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Ghana likely to face cement shortage 07 July 2014
Ghana: Cement prices may soar in the coming weeks as manufacturers are faced with challenges hindering supply flow. Dangote Cement has suspended its imports to Ghana because of the fast depreciating Ghana Cedi, while Diamond Cement is reported to be facing challenges in importing clinker to manufacture cement in Ghana.
Austria: UNTHA Shredding Technology has launched its new XR ripper and cutter series of pre shredders for the production of refuse derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF).
The new XR shredders offer flexibility to the final particle size by the use of two distinct cutting methods that can be configured and re-configured by the end user. The tearing motion achieves a rough shred of untreated waste, with a homogenous, pre-determined particle size between 100 - 400mm, while the final fraction size is regulated by adjustable screen bars. Load-dependent speed controls adjust the XR shredder's RPM and torque to maximise throughputs of up to70t/hr.
Key benefits of the XR shredder include:
• 45 - 50% less energy consumption, which can equate to over Euro631,066 in electricity savings over the lifetime of the machine,
• Load-dependent speed controls which adjust the RPM and torque to achieve maximum throughput of up to 70t/hr,
• Synchronous, water-cooled motors work tirelessly without overheating, guaranteeing the XR's unparalleled uptime statistics,
• Consistent particle sizes between 50mm - 400mm achievable, depending on requirements,
• Less than 75dB of noise output.
France: Italcementi has reached the ownership threshold allowing for a squeeze-out of its French arm Ciments Français SA after a share purchase. With the latest acquisition of some 1.2m shares of Ciments Français, Italcementi has surpassed 95% of the share capital of the unit, while it had already secured 95% of the voting rights of the company in June 2014.
Italcementi's buyout bid for Ciments Français, which commenced on 13 June 2014, is worth Euro79.50/share, excluding dividend. Italcementi unveiled the final price of the offer for Ciments Français on 20 May 2014. It said at the time that it held 83.83% of the share capital and 91.03% of the voting rights of the unit and that its bid had a maximum total counter-value of some Euro464m.
Italcementi announced that it would initiate a squeeze-out procedure for the rest of the shares of Ciments Français at the offer price within three months from the completion of the bid. The move would be followed by the delisting of Ciments Français from NYSE-Euronext Paris.
Update: Italcementi has announced that the squeeze-out procedure for its French arm, Ciments Français, will commence on 15 July 2014 at a price of Euro79.50/share (net of all costs).
Currently Italcementi holds 97.73% of the share capital and 98.65% of the voting rights of Ciments Français and it intends to purchase the remaining 2.27% stake from minority shareholders. As agreed with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and in accordance with market practices, trading of Ciments Français shares have been suspended.
Malaysia: Christian Pfeiffer has received the order to erect a turnkey cement grinding plant, including silos and packing facility, for Caha Mata Sarawak (CMS) in Kuching, Malaysia. The related contract was signed on 23 June 2014. The Euro36m order comprises engineering, fabrication and supply of the entire equipment including electrical and control equipment, installation and commissioning of the grinding plant as well as the complete construction work and layout of roads. The grinding plant has a designed capacity of 1Mt/yr of cement.
The delivery includes a two-chamber ball mill with slide shoe bearing, two 10,000t silos, two big bag loading stations and a packing and palletising installation for truck loading with a capacity of 3,000 bags/hr. One of the silos is equipped with a one-chamber system. The other one with a two-chamber system. The specific energy demand of the entire grinding plant is less than 40kW per tonne of cement. The construction work will start in July 2014 and completion and commissioning are scheduled for summer 2015.
Cembureau calls for circular economy policy 04 July 2014
Belgium: Cembureau, the European cement association, believes that the European Commission's proposed headline resource efficiency target fails to capture real resource efficiency improvements by adopting the weight-based Raw Material Consumption (RMC) as a proxy.
While the cement industry is raw-material intensive by mass, it is also one of the biggest contributors to the circular economy. Cembureau believes that in order to enhance resource efficiency in the cement industry, the following factors should be ensured:
- When applying the waste hierarchy (prevention, re-use, recycling, recovery, disposal), options that deliver the best overall environmental, social and economic outcomes should be encouraged and assessed at the local level;
- Efficient use of resources throughout the value chain spanning from extraction, manufacturing, construction, use, to end-of-life stages;
- Use of resources in such a way that has the lowest environmental, social and economic burdens over the long term;
- Use of resources appropriate to the reserves available, i.e. scarcity/abundance are critical factors, which mean sustainability needs to be approached in different ways for different resources.