Displaying items by tag: Upgrade

Nigeria: Flour Mills of Nigeria plans to borrow up to US$500m to finance a 2.5Mt/yr upgrade at its 2.5Mt/yr UNICEM joint venture cement plant in Calabar, according to its chief finance officer. Flour Mills operates in the Nigerian cement market as Burham Cement and it shares its joint venture with Holcim and Lafarge.

In an interview with Reuters, Jacques Vauthier announced that the conglomerate had appointed financial advisers and banks to raise a term loan from the local market for the construction of the plant. He said that the details of the loan were still being finalised. The new cement plant will be completed by the first quarter of 2016.

Vauthier acknowledged the cement glut in 2012 and blamed it on cheap imports from Asia. He added that sales were picking up again and he expected its cement subsidiary Unicem to end 2013 with a year-on-year growth rate that is in double-digits.

This news story was updated on 11 November 2013 with the exisiting capacity of the UNICEM cement plant

Uganda: Hima Cement has decided to spend US$3.2m to upgrade its bag filter technology at its Kasese cement plant in western Uganda. The move follows a history of complaints from local communities over dust emissions. The upgrade will be installed at the factory's old production line, which plans to bring stack emissions in line with global standards. It is expected to be completed by May 2013.

"We are confident that this time round the problem of emissions will become a thing of the past since the same technology was installed at our Bamburi Cement factory in August 2012," said David Njoroge, Hima Cement general manager.

The upgrade is the second attempt that Hima Cement has made at its old line in Kasese. Previously an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) failed due to frequent power cuts. In 2011 Kasese's new production line, which uses bag filter technology, was opened to increase cement production capacity from 300,000t/yr to 850,000t/yr.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Company has announced the start of commissioning of its third mill at its Jazan plant, which started on 27 January 2013. It is expected that commissioning will be completed by 15 March 2013.

India: Dalmia Cement has prepared a US$335m investment plan to ramp up the company's cement manufacturing capacities by the end of 2014. With this expansion the company's total capacity will grow from 17Mt/yr to 21Mt/yr. The move will also help strengthen the company's presence both nationally and in the north east of India.

The company intends to set up a 2.5Mt/yr greenfield unit at Belgaum, Karnataka, for a cost of US$242m and expand its two plants in north-east for US$93m, according to Puneet Dalmia, CEO & managing director of Dalmia Cement. Completion of the proposed expansions is expected to boost the company's bottom line by 10%. The firm, which also owns 45.4% stake in OCL India, will commission its new unit under OCL India by December 2013.

India: Ambuja Cements has announced investments of US$365m in India, of which US$100m is targeted for Bengal. The Indian cement producer intends to try to maintain its market share at 10% until 2018.

The subsidiary of Holcim announced it would invest US$59.2m at a grinding unit in Sankrail to expand its capacity to 2.4Mt/yr from 1.5Mt/yr by 2015. It has also proposed to invest US$41m in another grinding unit in the state at Bandel, according to Bengal industries minister Partha Chatterjee.

"This plant (Sankrail) is working at a capacity of 1.5Mt/yr and we will go up to 2.4Mt/yr. We also have a unit in Farakka with a 1.25Mt/yr capacity. So, with this, we will be one of the largest cement players in Bengal," said Ajay Kapur, CEO of Ambuja Cements.

Ambua Cements also announced that it is yet to gain clearance for the construction of a 3Mt/yr greenfield integrated cement plant in Rajasthan. Ambuja Cements holds a total capacity of 27.25Mt/yr in Rajasthan. A 1.5Mt/yr grinding unit at Sanand, Gujarat, is also being considered.

Iraq: International Finance Coporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a US$70m loan to help renovate a cement factory in Iraq.

The financing will allow Kerbala Cement Manufacturing (KCML), a subsidiary of Lafarge, to rehabilitate a state-owned plant near the city of Kerbala. KCML will undertake the work under a concession agreement with the government of Iraq. The financing is expected to aid Iraq's construction sector.

"This financing will help address the cement shortage that Iraq is facing and help the country meet supply gaps in its infrastructure," said Guy Ellena, IFC Director for Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services in Eastern and Southern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

KCML is a joint venture between Lafarge and MerchantBridge, a London-based private equity group. The financing is being supplemented by a US$20m loan from Proparco, a development financial institution funded by the French Development Agency and private shareholders.

UK: A Lafarge cement plant in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland has invested Euro6m in new equipment and an apprenticeship scheme.

Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster visited the plant, where she met employees and saw a refurbished electrostatic precipitator that will reduce overall dust emissions. She was also told about the Cement Kiln Dust (CKD) project, which has reduced some 8000t/yr of landfilled waste to almost zero.

Further plans for the Cookstown Works were also showcased, including a future upgrade of a central control room and the apprenticeship scheme, which saw two new apprentices join the works team in 2012. A further two apprentices will join the team in 2013.

The minister said that Lafarge's investment demonstrates its confidence in its workforce. "This is a difficult time for the construction industry and it is therefore particularly pleasing to see that the company is investing in its future by upgrading its current facilities and creating opportunities for apprenticeships," said Foster.

The investment in the Cookstown Works comes at a time when Lafarge is merging its UK building materials business interests with those of Tarmac Buxton. This has necessitated the sale of the French giant's Hope Works in Derbyshire, England.

Bulgaria: Italian cement group Italcimenti will install a new 4000t/day cement production line at its Bulgarian subsidiary Denya Cement. The company is investing Euro160m and the completion date is scheduled to be 2015.

Germany: Italcementi has awarded KHD a contract to upgrade and redevelop its Brescia Rezzato plant in Italy. The upgraded plant, situated in the environmentally sensitive Lake Garda region, will have to adhere to strict environmental requirements.

Italcementi has selected KHD's Clean Technology for the upgrade. It includes a KHD COMFLEX^® SC 18 – 3250 system for raw material grinding, a Two-Pier PYRORAPID^® Kiln 3000t/day 4.4m x 52m, a PFC PYRFLOOR^® clinker cooler 635 AW and a Low NO_X 5 stage Preheater 7950 PR.

KHD will also supply additional environmental equipment including selective catalytic reduction systems, a gas conditioning tower, selective non catalytic reduction systems, as well as special filter systems to reduce SO_X. KHD will install much of the equipment whilst the existing kiln continues to operate.

The Rezzato plant, built in 1964, was designed by former Italcementi chairman Giampiero Pesenti, father of current Italcementi CEO Carlo Pesenti, during his tenure as an engineer. The project is scheduled to be finished in 2014, in time for Italcementi's 150th anniversary.

India: India Cements has started gathering documentation for a 3Mt/yr expansion at two of its plants in Tamil Nadu. The company's next step is to secure clearance for these projects.

Brownfield expansions are being planned for Dalavoi, in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, where the company plans to add a new line that will add over 2.55Mt/yr to the existing 2.16Mt/yr cement capacity. This will increase the total capacity at the plant to 4.71Mt/yr. A 40MW captive power plant will also be set up to supply electricity for the upgrade. At Sankaridurg the company plans to double the capacity of its 0.7Mt/yr plant.

If approved, the upgrades will increase India Cements' capacity to 15.5Mt/yr in its eight plants in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.