India: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been awarded an order to build a cement plant in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. The end client was not named but UltraTech Cement said in mid-June 2019 that it had received approval from the environment ministry to build a 6Mt/yr integrated cement plant in the same location. The plant will have a 60MW captive power plant and a 15MW waste heat recovery-based power unit. No value for the order has been disclosed.

Argentina: Loma Negra says it has started to close its Barker cement plant because it has been unable to reach an agreement with the union over staff redundancies. The company alleges that the union would not accept its plans to convert the unit into a grinding and bagging plant, according to El Cronista newspaper. The plant will now move to a single shift of operation with 24 employees whilst plans for its final closure are implemented.

Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (ECEBOL) at Caracollo in Oruro will start commercial operation in August 2019. The US$306m plant will have a production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr, according to Radio FM Bolivia. A consortium of Sacyr, Imasa and Polysius have worked on the project.

US: A fire broke out in the preheater tower at Buzzi Unicem’s Stockertown cement plant in Pennsylvania on 7 June 2019. No staff injuries were reported at the plant, although a fireman required medical treatment, according to the Express-Times newspaper. Fire crews were on the site for around two hours.