Spain: Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, has elected José Manuel Cascajero Rodríguez as its president. He succeeded Víctor García Brosa, general director deputy to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Cementos Portland Valderrivas Group, in the role. Cascajero Rodríguez has been in post since July 2021.

Cascajero Rodríguez has worked for Cemex for over 20 years in a variety of roles. His international career began in 2005 in the UK, as the Director of Treasury for Europe and Asia, and in 2012 he was appointed Corporate Treasurer of Cemex in Mexico. Since 2016, he has been responsible for Strategic Planning for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, a position he combines with the presidency of Cemex’s Spanish operations. He holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from the Complutense University of Madrid, and a Master of Business Administration degree from ESCP Europe in France.

France: Fives Pillard has appointed Fabien Illy as an executive director. His main role will be to drive the business strategy, the international development of the company and boost its growth.

Illy first started his career at Air Liquide where he worked in its research and development department for combustion and cryogenics. He joined Fives Group in 2015 and has held various positions from sales and business development to management. He holds a master’s degree in thermal engineering from the CentraleSupélec graduate engineering school of Paris-Saclay University in Gif-sur-Yvette, France.

Fives Pillard designs and manufactures burners for the mineral and energy sectors.

Madagascar: Kolos Madagascar has begun importing cement to Madagascar with the aim of staking out a claim in the country’s growing cement demand, which was 1Mt/yr in 2020. The producer says that this figure represents 7% decade-on-decade growth from 935,000t in 2010.In 2020, full-year domestic cement production stood at 150,000t. The L’Express newspaper has reported that the producer intends to establish its own grinding plant in the country. It expects to complete the plant’s feasibility study andnecessary research and obtain environmental and operating permits by April 2023 in order to commission it before 2024.

Kolos Madagascar general manager Tsiry Rasolonjatovo said that ‘quintupled’ sea freight costs were the primary cost of a rise in Madagascan cement prices. He explained “International cement prices haven't budged that much.”Rasolonjatovo added “Madagascar spends US$76m/yr to serve its cementneeds, and another US$7.6m/yr is swallowed up by additional transport costs." He estimated that, along with the realisation of other companies’ planned projects, Kolos Madagascar’s upcoming grinding plantwill increase Madagascan-produced cement’s share of domestic deliveries to 80% from 16%.

Kolos Madagascar is a subsidiary of Mauritius-based construction company Gamma Civic.

Portugal: Cimpor has announced plans for the establishment of 1MW solar power plants at each of its three cement plants in Portugal. The Dinheiro Vivo newspaper has reported that the measure comes under a planned Euro130m investment package in upgrades to its cement operations before 2030. The plans include the expansion of the solar power plants to a total capacity of 10MW by 2025. Additionally, the producer will install two waste heat recovery (WHR) plants with a combined capacity of 8MW at its Alhandra and Souselas cement plants. The company is aiming to reduce its indirect CO₂ emissions by 30%. It also has an alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate target of 70% by 2030 - compared to 3% in 2020, when it used 150,000t of AF.

Cimpor has previously invested a total of Euro7.2m in dedicated sustainability-related measures.

Turkey: Medcem has chosen Sintek Group to build a new 9000t/day production line at its integrated Mersin cement plant. Sintek Group’s part of project has a budget of US$128m, according to CemenTürk magazine. The supplier will provide civil works, mechanical equipment manufacturing, supply and assembly, technological manufacturing and assembly, structural steel manufacturing and assembly, auxiliary equipment supply and commissioning services. Medcem, a subsidiary of Eren Holdings, previously said that the overall project to upgrade its Mersin plant has a budget of over US$200m. It originally intended to start construction work in mid-2021, with commissioning scheduled for early 2023.

Dominican Republic: Domicem has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with China-based Sinoma Construction for a 3500t/day clinker production line at its Palenque plant. The scope of the project includes a production line, from raw material feeding to the clinker warehouse and the transformation of the cement mill workshop, according to Digital Cement. The Chinese engineering company previously built the first production line at the site. Domicem’s parent company Colacem said in March 2021 that it was preparing to invest US120m towards doubling the production capacity of the Palenque plant.

US: GCC plans to fully convert production at its 0.35Mt/yr Trident Plant in Montana to Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) in early 2022. The cement producer estimates that the plant’s production change will reduce its CO₂ emissions by almost 25,000t/yr.

“We believe that our industry must continue to provide the homes, roads and infrastructure that shape our world while, simultaneously, addressing the challenge of climate change,” said Ron Henley, president of GCC’s US division. “PLC is one piece of the puzzle to reduce greenhouse gases. Concrete made with PLC is a resilient material that easily meets the needs of our customers for generations to come.” He added that GCC signed the Global Cement and Concrete Association’s (GCCA) net zero pledge earlier in 2021.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement plans to build 87.5MWh and 250MWh large-scale energy storage units at its integrated Suao and Hualien plants respectively. Once complete it will become the largest energy storage field in the country. The company will also install a 4MW solar plant at Hualien.

Australia: Boral plans to run a pilot scale carbon capture and storage unit at its integrated Berrima Cement plant in New South Wales. The project follows an allocation of a US$1.7m grant from the Australian Government’s carbon capture and utilisation and storage (CCUS) Development Fund in June 2021. The pilot intends to develop and test a re-carbonation strategy for CO₂ storage. Captured CO₂ will be stored in recycled concrete, masonry and steel slag aggregates. In its 2021 sustainability report, the buildings materials company said that, “The relatively low capital and operation costs, abundance of selected waste materials and the financial return potential due to the increased value of processed aggregates are key drivers for adoption of this technology.”

Argentina: Members of the Argentinian Portland Cement Producers’ Association (AFCP) dispatched 8.79Mt of cement in the first nine months of 2021, up by 32% year-on-year from 6.66Mt in the first nine months of 2020. Domestic consumption also rose by 32% to 8.7Mt from 6.6Mt. In 2020, full-year cement sales totaled 9.8Mt.