Global Cement News

Uzbekistan: The Titan Cement plant in the Karauzyak region of Karakalpakstan has been completed and has started operation. The plant has a production capacity of 0.2Mt/yr and 200 new jobs will be created. The commissioning was announced at a socio-economic development meeting for the Republic of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic within Uzbekistan.

Belgium: HeidelbergCement, through its subsidiary Ciments Français, has agreed to sell its operations in Belgium, primarily consisting of Italcementi’s Belgian subsidiary Compagnie des Ciments Belges (CCB), to Aalborg Portland Holding, a subsidiary indirectly 100% controlled by Cementir Holding. The transaction has been valued at Euro312m on a cash and debt-free basis. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

“With the disposal of the Belgium assets we fulfil the obligation of the European Commission and improve the net financial position of HeidelbergCement after the acquisition of the 45% share in Italcementi,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “We are well on track to reach our target of at least Euro1bn of proceeds from disposals.”

The divestment of operations in Belgium was offered to the European Commission in order to address competition concerns caused by the group’s acquisition of Italcementi. The sale to Cementir Holding is subject to the approval of the European Commission.

Sri Lanka: LafargeHolcim has signed an agreement with Siam City Cement to sell Holcim Lanka for US$400m. Holcim Lanka operates one integrated plant and one grinding plant in the country. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.

The proceeds from the sale of Holcim Lanka will be used by Lafarge Holcim to further reduce debt. The Sri Lanka sale follows the divestment of Lafarge India to Nirma that was announced in mid-July 2016. The group says it has now secured three-quarters of its targets to reduce its debt by Euro3.2bn in 2016.

US: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is working with Lehigh Cement to investigate a potential source of hexavalent chromium (chromium six) emissions from a cement terminal in Portland. The environmental agency suspects that cement dust may be a contributing source of chromium six that it has monitored since March 2016 in southeast Portland. The DEQ is working with the cement company to improve its dust-capturing efforts when unloading cement from railcars.

“We're concerned about the persistence of elevated levels of chromium,” said Pete Shepherd, interim DEQ director. “We are making every effort to bring those levels down.” The DEQ has also required a nearby glass manufacturer to clean its exhaust stacks to tackle the problem.

Turkey: General contractor Bilim Makina has commissioned Beumer to supply and mount equipment at a cement plant project in Elazig. The order includes 13 bucket elevators for the transport of cement, clinker and raw meal, six apron conveyors and 13 silo discharge systems for clinker transport. The greenfield plant is expected to achieve a capacity of 5000t/day. Sycs İnşaar Çimento Madencilik is the user of this plant.

Two high-capacity belt bucket elevators with a centre distance of 133m each are included in the scope of supply. They are used for feeding the preheater tower with raw meal. Owing to the size of this plant, a conveying capacity of 500t/hr is achieved using steel wire belts.

The supply of the comprehensive technology has been completed. Beumer is now installing the plant.