MOROCCO | Major areas of focus of action undertaken in 2008 at Asment Temara

Safety, Environment, Alternative Fuels, Volunteering in the Local Community, Commercial Initiatives and Customer Relations.

CHINA | Energy saving and CO2 reduction at Zaozhuang

The cement manufacturing process generates a substantial quantity of waste heat that is often not harnessed for other uses. The hot gases from the pre-heating tower and the clinker cooler can usually be recovered to dry and heat up raw materials and fuel used in the manufacturing process. However, not all the waste heat from the gases is necessary for this purpose, therefore a significant part ends up being wasted. CIMPOR CHENGTONG (SHANDONG) concluded a project in 2008, at its Zaozhuang plant, to recover the waste heat from production gases to generate electricity. It is a heavy investment for reduced return. The decision to make the investment is related to the forecast increase of energy costs, with environmental implications concerning the reduction of indirect CO2 emissions and the possible eligibility for a CDM project that will generate CO2 credits.

TURKEY | Using fly ash and improving CO2 emissions

The Kangal thermoelectric power plant at Sivas is one of the largest power plants in Central Anatolia. Coal has been the fuel used at the power plant and the disposal of the fly ash produced has always been a problem. The Company decided, on completion of the analysis of market requirements for a new product containing a calcareous fly ash additive, to manufacture this product, which will be undertaken by the Sivas and Nevsehir operating units (OU). So that CIMPOR YIBITAS could use the fly ash it installed a loading station at the Kangal thermoelectric plant and two unloading stations and two feeder systems in those OU’s, at a total investment of EUR 1.2 million. 13 kt of fly ash were used at Sivas and 8 kt at Nevsehir in 2008. The objective is to maximise the addition of fly ash to cement and achieve consumption of 50 kt/year.

INDIA | Climate protection action

The Shree Digvijay Cement Company is strongly committed to contributing to the reduction targets for total CO2 emissions set in 2004 under the climate protection policy. In 2008, the company carried out two major investment projects aiming to contribute towards achieving those targets in the long term.

TURKEY | Suppression of airborne dust

CIMPOR YIBITAS has commenced the operation of steam machines at the Sivas and Çorum OU’s to minimise airborne dust by removing airborne particles and dust generated by the handling of material. The machine produces a strong jet of steam containing tiny droplets of water/aid. If required, a surface-active agent can be added in order to agglomerate and form a superficial film on the dust. The amount of dust decreased by more than 10% in the manufacturing areas and by more than 40% in the open-air material handling areas, as a result of the use of this equipment.

MOZAMBIQUE | Public hearing and replacement of coal for natural gas as kiln fuel

On 11 July 2008, Cimentos de Moçambique (CM) held a public hearing on the implementation of the Environmental Management Plan at the Matola cement plant. This event was attended by the Minister for Energy of Mozambique, the community living around the plant and a number of other guests. The plant obtained environmental licensing in April 2007. The environmental impact study identified the need to intervene in various areas, therefore the company agreed to hold half-yearly public hearings. These hearings, which would involve all the stakeholders, would be used to present the level of implementation compliance with the environmental management plan. At the hearing, the Minister for Energy inaugurated the natural gas stations, which replaced the coal and diesel system for heating the kiln. Despite the fact that natural gas is more expensive than coal, Cimentos de Moçambique, benefiting from the provision of carbon credits, was able to negotiate with the supplier a lower price for this new fuel as compensated by the carbon credits (CERs) to be obtained for a CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) project.

BRAZIL | 50 million tyres preserve natural resources

In August 2008, four years after Eco-Processa (a joint-venture of the CIMPOR and Lafarge Groups) had started operating, the 50 million mark was reached for tyres co-processed in cement kilns. The company has already co-processed since its foundation 750,000 tons of industrial waste, including tyres and other waste such as paper, plastics, sludge from the paint industry and oily waste. That volume is equivalent to the 34,000 truck loads of waste that ceased to be an environmental liability and which, through co-processing, permitted the preservation of 345,000 tons of ore and the consumption of around 330,000 tons of petroleum coke.

