Displaying items by tag: environmental impact assessment
Holcim España's Viver quarries expansion approved
26 February 2024Spain: Holcim España’s Viver quarries have received an Environmental Impact Declaration (EID) to expand from 13.5 to 37.5 hectares. This expansion will enable the company to extract 300,000t/yr of limestone to supply its Sagunto cement plant. The EID will allow the company to continue to operate the quarry until 2054.
Kenya: Mashujaa Cement plans to build a US$77.4m integrated cement plant at Chasimba, Kilifi South. The Standard newspaper has reported that environmental group Nature Kenya claims that Mashujaa Cement’s environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) for the upcoming plant ‘lacked comprehensive assessments’ of its possible impacts. These include a possible threat to 31 critically endangered local plant species, including Kenya’s endemic African violets, growing on outcrops of the local Kambe Limestone Belt.
Nature Kenya said “The ESIA indicates scientific unfamiliarity as it contains carelessly worded generic statements such as ‘species will be relocated to Arabuko Sokoke forest’, ‘the site is devoid of any eco-sensitive area’ and ‘impact on biodiversity and wildlife is minimal’.”
Cemex Czech Republic resubmits revised environmental impact assessment for expanded Prachovice quarry
03 January 2024Czech Republic: Cemex Czech Republic resubmitted a revised environmental impact assessment (EIA) for its Prachovice quarry on 29 December 2023. Under the revised EIA, the quarry’s area will remain unchanged, but operations will expand to 1.7Mt/yr from 1.2Mt/yr. Authorities twice rejected previous EIAs for the mine.
Newton Media News has reported that the company says that its tests ‘clearly verified that the increased level of total organic carbon in air emissions was caused by one of the additives used in processing, and not by the content of organic substances in the mined raw material.’
Spain: The Climate Action Ministry of the Catalonian government has granted an environmental authorisation to Holcim España's 0.9Mt/yr Montcada i Reixac cement plant. The authorisation includes an environmental impact statement for the plant's activities. The Expansión newspaper has reported that the documentation brings the Montcada i Reixac cement plant in line with court rulings, which had found in favour of the Montcada i Reixac city council in ruling that the plant did not have the proper certification to continue operations.
Holcim España employs 327 people at the cement plant, which serves the market in and around Barcelona.
Mexico: US-based Vulcan Materials has accused Cemex of illegally entering and unloading materials at its Punta Venado terminal in Quintana Roo. Vulcan Materials' subsidiary Sac-Tun operates the terminal, which serves its nearby Playa del Carmen quarry. Sac-Tun previously provided handling and unloading services at the terminal for Cemex, under a contract which expired on 31 December 2022. A local court ruled in favour of Cemex in the dispute over its continued use of the facilities on 5 March 2023. A high court intervened with an injunction in favour of Vulcan Materials on 16 March 2023.
Vulcan Materials now plans to take further legal action, according to Forbes. It is currently engaged in another legal dispute against the Mexican government for the latter's refusal to renew Sac-Tun's licence to operate the Playa del Carmen quarry. The producer is seeking damages of US$78.9m. The government said that the quarry had ceased to operate in line with requirements under its environmental impact licence and local land use plans.
Melón seeks pozzolana supply for cement plants
29 December 2021Chile: Melón has filed an Environmental Impact Statement with the authorities in Santiago for a project to extract pozzolana at a site at Culiprán in Melipilla. The deposit has total reserves of 20Mt and an extraction rate of 0.4Mt/yr is anticipated, according to Minería Chilena. Pozzolana from the site would be used to supply Melón’s cement plants at La Calera and Ventanas
Cementos Polpaico plans Cerro Blanco cement plant upgrade
08 November 2021Chile: Cementos Polpaico has submitted an environmental impact study for a US$60m upgrade of its Cerro Blanco cement plant in Tiltil, near Santiago. Business News America has reported that the proposed work consists of the installation of a new precalciner, an expansion to its four limestone quarries and the establishment of a new filtered tailings deposit and 3000t cement silo.
The producer hopes to launch the project in January 2023 in order to commission the upgraded plant before 2026.
Nepal: The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the Huaxin Cement Narayani plant being built at Benighat Rorang Rural Municipality in Dhading of ignoring the project’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report. Members of the committee visited the site two months ago following complaints, according to the Republica newspaper.
It found that an 11km access road to the site had encroached upon a river. The company had used sand and stones from the river and used the materials to build the road. The road’s construction has also disrupted local agricultural irrigation canals. A flood at the site of the cement plant was reported in July 2019. An irregular deal to lease land to the joint venture was also reported.
Chile: The Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental (SEA), the country’s environmental body, has approved the environmental impact assessment for a new 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant that Melón is planning to build in Punta Arenas. The unit will have an investment of US$45m, according to the Diario Financiero newspaper. Spain’s Cemengal will supply the mill for the project.
Myanmar: Mawlamyine Cement has been ordered to conduct an additional environmental impact assessment at its Kyaikmayaw cement plant in Mon State. The government has requested that a third party conduct the study at the site, according to the Daily Eleven newspaper. Issues with coal use, transportation of finished products via river and emissions have been raised by the Environmental Conservation Department. The cement producer has also been asked to include residents in the assessment to ensure transparency of the process.
Mawlamyine Cement is a joint venture between Thailand’s Siam Cement Group and Pacific Link Cement Industries. The 1.8Mt/yr plant was built for US$400m and was scheduled to start production in late 2016.