equity investment. Construction at the 1Mt/yr plant situated in southern Mongolia began in April 2013

"The EBRD's long-term finance, including equity, not only helps us build the first cement plant in Mongolia using the environmentally-friendly dry process, but also supports the company in raising business standards to international levels," said

CEO of Monpolymet Group, Munkhnasan Narmandakh. Senj Sant is a subsidiary of Monpolymet Group.

Laos: Siam Cement Group plan to build a US$370m cement plant in Laos. The 1.8Mt/yr plant is expected to start production in the second quarter of 2017.

"This plant is meant to serve the greater Mekong region," said President and CEO of Siam Cement, Kan Trakulhoo. Siam Cement intends to continue investing within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which is set to introduce a common market at the end of 2015.

Siam Cement's revenue for the first quarter of 2014 increased by 11% year-on-year to US$3.74bn. Kan added that political tension in Thailand has affected demand for cement in that country. Subsequently, the company is shifting its emphasis to exports.

Spain: Grupo Alfonso Gallardo has signed an agreement to sell its cement subsidiary, Cementos Balboa, and its paper subsidiaries to venture capital firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). Under the terms of the deal, KKR will refinance a Euro500m loan to Grupo Alfonso Gallardo, which will concentrate on its core steel production activities.

The transaction led to the completion of the restructuring project launched by Grupo Alfonso Gallardo in 2012, destined to reinforce its financial position and refinance a debt worth Euro1.5bn.

Cementos Balboa runs a 1.6Mt/yr cement plant in Alconera, Badajoz. The plant started production in 2005.

China: Guangdong Tapai Group plans to invest about US$570m towards building a new clinker production line in Meizhou City in Guangdong Province. The line will include two 10,000t/day rotary kiln clinker production lines and two 20MW low-temperature waste heat power generation system. The project will produce 6Mt/yr of clinker and is pending government approval.

US: Gebr. Pfeiffer Inc., the US subsidiary of Germany's Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, has been contracted to supply a new raw material vertical roller mill for the Holcim (US) Hagerstown plant as part of a wider renovation project. The order was placed through KHD Humboldt Wedag, which is the engineering and equipment supplier for the Hagerstown plant modernisation. KHD has been contracted to modify the existing production line to increase the plant's potential production rate to approximately 2400t/day and to comply with the new NESHAP environmental regulations.

KHD's scope of supply begins with modifying the raw material feed system and continues through to the clinker handling system and storage hall. As part of the solution, a new raw material grinding mill, the MPS 3750 B, along with all related engineering services will be supplied by Gebr. Pfeiffer, Inc. The raw material grinding mill includes a rotary air lock with drive, MPS 3750 B mill, an SLS 3150 B high efficiency classifier and includes Gebr. Pfeiffer's patented 'Lift and Swing' technology.

Commissioning for this project is planned for mid-2016.

Kenya: Savannah Cement plans to invest US$200m to develop a clinker plant. Currently, most of the major cement companies in Kenya rely on imported clinker.

Savannah Cement board chairman Benson Ndeta announced that the company, which currently has a production capacity of more than 1.5Mt/yr of cement, will develop the clinker plant to boost its market share. Ndeta said that the firm hopes to be a major competitor in the regional market in the supply of cement to Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan after satisfying its local market with cement.

Spain: French cement multinational Lafarge has reportedly withdrawn from talks that it was having regarding the acquisition of a Catalonian cement plant from the Spanish sector player Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV). The decision was attributed to Lafarge's merger project with Swiss cement maker Holcim, which will most probably lead to the sale of assets in European countries, including Spain.

Lafarge had been negotiating the acquisition of the Vallcarca plant for several months. The plant has a cement capacity of 1.3Mt/yr. Lafarge previously placed a Euro20m offer for the facility, which was rejected by CPV.

Tajikistan: Tajik President Emomali Rahmon was expected to give the green light for the construction of 0.5Mt/yr cement plant in Vahdat on Wednesday 16 April 2014. The Ministry of Industry and New technologies of Tajikistan (MoINT) says that an estimated budget for construction of the plant is US$81.5m. It will be built by China-based Beijing Uni-Construction Group, which will deliver the plant to Tajik firm Vahdat Cement on a turnkey basis.

India: Ambuja Cements will invest US$133m in 2014 from internal funds in order to partially finance its on-going capacity expansion projects.

"2014 will see capital expenditure worth US$133m, over and above the US$120m investment made in 2013. The entire proposed expenditure will be financed by internal funds," Ambuja Cements said in its annual report.

At present, Ambuja Cements has a cement production capacity of 27.25Mt/yr. It is setting up three 1.5Mt/yr capacity greenfield cement plants in Rajsthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Ambuja Cements is investing US$581m for setting up the three new plants. The company is also adding 0.8Mt/yr of clinker capacity in West Bengal and Rajasthan.