Displaying items by tag: Plant
Xinjiang Tianshan plans five new lines
12 January 2012China: Xinjiang Tianshan Cement Co Ltd, a cement and concrete manufacturer based in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has today announced plans to raise up to US$444m via a public offering for six projects. According to the prospectus, the Shenzhen-listed firm will issue up to 120 million new shares at a price of US$3.27 each.
The proceeds will be used to build five cement production lines and a 1Mt/yr cement grinding facility in Xinjiang. Upon completion the projects company would see the company increase its number of cement production sites from 11 to 16.
By the end of 2013, the firm's total output capacity is expected to reach 46Mt/yr, of which 40Mt will be produced in Xinjiang. The cement supplier also targets 50Mt output capacity for 2015, including a massive 45Mt in Xinjiang.
Cement key when oil runs out
23 December 2011Nigeria: The Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, has said that the private sector is crucial in the drive by the government to diversify the economy. He said that Nigeria was currently 'over dependent' on oil. Jonathon used the official launch of the 1.65Mt/yr Lafarge WAPCO Lakatabu cement plant of Lafarge WAPCO in Ewekoro in Ogun State to highlight the importance of the cement industry in a more diverse Nigerian economy. The plant will take the company's cement production to 2.5Mt/yr in Nigeria.
The president described the cement industry as critical to his administration's drive toward moving the country away from a mono-cultural economy, critical to national survival. "If we do not discover oil reserves, our reserves will dry up; if that is true, we know that as a nation, we must prepare for our children and grandchildren," said Jonathon. "That is why we must diversify. That's why we must encourage our private sector to go into manufacturing."
The Chairman of Lafarge WAPCO, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, said that the new plant will provide 1000 jobs and it would not relent in partnering with the government in its quest for socio-economic development.
Two new plants for Nepal by March 2012
20 December 2011Nepal: Two large cement factories, which are nearing completion in Dudhrash and Gogli in Dang, are preparing to commence production in early 2012. It is expected that the two plants will replace around 10% of the cement imports that currently come from India.
Basu Pandey, director of Sonapur Cement Factory in Dudhrash, said that construction work has almost been completed. "Some technical work is remaining and we hope to finish that within a month," he said, adding that the company will begin test-production by the end of December 2011. "We will be able to launch the product in the market within two months," he added. According to Pandey, Sonapur Cement Factory targets to produce around 700t/day of cement.
Sonapur Cement Factory is launching its products under the brand of 'Sona Cement'. It will manufacture OPC and Portland Pozzolana Cement. Sonapur has invested a total of US$415m on the project.
The other factory, which will brand its products as Ghorahi Cement, is also preparing to bring its products in the market within two months. Bikash Sharma, factory coordinator of Ghorahi Cements, said, "Test production will begin from February 2012 and the final production will start in March 2012."
Ghorahi Cement Factory is targeting to produce 1200t/day. Located in Laxmi in Dang, it plans to double its production in the future. "We will double our daily production to 2400t/day in a year's time," Sharma said, adding that Ghorahi Cement Factory would become the largest cement factory in the country. Both of the factories will use limestone from local mines of Dang and surrounding districts, which are more than 200 years old.
Chinese firm to build US$180m plant in Iraq
07 December 2011Iraq: Sinoma International Engineering Co Ltd, a Jiangsu Province-based Chinese company principally engaged in the mechanical equipment and cement businesses, has recently signed an engineering contract with Iraq-based Gulf Research Development. Sinoma will build a 5000t/day cement production line in the Kurdistan city of Sulaymaniyah at a cost of $180 million.
Lafarge limps forward in Algeria
01 December 2011Algeria: Lafarge has agreed to undertake a project inherited from an acquisition of an Egyptian firm in 2007 according to an Algerian minister of state.
Responding to a parliamentary question in mid-November 2011, the Algerian Industry and Investment Promotion Minister, Mohammed Benmeradi, said that Lafarge had agreed to undertake the project as a minority partner, owning 49%, in accordance with a foreign ownership law passed in 2009. Lafarge originally inherited the project as part of its acquisition of the global cement interests of Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). OCI had secured licences for a new plant at Oum El Bouaghi, in the east of the country, shortly before the Lafarge takeover was announced.
Benmeradi said that the Oum El Bouaghi project would cost US$500m and would take 12-16 months to complete. He said that Algeria is currently self-sufficient in cement, producing 17Mt/yr, of which 5.5Mt/yr comes from privately owned plants. The government has a huge capital spending programme, which points to a steady increase in demand for cement. Most of the state-owned plants are in a poor state of repair.
Reliance targets Bengal for new plant
30 November 2011India: Reliance Cement Company Limited is planning to start production in Bengal. The company wants to set up a 3Mt/yr plant at Raghunathpur in the Purulia district.
