HeidelbergCement expands its capacity in Liberia

HeidelbergCement has successfully commissioned a new cement mill at its cement grinding plant in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. The investment in the new mill, which has a capacity of 0.5Mta, amounted to US$14m.

The Liberian subsidiary Cemenco is the only cement producer in Liberia and has a strong market position. The company is part of HeidelbergCement’s network of cement grinding facilities on the West African coast supporting the Group’s regional strategic presence.

“The construction of the new cement mill in Liberia is in line with our strategy of modernising and expanding clinker and cement capacities in emerging markets,” says Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement.

“In particular the countries of sub-Saharan Africa have a very high growth potential due to their early stage of industrialisation. In Ghana, we recently increased the cement grinding capacity at our Tema cement plant and are currently building a new cement mill in Takoradi. Together with our existing plants in this region, the new mill in Liberia strengthens our coastal network in West Africa.”

Investment in the new cement grinding facility in Liberia includes a two-chambered 65tph ball mill with high efficiency separator, filter, fan, and flow meter. The power supply of the new cement grinding mill is provided through a 5.7MW generator plant on a rental basis.

Positive outlook

The economic outlook for Liberia and the sub-Saharan countries is positive. While the IMF expects GDP to grow by 7.5 per cent in Liberia in 2013, it anticipates a growth between 5-6 per cent in sub-Saharan countries in general in 2013 and 2014.

Cement demand is also expected to rise benefiting from infrastructure projects and the mining industry. HeidelbergCement is currently conducting investment projects in sub-Saharan Africa amounting to almost US$400m. They include expansion projects of cement capacity of about 3Mt and of clinker capacity of 1.5Mt.