Russia: Eurocement has signed a contract with Russia’s fourth largest steel company, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), for the supply of an estimated 25,000t of cement over the three months to 31 December 2019. Metal Daily News has reported that the cement will be used in conjunction with NLMK’s blast furnace slag to produce briquettes at a rate of 0.7Mt/yr.

US: Cemex USA has unveiled a new cement which uses blast furnace slag as a binder. The company has stated that the product, called CemSlag, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and extends the workability of concrete compared with normal cement.

Finland/Germany: Finnsementti’s second grinding unit at its Raahe Slag Plant will be a Pfeiffer MVR 1800 C-4. The unit consists of four rollers with a total slag grinding capacity of 0.2Mt/yr. During maintenance, it is able to keep working at 60% capacity. Gebr. Pfeiffer has stated that the plant will be commissioned in the third quarter of 2020.

Finland: Finnsementti has installed a second mill at its Raahe grinding plant, increasing its total capacity by 100% to 1.0Mt/yr. Esmerk has reported that the mill will grind only slag, which will replace other clinker ingredients in its cement to a net carbon footprint reduction of 40,000Mt/yr. The company has stated that ‘a significant part’ of its Euro12m investment in the upgrade will go towards dosing equipment and increasing storage capacity, with a special emphasis on maintaining a circular economy and reaching its environmental goals by reducing the net CO₂ emissions of its Raahe plant.