Sephaku Cement has completed the commissioning of the clinker production facility at Aganang, South Africa, and is ready to commence production, the company said in a statement. The first consignment of clinker will be delivered to the Sephaku’s Delmas grinding plant by the end of the month.

Dr Lelau Mohuba,  CEO of Sephaku Holdings, said: “The production of its own clinker is an important step for SepCem, enabling it to become a fully-integrated producer of cement. We are confident that it will soon become a strong and profitable competitor in the local market.”

The integrated Aganang plant is located at Litchenburg in the North West province of South Africa. To-date, SepCem has been purchasing clinker to mill at Delmas where it has achieved a capacity utilisation rate of 60 per cent.

The targeted clinker production date at Aganang was the end of July, however, “due to minor problems identified on the plant fan system as part of the normal hot commissioning, the process has been slightly prolonged,” the statement read.

Aganang has a production capacity of approximately 1.1Mta while Delmas has a capacity of 1.4Mta.