Egypt: Harsco’s Metals & Minerals division has signed a 10-year mill services contract worth US$60m with Egyptian Steel. The contract includes the provision of mill services at Egyptian Steel’s new Ain Sokhna plant project. Harsco will provide slag management, scrap management and material handling services, with future plans to design and operate onsite metal recovery and briquetting plants. Harsco’s services at the Ain Sokhna plant are scheduled to begin in January 2018.

“Our Metals & Minerals business is growing again and capturing new sites. This valued relationship with Egyptian Steel is built on the trust and confidence that we’ve developed through our exceptional teams,” said Harsco president and chief executive officer Nick Grasberger.

Qatar: The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), the British Transport Research Institute (TRL), Qatar Steel and Ashghal have been running a pilot project to use steel slag in the construction sector including to build roads. The test is part of the country’s infrastructure development in the lead up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to the Gulf Times. Qatar Steel has accumulated large quantities of steel slag from its plant in Mesaieed. It produces over 350,000t/yr and has a stockpile of over 1.6Mt.

Slag road construction trials were conducted at a Qatar Steel site in 2016. The TRL has since recommended production of slag aggregate, certification of slag products by the authorities including MME and Ashghal, development of case studies and the inclusion in the next update to the Qatar construction specification.

Ireland: Ecocem Ireland has appointed Micheál McKittrick as its Managing Director for Ireland and the UK. His role involves the management of all aspects of the Irish and UK operations. McKittrick is a Chartered Engineer and graduate of Trinity College Dublin. He previously worked in several senior roles with Atkins Consulting Engineers.

India: Sagar Cement has ordered a vertical roller mill from Gebr. Pfeiffer for grinding granulated blast-furnace slag and granulated blast-furnace slag cements. The mill will be used at a new 160t/hr slag grinding plant at the cement producer’s Bayyavaram Village unit near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Delivery is scheduled to take place before the end of 2017. No price for the order has been disclosed.

The order is for a MVR 5000 C-4 mill equipped with a 4300kW-drive and four grinding rollers with active redundancy. The plant will grind granulated blast-furnace slag with a fineness of about 4,500 cm²/g acc. Blaine and it will also be able to grind composite cements from varying portions of granulated blast-furnace slag, fly ash and gypsum.

Core components of the mills, including the roller, tension system, grinding bowl and planetary gearbox, will be supplied from Europe. The mill foundation parts, the housing and the integrated high-efficiency classifier of the type SLS 4750 BC will be provided by Gebr. Pfeiffer India. The local subsidiary will also supply most of the equipment required to complete the grinding plant, including the plant fan and hot gas generator.