India's Madras to add slag grinding mill Madras Cements Ltd. (MCL) of India placed an order for a vertical mill for slag grinding at its Jayanthipuram plant. The unit will grind 500,000 mtpy of blast furnace slag, which will be mixed with cement from the existing plant to produce portland blast furnace cement. The slag will be procured from Vizag Steel's plant located on the east coast of the Andhra Pradesh state, 400 km from Jayanthipuram.

Loesche GmbH and Loesche India (Pvt.) Ltd. will supply the grinding mill, which has a 75-mtph output at 4,500 cm[uperscript]2/g and a specific power consumption on mill and auxiliaries at about 37 kWh/mt. Commissioning is expected by December 1999.

MCL is one of India's leading cement producers and is in the process of expanding its production capacity. Presently, the company has a total capacity of nearly 2 million mtpy from three plants, all located in South India. All three plants are dry process and are said to be operating at more than rated capacity.

Nigerian company adds production line West African Portland Cement PLC, the partly state-owned Nigerian company, signed a contract to add a new 3,000-mtpd clinker production line. The line will be built in Southwest Nigeria at the company's plant in Ewekoro, 60 km northwest of the country's largest city, Lagos. Currently, the plant has an annual capacity of almost 700,000 mt.

F.L. Smidth & Co. was awarded the contract and will supply the plant with all mechanical equipment, a control system package from FLS Automation, an electrostatic precipitator from FLS Miljo, steel structures, and spare parts. The equipment will be delivered over a 10-month period, and the line is scheduled to go on stream at the beginning of 2002.

Holderbank acquires Sri Landa firm Holderbank purchased 51% of Ruhunu Cement Co. of Sri Lanka, representatives of the Sri Landan company reported. Company officials declined to reveal the purchase price was. Ruhunu operates a grinding plant near Galle, 110 km south of Colombo. The plant has a capacity of 500,000 mtpy and is forecasting sales of $40 million in 1999.

Lafarge buys Indian cement division India's Tata Iron and Steel Co. (Tisco) has decided to sell its cement division to Lafarge SA, the Bombay Stock Exchange reported quoting a Tisco statement. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.