Oman: Raysut Cement has appointed Salim Ahmed Alawi Al-Ibrahim as Acting Deputy Group chief executive officer (CEO). He will support Raysut’s Group CEO Joey Ghose in the role. Salim has been with Raysut Group since 2014 and has been described as ‘contributing significantly’ to the company in the sales department.

Mohammed Ahmed Aideed has also been promoted as the Acting General Manager of Raysut Cement. Mohammed holds over a decade of experience in sales and marketing and has been working with Raysut Cement since 2009. He started his career as a sales representative and subsequently moved up to managerial positions. He has also held senior positions such as Head of Marketing and Business Intelligence, Acting CEO and Head of Business Support.

Spain: LafargeHolcim España has appointed Oswaldo Pereda as the director of its integrated Villaluenga de la Sagra cement plant near Toledo. He was previously the director of the plant from 2010 to 2012. He succeeds Maruxa Suárez, who will work at the company’s Carboneras plant in Almería.

Pereda is a graduate in mechanical engineering from the Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela. He first worked for Venezolana de Cementos in 1987 before moving to Lafarge Venezuela in 1995. He has since worked in production and operation roles for Lafarge, Cementos Polpaico and LafargeHolcim in Spain, Brazil and Chile.

Canada: Torxx Kinetic Pulverizer has announced the death of vice president of sales Nicolas Belanger. He died unexpectedly a week before his 50th birthday. He was the former co-owner of Machinex Group, where he worked for over 20 years. He was also the co-founder and president of Waste Robotics.

“Our hearts are heavy, and we’re stunned by the untimely and devastating passing of our colleague, friend and industry icon,” said Peter Everson, the chairman of Torxx Kinetic Pulverizer. “Nicolas had been instrumental in moving our company - and the industry - forward over the past 25 years. He was a talented engineer and strong business leader, whose industry knowledge and experience were second to none. He is greatly missed, and we share the grief of his family, friends and colleagues.”

Togo: Cimenterie de Côte Ouest-Africaine (CimCo) says that it has hired Germany-based Intercem Engineering and Gebr. Pfeiffer for the supply and installation of a 2.5Mt/yr-capacity integrated cement plant in Lomé, Maritime Region. Togo First News has reported that the company has secured a US$35.8m loan from Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) towards construction of the US$179m plant.

CimCo said, “The targeted goal is to contribute to the satisfaction of cement demand in Togo and the region by taking advantage of the geographic location of the port of Lomé, as well as to contribute to the country's economic growth by boosting the competitiveness of the industrial sector along with performances of the infrastructure sector.”

Democratic Republic of Congo: The government of Tanganyika Province has announced the start of construction of a 2.0Mt/yr-capacity integrated cement plant in Kabimba. The Financiel Afric newspaper has reported that the plant will occupy the site of the former Kabimba cement plant, which was mothballed in 2016.

Governor Zoé Kabila Mwanza Mbala said, “The revival of the Kabimba cement plant will revitalize the social sector and restore the economic fabric throughout Tanganyika Province.

Uzbekistan: Karauzak Cement has signed a contract for China-based Tianjin Cement Industry Design and Research Institute (Sinoma TCDRI) to supply a 1.6Mt/yr clinker plant for US$273m. The scope of supply includes a full production line from raw material crushing to shipping finished cement. The project will be located in Nukus District in Karakalpakstan. Commissioning is expected within about two years after advance payment is received.

Pakistan: Maple Leaf Cement plans to expand the waste heat recovery (WHR) unit to 25MW at its integrated Iskanderabad plant. The project is scheduled for completion in September 2021. It has a projected budget of around US$11m.

Philippines: The Department of Trade and Industry says that it is considering banning Bureau of Philippines Standards-certified companies’ cement from bearing the label ‘Made in the Philippines’ where it was produced in another country. The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines has complained that the labels constitute false advertising.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said that any regulative action would follow a thorough review, but “offhand, if products are not really manufactured here, they cannot be labelled as ‘Made in the Philippines.’”

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement says that independent tests have confirmed that the radioactivity levels of cement produced at its 0.9Mt/yr Tochigi plant in Sano, Tochigi Prefecture are “below the lowest detectable limit,” meaning that the product is safe. The company said, “We hope that you will continue to use our products with peace of mind.”

Production at the plant was disrupted in 2011 when it was discovered that it was co-processing sewage sludge sourced from near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture. The power plant suffered a nuclear meltdown following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that led to widespread radioactive fallout.

Mexico: The board of directors of Cemento Cruz Azul has asserted legal control of its Cementos y Concretos Nacionales (CYCNA) subsidiary cement plants in Puebla and Aguascalientes following accusations of ‘looting’ by partners in the company. In a video statement José Antonio Marín, president of the board of directors, said that the move would give the producer greater control over its operations since all cement would be registered in an internal audit programme, according to the Milenio newspaper. He alleged that some partners of the company had sold cement manufactured at the units independently.

José Antonio Cárdenas has been appointed manager of the CYCNA plants to replace Benito Rodríguez Fayad. Fayad allegedly had links to Cruz Azul’s former director Guillermo ‘Billy’ Álvarez, a former director of the company who is currently being investigated by law enforcement for links to organised crime and money laundering.