Global Cement News

Zimbabwe: Lafarge Zimbabwe has appointed Shepherd Shonhiwa as a non-executive director. The appointment took effect from 1 January 2022.

Shonhiwa has chaired the boards of companies based in South Africa including Sunday Times Newspapers, Times Media Eastern Cape Newspapers, Dispatch Media and the Institute of Directors South Africa. Over the past 30 years, he held the positions of chief operating officer at Times Media, chief executive officer of Tepco Petroleum, managing director of Shell LPG Southern Africa, managing director of Egoli Gas, general manager of Ford Swaziland and director of TA Management Services (Zimbabwe). He also runs a consultancy in executive leadership coaching, corporate governance, board effectiveness and strategy advisory. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors South Africa and the Institute of Personnel Management of Zimbabwe.

The subsidiary of Holcim also announced the retirement of David Leslie Cruttenden with effect from 31 December 2021. Cruttenden had served on the board of Lafarge Zimbabwe since 2006 and was the chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee at the time of his resignation.

Germany: Australia-based Calix says that its LEILAC-2 carbon capture retrofit of HeidelbergCement's Hanover cement plant has passed its financial investment decision. The company is accordingly proceeding with detailed design and long-lead item purchasing. It will launch construction in 2023. Calix added that, due to a number of project risk flag points given the 'market situation,' it will not buy major components until closer to that time.

When commissioned, the installation will capture 0.1Mt/yr of CO₂ and cost an estimated Euro20 - 25/t of CO₂ captured.

France: Vicat plans to use a kiln at its 1Mt/yr Xeuilley, Meurthe-et-Moselle, cement plant for trials of cement production using new alternative raw materials developed under the international CO₂Redres supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) project. The project brings together Vicat, HeidelbergCement subsidiary CBR, Buzzi Unicem subsidiary Cimalux and CRH subsidiary Eqiom in an effort to map mineral resources, waste deposits and usable residues ‘on a cross-border scale.’ On the basis of this research, the partners will seek to develop new SCMs for use in cement production.

Indonesia: Conch North Sulawesi Cement is receiving 50t/day of fly and bottom ash from the Amurang coal-fired power plant in North Sulawesi. Koran Metro News has reported that the Semen Conch subsidiary uses the ash as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in its cement production. The Amurang power plant currently holds 80,000t of the byproduct in stockpiles.

India: The Indian cement industry's sales volumes will rise by 18 - 20% year-on-year in the 2022 financial year and surpass 2020 financial year pre-Covid-19 outbreak levels by 6%, according to ratings agency ICRA. The Press Trust of India has reported that, in the first nine months of the 2022 financial year, fuel and electricity costs rose by 31%, raw materials costs by 12% and logistics costs by 5%. This offset a 5% net sales rise to result in an operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (OPBITDA) per tonne of cement of US$14.70/t, down by 10% year-on-year. ICRA forecast a further decline in full-year OPBITDA per tonne of 16 - 18% to US$13.50 - 13.80/t in the 2022 financial year.