PPC announces R604m capital expansion project
Pretoria Portland Cement Company Ltd (`PPC’) today announced details of its latest cement upgrade and expansion project. The board of the company has approved the investment of R604m to increase the company’s inland cement milling capacity. The project approval follows a period of detailed design and feasibility study and is in line with the company’s commitment to playing its part in meeting the country’s growing cement demand whilst also modernising ageing equipment.
A new 1Mta vertical roller mill, together with associated material handling and storage infrastructure, is to be constructed at PPC’s Hercules plant in Pretoria, and is expected to come on line mid 2009.
One third of the new mill capacity will allow for the replacement of two older, less efficient mills. A reduction of up to 45% in milling energy consumption per cement ton compared to these two old Hercules mills, is projected.
A further one third of the new capacity will be utilised to mill output from the Jupiter kiln which is now forecast to continue operating for some time post the Dwaalboom Batsweledi kiln project commissioning in the second quarter of 2008.
Additionally, by utilising this state of the art technology, current inland cement capacity will be increased by a further 300,000tpa through the manufacture of increased volumes of extended cements from existing clinker capacity.
The necessary approvals to proceed with the project have been obtained from the authorities. The R604 million project will be financed by a combination of operating cash flow and borrowings and will be spread over the three financial
years of 2007, 2008 and 2009. Published under Cement News
