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.

Indonesia: PT Krakatau Semen Indonesia has ordered a slag grinding mill from Loesche for its Cigading grinding plant in Cilegon, Banten. Krakatau Semen will use a Loesche mill with an LDC classifier to grind ground granulated blast furnace slag to a fineness of 4500cm²/g. The scope of supply for this contract also includes the raw material transport system, the mill dust extraction system, the reject system and the silo equipment. The mill is scheduled for operation by the first quarter of 2017.

Subsidiaries of Loesche are participating in the contract. Loesche ThermoProzesstechnik is supplying the grinding plant with a hot gas generator type LF-36L (fully inline) for the combustion of industrial diesel oil. Automation of the plant is supplied by Loesche Automatisierungstechnik. Loesche Indonesia will provide a service contract including personnel services. In addition, Loesche will monitor the local production as well as the assembly and commissioning.

PT Krakatau Semen Indonesia was founded in November 2013 as a state-run company. In a joint venture with PT Semen Indonesia, PT Krakatau Semen Indonesia is building its first plant of this type with a planned production of 0.75Mt/yr.

India: Tata Steel has launched a new ground granulated blast furnace slag product in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Around 40 potential customers from the construction, ready-mix concrete and engineering sectors attended the launch event. Speakers at the event included Rashid Merchant from RMC India Readymix and PN OJha from the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM). Other senior officials from Tata Steel were also in attendance.

UK: Rio Tinto’s production of titanium dioxide slag has fallen by 24% year-on-year to 246,000t/year in the first quarter of 2016. The company said that its Iron and Titanium division had optimised production in line with demand. It reported that two of nine furnaces at Fer et Titane, Canada and one of four furnaces at Richards Bay Minerals, South Africa are currently idled due to low demand for high-grade feedstocks.

"In the face of a testing external environment, our focus remains on delivering further cost and productivity improvements, disciplined capital management and maximising free cash flow, to ensure that Rio Tinto remains strong," said chief executive officer Sam Walsh. Production in iron ore, bauxite and aluminium increased in the quarter but production in copper and coal decreased.

More Articles …