Nepal: Cement produced by Hongshi-Shivam cement, a joint venture of Shivam Group and China’s Hongshi Cement, failed to meet the mandated 30-minute initial setting window in tests conducted by the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM). Gulf Daily has reported that the NBSM will pursue legal action against the company.

China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has included Huaxin’s former Huangshi integrated cement plant site on its third annual National Industrial Heritage (NIH) list. The site includes three wet kilns, a warehouse, a bagging facility, slurry tanks and stone dumps. 49 disused sites from various industries were listed for NIH status, which ensures state-funded preservation and protection from demolition, on 26 December 2019.

Iceland: Iceland Cement has invested Euro0.1m in a specialised washboard for cement trucks. The installation includes strainers for both solids and oil. The company emphasised its social responsibility to keep the trucks, a ‘prominent feature’ in the local area, clean.

China: Allied Minerals has commissioned a refractory production plant in Tianjin, 5km away from its existing plant in the city in Hebei province. Former Allied Minerals corporate vice president Tom Gibson explained: “We’ve built more than manufacturing plants and offices. We’ve built bridges.” The new plant will increase Allied Minerals’ supply of refractory products to cement producers in and around the city, which is located near the coast 100km from Beijing.