By August 2004 ACC Ltd will have its 2.25Mta capacity cement plant commissioned at Kymore in Chhattisgarh, India. The entire quantity of limestone, an estimated at 6Mta will be transported by a 11km long conveyor system linking the plant with the Nehagaon limestone mine built by Pheonix Germany in collaboration with a local partner Yule.

ACC had conceived the Kymore project nearly 10 years ago, but took concrete steps towards its implementation only recently, presumably after Pheonix had developed the product at its Kalyani plant in West Bengal. The installation of the system at Kymore proved to be daunting for ACC as it involved relocation of villages through which the conveyor system would pass, major excavation work and skirting around the local railway system.

Phoenix AG has already been awarded the LoI for erecting a 34km long conveyor belting system for Lafarge Cement for transporting limestone from Shella in Meghalaya to Chatak in Bangladesh. The route traverses mountainous terrain and involves a stretch which will be like a ropeway, slung six metres above the ground-level.