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Holcim announces new Colombian plant 26 November 2012
Colombia: Swiss construction materials company Holcim has announced plans to double its cement production capacity in Colombia by investing US$600m in a new 2Mt/yr cement plant, according to an official statement.
Holcim, which currently produces around 2.1Mt/yr of cement in Colombia at its Nobsa plant, is conducting a feasibility study for the new facility. The construction phase is expected to create 1000 direct and indirect jobs.
"We're evaluating the departments of Bolívar and Antioquia as possible locations but we've yet to make a decision," said country manager, Miguel Ángel Rubalcava.
The new plant announcement comes as the Colombia government embarks on an
ambitious investment programme to develop its infrastructure. Among the plan's goals are a fourfold increase in the country's four-lane highways by 2018.
Infrastructure investments in the country are expected to reach US$10bn by 2014, compared to US$3bn in 2012.
Problems for another Vietnamese project 26 November 2012
Vietnam: Chen Liang-chuan, the Taiwanese founder of Taipei-based Lucky Cement, has had his US$160m Ninh Binh Cement plant in Vietnam thrown into doubt by the Vietnamese government changing its mind on a decision to award the plant limestone mining rights.
Liang-chuan has invested in the 4Mt/yr project since 2008 after being awarded the right by the local government to mine a 72-hectare limestone field for 49 years. The project was approved by Nguyen and related ministries. However, just as the plant's two new production lines were set to begin trial runs, the local Ninh Binh government rejected the request to begin exploiting the field, because it had designated the field part of the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex. It plans to apply to UNESCO in September 2013 to have the complex recognised as a world heritage site.
Sources at Lucky Cement said that Vietnamese authorities were trying to find another limestone mine to replace the original field, but they were worried that a new mine location would entail additional transportation costs.
Buzzi purchases more of Dyckerhoff 26 November 2012
Italy/Germany: German cement maker Dyckerhoff has announced that its parent company, Italy's Buzzi Unicem, has agreed to buy additional ordinary and preferred shares in it, raising its total share capital in the firm by 3.6% to 96.6%.
The German company did not reveal the value of the transaction but specified that during the current year and including the most recent agreement Buzzi Unicem had bought shares in it for some Euro71.7m.
As a shareholder of at least 95% of Dyckerhoff, Buzzi Unicem is entitled, under the German law, to start a 'squeeze-out' procedure for the remaining shares that it does not already own. However, it has not yet made any final decision on such a move, according to Dyckerhoff.
Italcementi hires KHD for Rezatto upgrade 23 November 2012
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 NOX 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 SOX. 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.
Gebr. Pfeiffer SE to supply VRM to Togo 22 November 2012
Togo: Chengdu Design & Research Institute of Building Materials Industry, which belongs to the Chinese Sinoma Group and acting as General Contractor for a new cement production line in Togo, has ordered an MPS 5000 B vertical roller mill from Germany's Gebr. Pfeiffer SE for raw material grinding. The grinding plant will be set up in a greenfield 5000t/day cement production line owned by Scantogo, a member of HeidelbergCement.
The MPS raw mill sold will have a rated capacity of 410t/hr and has been specially designed to cope with the possibility that raw material with a high moisture content of 15% may be ground.
Apart from the supply of the core components for the grinding plant, the order includes the supply of workshop drawings to enable the local manufacture of mill components and the supervision of manufacture at Chinese workshops. Moreover, erection and commissioning on site will be supervised by staff from Gebr. Pfeiffer.
The mill is scheduled to be delivered in the third quarter of 2013.