Uganda: The local government has allocated more than 228 hectares of land for the construction of a new cement plant. The land was offered to the Uganda Development Cooperation-UDC and its partners TSAVO Engineers and Savanna Mines in November 2018, according to the Ugandan Independent newspaper. However, the local community has expressed concerns about the project.

Egypt: The Arabian Cement Company is to collaborate with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Qatar National Bank (QNB) to build a solar power plant at its Suez cement plant. The banks are providing funding of over US$5m to support the project, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The solar plant will be built in collaboration with Solarize Egypt. It is scheduled to start operation in the second quarter of 2019.

US: Conveyor Components Company has released VA and VAX models, a bucket elevator alignment control product, to its product line of conveyor controls and accessories. The VA and VAX are designed to indicate when the head or boot section of a bucket elevator drifts too far out of alignment. They can be used to signal a problem or simply shut down the bucket elevator leg. This control device has a sequential two-pole double-break microswitch rated for 20A at 120VAC, 240VAC or 480VAC. The metal roller is bi-directional, and designed to survive in difficult environments.

Italy: Colacem plans to restructure its ownership of its Ragusa cement plant in Sicily as a separate subsidiary. The final closure of its former Modica plant, also in Sicily, will take place on 1 March 2019, according to the Mercati Finanziari newspaper. 14 employees will be transferred from the Modica site to Ragusa.