Global Cement News

Morocco: Ciments du Maroc has signed a deal to buy Atlantic Cement and Cimsud from Anouar Invest Group. Atlantic Cement is building an integrated plant in Settat province and Cimsud has recently commissioned a 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Laâyoune. Ciments du Maroc said that the agreement would strengthen its market presence in the central region. The acquisition is planning to complete in the second half of 2019 subject to regulatory approval. No value for the purchase has been disclosed.

Ciments du Maroc, subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, operates three integrated cement plants and two grinding plants. It also runs 30 ready-mixed conrete plants and four quarries.

Italy: Austria’s Alpacem purchased a terminal and bagging plant at Trieste in Italy from Italcementi in April 2019 for an undisclosed sum. The unit will be run by the company’s Slovenian Salonit Anhovo subsidiary with support from its Italian subsidiary W&P Cementi. Cement processed at the terminal will be delivered from the Salonit Anhovo integrated plant in Slovenia for sale in Slovenia, Italy and Croatia.

Sri Lanka: Binod Chaudhary, the owner of CG Cement, says his company plans to invest US$150m towards building a new integrated cement plant. He said that he had approval from the government and had identified several potential limestone deposits to support the project, according to the Daily News newspaper. The company intends to export cement and clinker.

CG Cement operates a grinding plant at Dumbikas, Nawalparasi district. It says it has a 10% market share.

Saudi Arabia: Total exports of cement have reached 25Mt since the export rules were relaxed in mid-2017. Abdul Rahman Hussein, from the Ministry of Trade and Investment, said that the government is now planning to charge fees on exporters after a two-year tax holiday, according to the Aliqtisadia newspaper. He noted that the ministry has approved 53 cement export licences. 22 of these have been issued during the current year.

Belgium: Australia’s Calix says the Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium has successfully demonstrated CO₂ separation with more than 95% purity at its pilot unit at HeidelbergCement’s cement plant in Lixhe. Technology provider Calix said that preliminary test runs have been completed on the pilot. The technology concept has been shown to work on both lime and cement meal, with calcination near to target levels and high purity CO₂ successfully separated at the top of the reactor although not yet at full design capacity.

It added that it was still working on fixing commissioning issues. Testing will run until the end of 2020 to assess the risk of potential longer-term issues such as tube health and process robustness. In parallel, planning has commenced on the next scale-up of the technology, including conceptual design and engaging funding consortia.