Reliance Cement plans to invest US$100m in the project and has submitted its letter of intent to the Bengal state government. The government is likely to highlight the project as it prepares its 200-day performance report to be unveiled in December 2011.
The Bengal unit will be the third plant from Reliance Cement as the company embarks on a capacity expansion plan to take production to 50Mt/yr. Projects with a capacity of 5 Mt/yr were announced in 2010 for Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. In 2008, the company secured limestone-mining licences at Satna in Madhya Pradesh.
Paraguay seeks Iran’s help to build plant
28 November 2011Paraguay: Paraguayan officials have asked for Iranian assistance in building a cement plant. The issue was raised during a meeting between Paraguayan Parliament Speaker Victor Bogado and Iran's envoy to the country's capital Asuncion, Hojjatollah Soltani.
At the meeting Bogado noted that although a private sector Paraguayan company owns the Calicia mines, which are sufficient for producing cement for two centuries, his country required Iran's expertise to build a cement production plant. He reminded fellow attendees that at present Paraguay owns several small and medium-size cement production plants, but that it still imports cement from abroad.
Iran has in recent years expanded friendly ties with Latin America. Since taking office in 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expanded Iran's cooperation with many Latin American states, including Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba. Ahmadinejad voiced Tehran's readiness to expand all-out ties and cooperation with Asuncion to his Paraguayan counterpart Fernando Lugo Mendez in March 2011.
Dangote to fire up 6Mt/yr plant, expects exports to follow in 2012
15 November 2011Nigeria: Cement imports in Nigeria may begin to wind down soon, as the management of Dangote cement has concluded arrangements to finally launch its new 6Mt/yr cement plant in Ibese, Ogun State. Dangote Group additionally revealed that production at Gboko plant would soon be boosted because the company has almost concluded its expansion process in the plant to hit 4Mt/yr. The Gboko plant's current output is 3.5Mt/yr.
Dangote said that with 4Mt/yr in Gboko, about 10Mt/yr in Obajana and 6Mt/yr in Ibese, Dangote's cement production capacity will hit 20Mt/yr by the end of 2011. Nigerian demand is reportedly around 17Mt/yr. "What the Dangote Group alone will be producing will be far more than the country's demand, giving room for the group to commence cement exports to other African countries," said Dangote Group in a statement.
The group stated that by having cement plant in 14 different African countries, Dangote Cement has emerged as Africa's largest and most widespread cement producer, present in Zambia, Tanzania, South Africa, Congo, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana and Senegal. Dangote's plan, according to the company, was to ensure that Africa remains self-sufficient in cement production and in making the products easily available and affordable to end users.
The group was also keen to stress the benefits of increased production to its shareholders, with the Special Advisor to Aliko Dangote, Joseph Makoju, saying, "Very soon, the new lines in Obajana and Ibese will commence full production. By then the local capacity and output will be far more than the local demand of cement and that will set the scene for exporting our products. This will lead to increased product (sales), more revenue for the company and better returns for the shareholders."
HeidelbergCement to invest USD500m in Indonesia
19 October 2011Indonesia: HeidelbergCement plans to invest USD500m in a plant on Indonesia's Java island, Indonesia's trade minister Gita Wirjawan announced on 19 October 2011.
Indonesia's cement sales, an indicator of economic growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy, rose 52% in September 2011 year-on-year due to increasing property and infrastructure building.
Cement sales volumes reached 3.8Mt, from 2.5Mt in September 2010 according to Urip Trimuryono, chairman of the Indonesian Cement Association. Sales in August 2011 had dipped 0.3% year-on-year, due to slower activity during the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr holiday. Trimuryono forecast full year 2011 cement sales would grow 14%, with growth moderating next year to 10%.
500,000t/yr plant planned for Mozambique
04 October 2011Mozambique: A new cement plant in the southern province of Maputo is scheduled to start construction in June 2012. Budgeted at USD78m, the project is being developed by the Chinese company Africa Great Wall Cement Manufacturer, according to the country's provincial director of Trade and Industry, Fanieta Manjate.
The factory will be built in Chichuo, near Magude, covering an area of 80 hectares. The plant will have the capacity to produce up to
500,000t/yr when it starts operating at the end of 2012 or early 2013. Initially the construction work had been scheduled to start in June 2011.
Manjate stated that the company is currently mobilising equipment and building houses to accommodate the staff who will be involved in developing the project. The Environmental Impact Study has already been approved and families living in the area are being relocated to make way for the development of the project.
The Magude plant becomes the third cement factory set up by Chinese investors in Mozambique. The first in Salamanga, Maputo province, is currently under construction at a cost of USD72m with an expected production capacity of 800,000t/yr. The second in Boane, GS Cement, has an investment of USD100m and it will have the capacity to produce 550,000t/yr. Along with domestic upgrade projects the country's cement production could jump from the current level of 1.3Mt/yr to reach 4Mt/yr by 2013.