Global Cement News

India: Shree Cement is planning an expansion of its captive limestone-mining project at Baloda Bazar, Raipur District, Chhattisgarh from 4.8Mt/yr to 8.6Mt/yr on 5.31km² of land. The project will be part of its integrated cement plant and will be designed by JM Enviro Net. The expansion is currently waiting for environmental clearance. Mining work is expected to commence within two years.

India: Maha Cement has announced that it plans to enter the Sri Lanka cement market with its joint venture company, My Home Industries Limited (MHIL), which is part-owned by Ireland's CRH. MHIL has 8.40Mt/yr of cement production capacity and plans to increase its capacity to 10Mt/yr by 2015. It plans to set up a cement plant in the east coast of Tamil Nadu, India, for import to nearby Sri Lanka.

China: Loesche GmbH has completed work on the largest slag mill in the world for Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co (TISCO) in Taiyuan, China achieving a new record product rate of producing 255t/hr blast-furnace slag meal. The Loesche type LM 63.3+3 vertical mill for grinding granulated blastfurnace slag was originally ordered by the Taigang Group International Trade Co in September 2011. It started operation in March 2014.

At the TISCO steelworks the LM 63.3+3 has now been used for the pure grinding of granulated blast-furnace slag for the first time. The mill is driven by a motor with an output of 7400kW, the most powerful motor to have been installed so far by Loesche in a mill. The projected guarantee values of 255t/ hr granulated blast-furnace slag at a fineness of 4400 Blaine are reliably attained here. This is also ensured by the newly developed Loesche LDC classifier, used in the grinding plant and ideally customised to the Loesche mills.

The first Loesche LM 63.3+3 mill started production at Nallalingayapalli, India in 2009. It attains a peak value of 367t/hr ordinary portland cement at 3000 Blaine or 371t/hr portland pozzolana cement at 3400 Blaine.

World: Holcim and Lafarge have begun to formally notify regulators as to how they will tackle antitrust concerns, according to Holcim's CEO Bernard Fontana. The two companies have filed formal notifications, which generally include information on what the combined entity will look like and steps it will take to prevent it from abusing its size, in about two-thirds of the 15 jurisdictions that require a review of the proposed deal. Those include the US, Canada, Mexico, India and Russia, among others.

Fontana said that discussions with the European Union (EU), where the two companies have some of their greatest overlap, were at an 'advanced' stage. He added that he expects formal notification to be made in the summer of 2014. "We are on track," said Fontana, who has run Holcim since 2012. "We will do what we planned to do."

Holcim and France's Lafarge have moved quickly to satisfy regulators since unveiling their proposed transaction, which will create a cement company with combined sales of Euro31.8bn. The deal is expected to face significant challenges from competition authorities. EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia has already said that the deal is likely to face an extended probe by his agency.

Fontana said that the list of proposed businesses and plants it would sell in order to satisfy regulators, which it announced recently, would maintain entire businesses that function well and generate the greatest proceeds from the sale process. According to Fontana, Holcim and Lafarge have received more than 100 expressions of interest from potential buyers of the assets.

"We have had marks of interest from all kinds of prospective buyers," said Fontana. He added that potential buyers include private-equity groups and companies in the cement industry, including some from emerging markets. Holcim and Lafarge could also choose to sell some assets via initial public offerings.

Qatar: Domestic cement demand has plunged 40% during Ramadan, which has prompted cement companies to start maintenance work.

Mohamed Al Sulaiti, general manager of Qatar National Cement Company, said that the company has utilised this as an opportunity to conduct maintenance of equipment in its plant. Maintenance work will enable it to meet the busy season starting from mid-August, when demand will increase.

Qatar National Cement Company is setting up a new plant in Umm Bab, Jariyan al Batnah Municipality, which is expected to start production in 2016. The new plant, which is its fifth, is being set up to help the company meet demand of the construction sector. Al Sulaiti said that the capacity would be 5000t/day of clinker and 5500t/day of cement. FCB has been given the contract for setting up the plant.