Global Cement News

South Africa: Magotteaux International has become a strategic equity partner in Grinding Media South Africa (GMSA). The decision follows an agreement between the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Magotteaux on extending their partnership in GMSA. GMSA, a newly created company spun out of industrial group Scaw Metals, specialises in the manufacturing and design of grinding balls for use in the mining, cement and utilities industries.

The partnership will also enhance the technical and financial capacity of the business as well as provide access to new growth markets. As part of this partnership, Magotteaux will assume the operational management of GMSA upon conclusion of the agreement.

“Magotteaux has been collaborating closely with Scaw High Chromium grinding media for more than 30 years”, said Sébastien Dossogne, chief executive officer (CEO) of Magotteaux.

Mexico: Cemex has launched an online retail store to sell its construction material products. The new website is part of the company’s Cemex Go digital platform.

“Cemex’s launch of the Construrama Online Store builds on our efforts to transform the construction industry into a more efficient model. Our clients will now enjoy easy access to a wider catalogue of products and be able to select, purchase, and follow up on their online order, generating significant savings in productivity for our Construrama network of retail stores, builders, and final customers,” said Sergio Menéndez, Vice President of Distributor Sales of Cemex in Mexico.

The Construrama Online Store is part of the company’s commercial digital vision which aims to offer its clients a seamless experience for placing orders, live tracking of shipments and managing invoices and payments for Cemex’s main products.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has called on the US Congress to reauthorise Federal legislation to build, maintain and improve the country’s water infrastructure. The US House of Representatives is considering two-year reauthorisation of the Water Resources Development Act of 2018, while the US Senate is considering companion legislation, America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.

“America deserves safe, strong and resilient water infrastructure – our economy depends on it,” said PCA President and chief executive office (CEO) Michael Ireland. “Water infrastructure built with concrete is long-lived, has a low life-cycle cost and is resilient to man-made and natural disasters. We need this legislation to ensure our drinking water is safe, our waterways are navigable and secure and that we have water infrastructure capable of serving generations to come.”

The PCA supports reauthorisation of water infrastructure legislation to include: increased investment in waterway and flood control infrastructure; increased funding for water infrastructure construction programs; and to promote resilient construction techniques that use materials such as concrete.

Philippines: Cemex Philippines has committed up to US$57m in 2018 towards the construction a new production line at its Solid Cement plant in Antipolo, Rizal. The project will increase the plant’s production capacity to 3.4Mt/yr from 1.9Mt/yr, according to GMA News. The overall budget for the project is US$225m. Environmental approval for the new line was obtained from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in late 2017. The upgrade is scheduled to be operational by early 2020.

Chile: Cementos Bío Bío plans to start production at its new 0.15Mt/yr grinding plant at Arica in September 2018. The project has an investment of US$15m, according to the Economia y Negocios newspaper. The company wants the unit to reach its production capacity by 2021, with plans to subsequently double it to 0.3Mt/yr. The project is part of a US$150m investment that the cement producer is undertaking in the period to 2022.