Sephaku Cement, a 36%-held associate of Sephaku Holdings (SEP), on Wednesday announced the establishment of its second major project, a 3,000 tonne per day clinker and cement production facility near Dwaalboom in Limpopo Province.
It follows on the investment by Dangote Group into Sephaku Cement in late 2010 and the former's planned $3.9 billion investment into the construction of new cement plants across Africa as announced in April.
The project's go-ahead follows completion of a 12-month limestone prospecting programme in the project area.
Construction on the plant was anticipated to begin in 2013 after the group's Aganang project moved into production.
Sephaku Cement MD Pieter Fourie said: "At Sephaku Cement we remain firmly of the view that the South African growth story is not yet over, and that it has legs deep into the future.
"In addition, we foresee shrinking clinker capacity for the next five to eight years.
"Given the lead times required for projects of this nature we believe that Sephaku Cement will be extremely well placed in the sector when our second plant comes into production in 2015."
Dangote's investment would include new cement lines being produced in Ethiopia, Tanzania, the Republic of Congo, Zambia, Senegal and Gabon and increased capacity in South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria.
The Dangote Group's separately-listed entity, Dangote Cement, is the largest quoted company in West Africa with a market cap of $13 billion.
Sephaku Cement said its existing operations, Delmas and Aganang, had progressed significantly and remained on track for cement production by mid-2013.
Recent changes in the scope of the existing project had resulted in an increased capacity from 2.2 million tons per annum to 2.5 million tons per annum with a minimal, three-month delay to the production timeline.
At Aganang, construction had started on the permanent access road and followed on the completion of the temporary four-kilometre access road which would provide for equipment deliveries to site.
The building on the site offices and camp was in the final stages, and provided offices, sleeping quarters, a kitchen, clinic and change house for up to 1 200 individuals.
All data and telephone lines have been installed, Sephaku said.
It added that given the pressure on power utility, Eskom's available resources to supply power to new projects, Aganang was receiving permanent power from a 42km 132kV line.
Construction power of 2MVA at 400V was available on site from an existing Eskom line.
"Infrastructural progress, a critical component of the project has been both rapid and thorough at the Delmas milling plant," according to Sephaku.
The temporary access road to the construction site was completed on schedule in March and was available for deliveries to the construction site and the offices.
Similarly the bulk services for water and sewage and electricity, were installed in the second half of 2010, it said.
Construction is nearing completion at the Sinoma campsite, where the office block was already populated, with all electrical installations also complete and signed off by a professional electrical engineer.
Similarly, at the Delmas project team site offices, the necessary power connections and data networks were installed, Sephaku said.
The geotechnical investigation and analysis of the revised plant layout was also underway.
A total of 15 holes were currently being drilled for sampling activities.
Samples would also be taken from ten test pits and 20 augered boreholes, to be followed by lab analysis and reporting. These activities should be completed by the end of May, Sephaku said.
The company's EMP, a baseline environmental monitoring system which covers water, dust deposition and noise, was 66% complete.
Africa Geo-Environmental Services was appointed as environmental consultants for the environmental authorisation application and the new order mining right application.
Source: I-Net Bridge
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
