Global Cement News

Australia: Boral has appointed Jean-Paul Wallace as its General Counsel and company secretary. He succeeds Peter Lim who held the posts on an interim basis.

Wallace has worked for Australia-based and international law firms. He has also held positions in the engineering and construction sectors for almost 20 years, with General Counsel and company secretary roles at UGL, Tenix and CPB Contractors. He holds an undergraduate degrees in art and law from the University of Sydney and a graduate diploma in corporate governance from the Governance Institute of Australia.

Canada: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has successfully delivered and installed a KS-21 solvent-based carbon capture pilot system at Heidelberg Materials North America’s Edmonton cement plant in Alberta. The partners will now proceed to test the technology using different fuel sources and plant operating modes. Heidelberg Materials North America says that the installation is an ‘important step’ in the CO₂MPACT carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. Once completed the project will comprise a 1Mt/yr capture installation at the plant and its integrated heat and power system. Heidelberg Materials North America expects the installation to be operational by late 2026.

Heidelberg Materials North America’s vice president cement operations, Northwest Region, Joerg Nixdorf said “Today is a substantial milestone in our journey to building the world’s first full-scale carbon capture project in the cement industry.”

New Zealand: Fletcher Building recorded sales of US$5.07bn during the 2023 financial year, down slightly year-on-year from US$5.08bn in the 2022 financial year. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) fell by 29% to US$296m from US$419m. The drop in earnings was mainly attributed to additional costs allocated to the New Zealand International Convention Centre and Hobson Street Hotel project. Adjusted for significant items, the group’s EBIT rose by 6% to US$477m from US$452m.

Throughout the year, Fletcher Building’s cement subsidiary Golden Bay Cement co-processed 100,000t of waste as alternative fuel (AF). The producer awarded a bottom ash supply contract to Huntly Power Station. It also launched EcoZero carbon neutral cement, which is its EcoSure reduced-CO₂ cement with the remaining emissions offset.

Chief executive officer Ross Taylor said “Looking forward to the 2024 financial year, we expect some further tightening in our overall volumes and so our focus remains on strong customer performance, cost control and pricing disciplines across our businesses. We have shown we are well equipped to continue performing solidly through the cycle.”

Nigeria: BUA Cement says that it expects to inaugurate its upcoming Okpella and Sokoto cement plants in early 2024. The Punch newspaper has reported that chief financial officer Jacques Piekarski said the plants will have a combined capacity of 6Mt/yr, and will raise BUA Cement’s Nigerian cement capacity by 54% to 17Mt/yr from 2024.

Vietnam: The government has launched a public consultation over a proposed environmental protection fee. The Vietnam Investment Review newspaper has reported that the proposed policy would require emitters of dust, NO_x, sulphur oxides and carbon monoxide, including cement plants, to pay a basic fee of US$127/yr. Additional variable rates of US$0.02 – 0.03/t would apply to emissions of each of the pollutants. If it enters into force, the regulation will require cement plants to submit quarterly fee declarations to the government. The government says that the policy aims to encourage investment in emissions mitigation technologies.