Nostra completes investment

Hungary-based Nostra Cement - a joint venture between Lafarge and Strabag - will officially open its new 1million tonne per year cement plant in Kirayegyhaza at the end of June. Work on the €270million facility will continue through to September this year. The new facility will have capacity to produce 1million tonnes of cement and 750,000tonnes of clinker per year and will be supplied with raw materials by the limestone quarry in Bukkosd, which will be transported to the site by a new 5km long rail link.

Construction work on a €250million modernisation of Devnya Cement’s plant in Bulgaria is due to get underway this month, according to an announcement by parent company Italcementi. Main contractor Strabag and China-based CBMI will work on the two year scheme to upgrade the factory in Devnya with the latest environmental control systems and new technology. The new dry production line will have capacity to produce 7000tonnes of clinker per day and an annual cement capacity of 3million tonnes.

Just above Milan, Italy, on the first hill beyond the Padana Plain is the Colle Pedrino limestone quarry. Operated by Italcementi, the world’s fifth largest cement producer, the quarry in the commune of Palazzago, Bergamo, has been active since 1947 and supplies raw material to one of the largest concrete factories in Italy, Calusco d’Adda. As a critical industrial supplier with a major geographical presence, environmental recovery at the quarry has always been a priority.