India: UltraTech Cement says it has been declared as the preferred bidder for a limestone block in an electronic auction conducted by the Karnataka government. The block is situated in Tehsil Chittapur of Kalburgi district in Karnataka next to the company’s integrated Rajashree plant. It has a total cement grade geological resource of 530Mt of limestone over an area of 7.86km².

Russia: SibCem subsidiary Angarskcement has restarted kiln four at its plant in Angarsk after a decade of inactivity. The kiln was last used in 2010. The decision to restart the kiln was made in 2021 due to growing demand for building materials in the Irkutsk region and an increase in cement sales. Kiln four was first lit in 1960 and was later upgraded in the early 1980s. It has a clinker production capacity of 720t/day. All four kilns are now running at the cement plant.

Australia: BGC has started a second attempt to sell the company and has appointed Macquarie Capital to run the process. An indicative bidding round is planned for June 2022, according to the Australian Financial Review newspaper. The process is expected to take up to one year. BGC previously tried to find a buyer in 2018 but legal issues following the death of the company founder Len Buckeridge and a slowdown in the construction market in Western Australia made this difficult.

The company is presenting itself as a major presence in the West Australia cement market, with a 47% share, and the only organisation with a vertically integrated quarry, cement and concrete business. Macquarie Capital says that the company has an annual revenue of around US$740m and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$74m. Group earnings are reportedly mostly generated by heavy building materials, brick and masonry divisions. BGC assets include a cement grinding plant, concrete plants and a gypsum wallboard plant in Perth.

Russia: Spasskcement has run kiln two at its plant in Primorye continuously for a record of 330 days. This has beaten the previous best runtime of 324 days set in 2021. The kiln has now been shut down for scheduled repairs including replacing refractory lining and maintenance work on mechanical and electrical equipment. Work is scheduled to be completed by early May 2022.