Oman Cement mill grinds to a halt

Oman Cement Company has announced that one of its mills with a capacity to grind 150tph has developed a major technical fault and has had to be closed down. As a result of the outage, the company said that production could drop by as much as 360,000t between June and September if it has to wait for the replacement part.

In a statement to the Muscat Securities Market, the firm said that an inspection by a technical expert from the mill's equipment manufacturer stated that the required spare parts could take up to 14 weeks to deliver.

The company's chief executive officer, Jamal Shamis Al Hooti, said that it has also "approached alternate sources for carrying out repairs at a shorter period and their response is awaited".

Al Hooti added that it would try to compensate for the shortfall "by better utilisation of the grinding facility during this period and the period subsequent to the repair" as well as attempting to find other measures to boost profitability.

Oman Cement recently confirmed that it had been placed at the centre of an investigation by the Public Authority for Consumer Protection following allegations that it had been importing cheap cement and repackaging it as a premium product.

However, the firm said that the 30,000t of cement it imported was of a high standard and had only been used for blending with its own product after a mill broke down in April.

The company completed a US$37.35m upgrade at its plant last year, which included the introduction of a new kiln. In February, it also announced that it had issued a tender for a new mill capable of grinding 150tph.

Oman Cement Co has four grinding mills and three kilns at its base in the Rusayl Industrial Area.