Ciments Kercim to go into production in spring 2013, France

Ciments Kercim’s clinker grinding unit in Montoir-de-Bretagne (Loire-Atlantique) is scheduled to enter service in spring.

Located in the bulk terminal port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, the facility is ready to receive its first shipment of 15,000t of Turkish clinker as a process test. Once the trial period has ended and certifications are received, it is expected to start normal operations in May or June and ramp up its throughput gradually to its full capacity of 0.6Mta by 2017.

The project is led by Jean-Marc Domange, ex-president of the Syndicat Français de l'Industrie Cimentière (SFIC) and former head of Ciments Calcia. He said: "We are the only independent French producer. Our business model is based on the purchase of high-quality clinker sent to France by ship, today outside the European Union, but soon also within its borders. Ideally we will have three or four suppliers. "