Kazakhstan’s Yuzhpolimetall Industrial Corporation plans to build a US$50m cement plant with annual production capacity of at least 600,000t in the southern city of Kentau, company president Tursunbek Asanbayev told Interfax.  The project will be financed with bank loans.  
 
Yuzhpolimetall is now negotiating with the Development Bank of Kazakhstan and China’s Development Bank. Chinese company Sinoma might act as a partner in the project, Asanbayev said.   He said it would take 28 months to build the plant, but did not say when construction was expected to begin.  
 
The plant might be expanded to 1Mta of cement in the future, Asanbayev said, citing the feasibility study for the project. Yuzhpolimetall will supply the raw materials for the plant itself, he said.  
 
"Last year we signed an agreement with the regional (administration) and received several deposits, including the Sarbas limestone deposit," Asanbayev said. "Thus, a cluster for production of construction materials is being created in the Kentau-Turkestan region. The cluster will produce 50,000t of gypsum, 100,000t of betonite, 100,000t of expanded clay aggregate, at least 600,000t of cement and 500,000 cubic meters of crushed rock. We also plan to put a plant for 15 million facing bricks there," he said.