Displaying items by tag: Whale Rock Cement

Namibia: The Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) and Cheetah Cement yesterday reached a wage agreement to end a strike that has crippled the company’s Otjiwarongo plant for the past three months. A total of 80 Cheetah Cement’s employees, which is the trading name of the Chinese-owned company Whale Rock Cement (WRC), had been striking after the company and the MUN failed to reach an agreement in negotiations about wage increases and improved conditions of service.

The agreement will see all workers receive a 5% increase in salary, as well as a 5% increase in housing allowances. “We would like to place on record that the company's generous offer is not based on an admission of affordability but rather a commitment to bring an end to the prolonged wage dispute,” said WRC’s general manager Kevin Lee said in a statement.

Other increases include the company paying 80% of employees’ medical aid contributions, the introduction of a new pension fund in January 2023 and back-pay for 12 months at employees’ new rates, to be paid by the company within 14 days.

Botswana: Keletsositse Olebile, the chief executive officer of the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, hopes that the country could become a net exporter of cement in 2023. Olebile made the comment whilst on a tour of the Matsiloje integrated cement plant, according to the Weekend Post newspaper. The cement company was recently acquired by Whale Rock Cement, a Chinese joint-venture based in Namibia. At present the plant is producing 0.1Mt/yr and following a planned investment drive this may rise to 0.9Mt/yr. At present the country imports around 0.62Mt/yr of cement and it is hoped that expanding production at the Matsiloje plant could create the right conditions to create an export market. Matsiloje Portland Cement, the previous owners of the Matsiloje plant, closed in 2018 due to competition from South African imports.

Namibia: The Namibian government has granted Whale Rock Cement permission to resume production of its Cheetah brand cement at its Otjiwarongo grinding plant. Authorities suspended operations at the plant on 10 May 2022.Labour Ministry acting executive director Lydia Indombo cited multiple contraventions of occupational safety regulations, including failure to issue personal protective equipment (PPE), failure to maintain good housekeeping, lack of sanitary conveniences and lack of first aid equipment, as the cause of the suspension.

Indombo said "The ministry conducted verification inspections on 16 and 20 May 2022 to evaluate the compliance on the identified shortfalls and is satisfied with the level of compliance." She added that the ministry had recommended the resumption of production activities.

Namibia: The Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation has shut down production at the Whale Rock Cement plant near Otjiwarongo due to non-compliance with labour laws on the health and safety of employees. A notice was delivered instructing the factory to close its grinding station, packing machine, cement warehouse and cement workshop, according to the Namibia Press Agency. The plant has been ordered to remain closed until all hazardous areas have been made safe. This is expected to take a week. Affected employees are entitled to full remuneration during this period.

The decision to close the plant followed labour inspections in April and May 2022. During the inspections one employee reportedly lost a finger at the pallet stacking area and another sustained finger injuries when he was unblocking the dust collector. Workers said that they work in a dusty environment with no dust masks. They also alleged that a Chinese supervisor brings a gun to work to intimidate them.

The cement company is a Chinese joint-venture and it also trades under the Cheetah Cement brand name. Around 210 Namibians and 44 Chinese nationals work for the company. In April 2022 eight workers at the plant were deported to China for working without adequate work permits.

Namibia: Immigration authorities have deported eight illegal Whale Rock Cement workers back to China. The Namibia Press Agency has reported that a court sentenced the Chinese nationals to deportation and fined them US$403 each.

Whale Rock Cement has reportedly launched its own legal action against vigilante workers’ rights group Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), which uncovered the illegal practices, for trespassing.

Namibia: Immigration authorities have apprehended eight Chinese employees of Whale Rock Cement at the company’s Otjiwarongo grinding plant who failed to produce working permits during an inspection. Namibian Press Agency News has reported that seven of the workers have been in Namibia since mid-2021, while the eighth arrived in March 2022.

Namibia: The Namibian Competition Commission has blocked the sale of Ohorongo Cement to China-based West China Cement on the grounds that it would ‘substantially’ reduce competition in the cement market. It warned that it could lead to coordination between Ohorongo Cement and Whale Rock Cement. The commission added that, “no concrete benefit would outweigh the detrimental effects that will result from the implementation of the proposed merger”.

West China Cement agreed to buy a majority stake in the cement company for US$104m from Germany-based Schwenk Zement subsidiary Schwenk Namibia in January 2020. Previously, Singaporean authorities stopped the sale of Schwenk Namibia to Singaporean-based International Cement Group (ICG) in September 2019 due to the latter’s inability to cover the losses of the Namibian company.

Namibia: Whale Rock Cement says it plans to start exporting cement to countries in Africa following the accreditation of its Cheetah Cement products with the Namibia Standards Institute and the South African Bureau of Standards. It hopes to send its exports to Mozambique, Congo and Ivory Coast, according to the Namibian Sun newspaper. The cement producer started producing clinker at its 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant near Otjiwarongo in late 2018. Prior to this it was importing clinker from Egypt.

Namibia: China’s Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute (TDI) has successfully ignited the kiln on a new 1.2Mt/yr production line at Whale Rock Cement’s plant near Otjiwarongo. The Chinese equipment supplier says that the line was started on 25 December 2018, 58 days ahead of the contracted start date. The project officially began in late 2017. The US$350m plant was originally scheduled to be commissioned in late October 2018, according to local media.

Namibia: Whale Rock Cement plans to commission its new plant near Otjiwarongo at the end of October 2018. The 1.2Mt/yr unit had an investment of US$350m, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Cement from the plant will be sold under the Cheetah brand. The project is a joint venture between China's Asia-Africa Business Management and local partners.