US: A site where Orcem California plans to build a US$50m slag grinding plant has been added to the Vallejo heritage list potentially adding planning complications to the project. Dina Tasini, the north Californian city’s planning manager, said that any possible future plans for the site must first receive a certificate of appropriateness, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald.

Orcem California, a subsidiary of Ecocem, is proposing to build and operate a slag grinding plant on the former General Mills flour mill site near to the Vallejo Marine Terminal. However, the project faces opposition from local environmental groups.

UK/Ireland: Ecocem is to open a new terminal at Runcorn to increase its exports of slag cement to the UK. A second terminal in the south east of the UK will be opened later in 2016, according to the Irish Times. It has invested Euro5m towards building both terminals. The ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) producer is targeting the UK market due to demand for cement coupled with changes in the coal and steel industries.

The company says it has received orders for 200,000t of slag cement in its first year and that it is not taking any further orders. Opening its second terminal in the UK is anticipated to give it access to 80% of the UK market. Ecocem produces slag cement at three grinding plants in Dublin in Ireland, Moerdijk in the Netherlands and at Fos in France.

Norway: TiZir Titanium & Iron (TTI) has commenced shipments of chloride titanium slag. It is produced using ilmenite from the Grande Côte mineral sands operation in Senegal GCO. Both operations are owned by the TiZir joint venture which is in tern owned by Mineral Deposits Limited in Australia and ERAMET in France.

The ramp up of TTI operations follows completion of the furnace reline and capacity expansion project in December 2015. It is anticipated that the upgraded furnace and water-cooled copper-ceramic roof will increase smelting capacity by approximately 15% and improve maintenance performance by lengthening periods between scheduled shutdowns.

The sale of chloride titanium slag and high-purity pig iron from TTI represents the final step in the vertical integration strategy of the TiZir joint venture. The TTI ilmenite upgrading facility has been producing titanium slag and high purity pig iron since 1986. Its current production capacity is 230,000t/yr of titanium slag and 100,000t/yr of high purity pig iron.

Belgium: Harsco has extended its contract for steel mill services for Aperam at Châtelet for five years. The contract with the specialty steel producer, with manufacturing operations in Europe and Brazil, is valued at over US$100m for the current balance and the extension.

Harsco will continue to provide a broad array of core services in support of the mill’s electric arc furnace stainless steel production, ranging from onsite scrap yard management and slag transport to the handling and grinding of production slabs from the mill’s continuous caster. The extension continues Harsco’s decade-long service at the Châtelet mill.