Global Slag News

Egypt: Harsco Corporation’s Metals & Minerals division has signed a new, multiyear contract with Ezz Steel, a steel producer in the Middle East and North Africa. The US$35m contract calls for the provision of mill services at Ezz Steel’s Sadat City plant. Under the terms of the agreement, Harsco will provide slag and scrap management services at Sadat City, with future plans to design and deliver metal recovery and briquetting plants. Service at the Sadat City plant began on 1 July 2016.

This new contract builds on Harsco’s existing service agreements with Ezz Steel Group plants in Sokhna and Alexandria, Egypt. In operation since the 1980s, Ezz Steel has a combined production capacity of nearly 6Mt/yr of finished steel.

“This new contract is an excellent opportunity for Harsco to build an even stronger presence in this strategically important region,” said Harsco President and CEO Nick Grasberger. Harsco’s expanded agreement with Ezz Steel further broadens Metals & Minerals’ business landscape in the African and Middle Eastern steel markets.

Nigeria: Sinoma International, a subsidiary of Sinoma, has signed two engineering, procurement and construction deals with Dangote Cement worth a total of US$370m. The first project, worth US$89m, is to build a slag grinding plant at Port Harcourt. The scope of the contract covers unloading slag and gypsum to packaging cement for shipping. The project is expected to take 20 months to complete.

The second project worth US$281m, is to build a 6000t/day clinker production line for Okpella Cement, a subsidiary of Dangote based in Edo state. The scope of the contract covers limestone crushing to packaging cement for shipping. The project is expected to take 27 months to produce cement and 30 months to complete.

India: Sri Balaha Chemicals has ordered a LM 35.2+2 CS vertical roller mill from Loesche to grind slag at its Hindupur grinding plant in Andhra Pradesh. The mill is designed for grinding granulated blast furnace slag, it will have a production capacity of 50t/hr and the material will be ground to a fineness of 4000cm²/g Blaine. The contract also includes supply of a mill fan, dampers, expansion joints, a magnetic separator and a metal detector. The lead-time for the main components of the mill is 10 months.

Loesche India, Loesche’s subsidiary based in Dehli, will be handling the order. A similar mill has been operating at a cement plant in Bhavanipuram since 2001. Loesche India has sold over 100 vertical roller mills for the grinding of raw material, coal, and cement to various clients in India. World firsts for Loesche India include the LM 69.6 a six roller mill for raw material grinding, the LM 56.3+3 CS and the LM 63.3+3 CS.

Bangladesh: MI Cement Factory has ordered a slag grinding mill from Loesche for its Munshigonj cement plant. Blast furnace slag will be ground to a fineness of 4000cm²/g Blaine. A lead time of seven months after signing the contract is scheduled for the main components of the scope of supply. The gearbox is to be supplied to Bangladesh within nine months. Commissioning of the Loesche mill is scheduled for May 2017.

Ukraine: United Minerals Group (UMG) has signed a contract with Belgium company Sibelco to supply 45,000t of boiler slag from the ash dumps of DTEK’s thermal power plants to Sibelco’s division in the Netherlands. UMG has also commissioned slag-washing equipment to improve the quality of the product.

“Annually, Ukrainian thermal power plants generate up to 8Mt of ash and slag, with 90% of them it stored in ash dumps. Therefore we are interested in expanding markets for such waste. Our cooperation with such companies as Sibelco makes it possible to apply ash and slag to commercial ends,” said UMG Sales Director Sergey Melnichenko.

UMG started processing and selling ash and slag in 2013. In 2014 it launched a mill for production and processing of fly ash in Druzhkovka. In 2015, it sold 348,200t of ash and slag materials worth US$5m, including 31,500t exported abroad.