Morocco: Cemos announces plans for Tarfaya plant

Morocco’s Challenger magazine has reported that Jersey-based Cemos Group plans to construct a MAD3bn (US$296m) cement plant in Tarfaya in the country’s southwest.

The 1.6Mta integrated plant will utilise local deposits of oil shale as an energy source. In this way, Cemos – which is a portmanteau of Cement from Oil Shale – hopes to keep costs down, paving the way to allowing it to export some of its production to west Africa.

Cemos had originally intended to exploit the 1bnt oil shale deposit through its Finnish subsidiary, Global Oil Shale, but the global slump in hydrocarbon prices has instead led the firm to prioritise cement production.

According to Global Oil Shale’s website, Cemos has appointed Luis Verde, formerly the Regional CEO for West and Central Africa at Dangote, as chief executive of Cemos Cement. Scott Young, formerly of Morgan Stanley and LF Rothschild, has been appointed as a director of Cemos Ciment SA with responsibility for government relations and project finance.