Global Cement News

Italy: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Italcementi’s Chiaravagna concrete plant in Genoa, Liguria has received international sustainability certification from the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). The certificate, rating silver, acknowledges responsibly-sourced concrete across five categories: pre-requisites, management, environmental sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. It aims to validate the entire process chain, from transportation to the recycling of raw materials.

The plant uses CEM-III ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) cement from Italcementi’s Novi Ligure grinding plant in Alessandria, made from clinker from the company’s Calusco d’Adda plant in Bergamo. The cement has specific CO₂ emissions of 500kg/t. It is supplying concrete for the reconstruction of the Morandi Bridge that collapsed in 2018.

Italcementi said, “This result adds to those already achieved by Italcementi and Calcestruzzi in terms of sustainability, such as the new range of Eco.build green concretes capable of meeting the requirements of green procurement, and the availability of the environmental product declaration (EPD) for different types of cement and concrete.”

Germany: Holcim Deutschland has reported the successful delivery of 280m³ of climate-neutral concrete to the NABU Conservation Centre Rheinauen in Bingen, Rheinland-Palatinate. The construction of the conservation centre by Karl Gemünden is scheduled for completion in 2021.

The concrete contains Holcim Duo 3 N CEM-III slag cement from Holcim Deutschland’s Dortmund slag plant in North-Rhine Westphalia. The company said, “Only select raw materials are used in the production of Holcim EcoPact Zero, which is mixed in optimal proportions in line with applicable norms.” Moorfutures offset 44t of CO₂ by deposition in Moorland in Schleswig Holstein to account for the EcoPact’s CO₂ emissions.

“We are proud of this first successful application of Holcim EcoPact Zero,” said Holcim Deutschland head of building materials technology Marc Holberg. “We look forward to many further climate-friendly projects!”

Colombia: Cementos Argos has joined other Grupo Argos companies in delivering food packages and parcels to 15,200 unemployed informal construction workers under the ‘A Call to Empathy’ campaign. On 15 May 2020 the campaign has already made 8,500 deliveries in 15 cities across 15 departments of Colombia. It makes use of door-to-door drops and pick-ups from collection points and allied retailers.

Cementos Argos estimates that 100,000 families will benefit from the initiative.

Canada: Haver & Boecker Niagara has launched a new service programme. Called PROcheck, the programme conducts operational analysis of screens used in raw materials processing. PROcheck reports to Haver & Boecker, which is then able to recommend to producers the best practices for raw materials processing proficiency. Haver & Boecker Niagara North America and Australia president Karen Thompson said, “By partnering with our customers through the PROcheck service programme, we are monitoring the efficiency of their screening process to identify potential problems early on.”

Thompson said, “We are experts at looking at the big picture,” “We engineer and manufacture both vibrating screens and screen media, and this gives us the insight to offer valuable advice producers won’t find elsewhere.”

Greece: Titan Cement has reported net losses after tax of Euro16.3m in the first quarter of 2020, up by 122% year-on-year from Euro7.34m in the first quarter of 2019. Revenue also increased, by 6.1% year-on-year to Euro385m from Euro363m. Titan Cement said, “Since mid-March 2020 the outbreak of the coronavirus had a significant, although unevenly distributed, impact on demand for our products. The early impact of the pandemic on our sector was less severe than what was initially feared. Construction has been deemed to be an essential service in most markets and all our cement plants continued their operations, adjusting their production to satisfy the current level of demand.”