Lafarge Cement closes for repairs

repairs to a section of its plant due to an unexpected fault.
The firm said it has experienced a breakdown at its packing plant and will not supply the market in the next 14 days.
But the firm said the breakdown would not affect availability of cement as other manufacturers were supplying.
Lafarge sales and marketing executive Mr Jonathan Tembo said that the market would remain adequately supplied.
“We had a breakdown at our packing plant. It is a normal kind of breakdown that will take two weeks to repair. We are producing, but the only problem is that we cannot pack,” he said.
In a message to customers Lafarge said it had experienced an unplanned stoppage in the main section of its plant not covered during the firm’s annual plant shutdown.
“The stoppage experienced in the main section of the mill drastically affected cement supplies. We are therefore taking this down to undertake some maintenance work on our plant from Friday June 3 to June 9,” reads the letter. Lafarge said work on the mill would be completed by June 15 2011 while cement dispatches to bulk suppliers would be limited to the firm’s cleared up cash customers. However, the cement producer said bulk cement supplies would remain normal during the plant maintenance period.
“There will be limited supplies of Mphamvu 32,5 Cement imported from Zambia to keep construction projects running,” said the firm.
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe shut down its plant in Harare for a month to carry out plant capacity revamping aimed at increasing productivity to 80 percent.
In a trading update to stakeholders the company said the facelift would cost US$3,3 million.
This is the second stage of the refurbishment process that began in 2010. Work done at the plant included kiln refractory replacement, revamping of the clinker cooler, revamping of the ball mill, refurbishment of dust suppression equipment and replacement of obsolete 3,3KV medium voltage breakers.
Lafarge recently said it has in the last six years invested up to US$15 million to increase plant capacity in Zimbabwe to one million tonnes. Lafarge South Africa owns and controls 76 percent of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed local operation, which manufactures and supplies a wide range of building materials to the local market including cement, concrete and gypsum products.It said it had a housing demand of more than 500 000 units and is well positioned to expand onto the continent due to its geographical location.