Global Cement News

US: A cement truck travelling on a busy road in Wilmington, Massachusetts, dumped part of its load onto the vehicle of another driver, with whom the truck driver had ‘got into an argument.’ According to the Boston Globe newspaper, the offending truck sped away, but police identified the driver through the cement company. They have charged him with negligent operation of a motor vehicle, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of malicious destruction of property, leaving the scene of a crash that caused property damage, a marked lanes violation and disorderly conduct.

Burkino Faso: The government has appointed Abdul Rahim, director general of Cim Metal subsidiaries Cimfaso and Cimasso a knight of the Order of Merit of Commerce and Industry for his contributions to domestic cement production.

Cimfaso operates a 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant and a 2.0Mt/yr grinding plant in Burkino Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou, while Cimasso operates one 2.6Mt grinding plant in the second city of Bobo-Dioulasso.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s court dispute with Concrete Supply has ended in a ruling in favour of the former. The Advertiser newspaper has reported that between August 2009 and November 2017 Adelaide Brighton supplied US$22.6 to Concrete Supply, for which Concrete Supply paid US$14.5 before entering administration in November 2017. Federal Court judge Anthony Besanko ruled that Concrete Supply ‘could not reasonably have held a genuine belief that it was entitled to the alleged discount or rebate.’

Brazil: Refractory products supplier RHI Magnesita has announced a raft of investments totalling Euro300m in addition to its annual Euro120m maintenance expenditure. The investment will cover projects in all its operating regions, including a new raw materials plant in Austria and ‘significant’ expansions to its Contagem complex in Brazil and Cuttack non-basic brick plant in India. It further stated that it will ‘build secondary raw material sorting, cleaning and production capabilites’ to absorb waste streams.

China: Huaxin Cement’s Guoditang quarry in Dongchuan district, Kunming has won the Chinese government’s ‘Green Mine of the Year 2019’ award after receiving total investments of US$0.9m for vegetation recovery. Huaxin integrates land reclamation and afforestation into its step-mining method at the quarry, using planting quilts, sprinklers and drip irrigation devices to recover 80,000m2 of vegetation so far. The company has estimated that the mine will continue to supply its limestone needs in the area until late 2033.

The National Civil Affairs Commission named Huaxin Cement a ‘National Model Unit for National Unity and Progress’ on 17 December 2019. It is the only building materials producer to have obtained the title.