Namibia’ s deputy minister of Mines and Energy, Kornelia Shilunga, presided over the inauguration of the composite cement plant and third packaging line at the Ohorongo Cement Plant in Otavi. The NAD150-million expansion is expected to increase the plant’ s production capacity to one million tonnes per year, according to the New Era newspaper. Ohorongo Cement has received ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certifications, as well as NAMS / EN 197-1:2014 certification from the Namibia Standards Institution. The new packaging line will increase the packaging of cement from 4 400 bags / hour to 6 800 bags / hour, and allow for the packaging of different stock keeping units, both 50kg and bulk. Ohorongo Cement has also installed a two-tonne‘ big-bag’ filling station for special projects.
PPC Zimbabwe has commissioned its USD85-million, 700 000 tonne per annum cement grinding plant in Msasa, Harare, according to a report in the News Day newspaper. The plant, built by China’ s Sinoma International, will double PPC’ s annual national production capacity to 1.4 million tonnes and will be officially opened in March 2017. According to PPC CEO Darryll Castle, the plant is part of a bigger plan to develop a fully integrated plant in Harare. Managing director of PPC Zimbabwe, Kelibone Masiyane, said that the company appreciates government’ s continued protection of the cement manufacturing industry from cheap imports, but stated the cost of both electricity and labour is high in the country compared to its neighbours.
Darryll Castle, chief executive officer of PPC, said in an interview with Bloomberg that he expects the impending start of production at plants in the DRC and Ethiopia to help transform the company into a sub-Saharan African producer. The company needs to rebuild credibility with investors after it was forced to raise ZAR4-billion in a rights offer in 2016 to service debt, he said. Castle also said that the South African market would benefit from consolidation because there are too many producers for its size. According to people familiar with the matter, PPC and AfriSam revived merger discussions in November after walking away from a tie-up in early 2015.
FLSmidth to raise profile in Africa
FLSmidth
An FLSmidth F900 high-pressure grinding roll( HPGR) unit with drive train during installation.
FLSmidth
The FLSmidth CCD thickener installation at Swakop Uranium.
FLSmidth’ s South African business has decided to reshape the way it serves its customer base, providing easier access to FLSmidth global product experts and enabling customers to interact with highly proficient technical personnel and engineers. The company believes that greater OEM end user engagement will ensure improved operational performance at plants, and intends to raise its African profile by increasing customer interaction and appointing dealers and distributor networks.
According to newly appointed commercial manager of minerals for sub-Saharan Africa, Terence Osborn, the introduction of appropriate new technology through skilled applications consulting will help reduce customers’ operating costs. Osborn, together with Deon de Kock, FLSmidth country manager and vice president for minerals sub-Saharan Africa, has been instrumental in identifying opportunities where the company’ s teams will be able to add value to customers across the African continent.
“ Customers in Africa have access to FLSmidth’ s vast portfolio of quality technology solutions, and with skilled people on the ground we are more than capable of effectively assessing individual application requirements,” Osborn says. This includes collaboration on greenfields
4 _ QUARRY SA | JANUARY 2017