PORTUGAL | Energy Recovery of Waste

The main fuel used to produce clinker at the Souselas plant is petroleum coke. The plant was awarded, in January 2008, an operating licence for the energy recovery of hazardous waste, which allows such waste to be used as alternative fuel for the main burner of kiln no. 3. The annual ceiling for such alternative fuel is 45,000 tons per year, as well as a maximum rate of substitution of heat of 20%. 1,311.2 tons of hazardous waste was consumed in 2008, without any notable alteration to the manufacturing process, product quality or in atmospheric emissions. The use of such fuels allowed a 0.80% reduction in the use of non-renewable and imported natural fuels, as well as the reduction of CO2 emissions associated to the cement manufacturing process.

SPAIN | CIMPOR modernises Cordoba and Niebla plants

Representatives of the Andalusia Council, the Cordoba local authority and the management of FLACEMA (Fundação Laboral Andaluza do Cimento e do Ambiente), together with trade union representatives, attended a public presentation on the recent improvements to the Cordoba and Niebla plants owned by Cementos Cosmos, an associate company of the CIMPOR Group, which was held at the Cordoba plant on 2nd.July. This upgrade will make the plants more competitive in the cement market and more efficient in energy terms by improving their environmental impact.

TUNISIA | CJO celebrates certification with its employees

On 11 December 2008, Société les Ciments de Jbel Oust (CJO) held a ceremony in honour of its employees. This initiative, which was attended by a group of customers of the company, was motivated by the award of integrated certification of its environmental management and occupational health and safety systems according to the ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 standards, respectively. CJO was the sector’s first cement manufacturer in Tunisia to achieve the integrated certification of its environmental and occupational health and safety management systems. These certificates are now added to the quality management system certification according to the ISO 9001:2000 standard that the company already holds.

PORTUGAL | Recovery of Animal Wastes

It was decided, following the results obtained in the energy recovery of animal meal biomass in Kiln nº 7, to equip Kiln number 6 with a similar unit. This unit was inspected in March 2008,

TURKEY | Quarry restoration plans

CIMPOR YIBITAS operates 16 quarries forming part of the cement and aggregates production chain, and it owns 34 licensed sites. The Ministry of the Environment and Forests approved the Quarry Restoration Plan in November 2007, and it granted a one-year grace period to companies to comply with the requirements of the new legislation. CIMPOR YIBITAS has, one year on, restoration plans for all existing quarries as well as for the licensed sites, which are currently not being explored but may come to be in the future. CIMPOR YIBITAS was the first group of the cement industry in Turkey to comply with the requirements of the new legislation for all quarries.

SPAIN | Scouts, students and CIMPOR recuperate quarry

In January 2008, a large group of scouts and students transplanted more than 600 trees and planted a further 28,000 trees at a former quarry at Balanzona, covering an area equivalent to two hectares, which had supplied the raw material for the manufacture of cement at the Cordoba plant during many years. This reforestation initiative forms part of an ambitious recovery plan that the CIMPOR Group has been implementing in that zone, currently totalling around 160 hectares of restored land.

SOUTH AFRICA | Impact on local communities

NPC take its commitment to stakeholders very seriously, which is why it has established community forums at all its plants. The forums contain members of the provincial and local governments, NGO’s, police and traditional leaders, where they exist. The meetings are held quarterly. They aim to evaluate the needs of the community and to guarantee the adequate and fair distribution of the funds awarded each unit. 1,630,992.70 rand was split between various initiatives in 2008. Most of those funds were channelled through community forums, with 26% used for education-related projects, 16% for social, health and well-being projects, 7% to support small companies and 51% for environmental projects.

TURKEY | ÇORUM is Greener

The Çorum plant of CIMPOR Yibitas celebrated the “forestation festival” with 70 students and teachers of the 23 April Primary School, Bahçelievler Primary School and from the city, by planting around 100 trees inside the plant area. The names of all the children were written on a plaque. Therefore, each student has a planted tree and souvenir of this action inside the plant’s premises. The aim of this initiative is to implant the idea that “even small contributions are very important to our world, so negatively affected by the speed of global warming”.

INDIA | Full involvement with local communities

The limestone quarries are located about 90 km away from the SDCC premises of Sikka. SDCC runs a school in Mines Colony for the children of the villages around the Gop limestone mines. Around 55 children from the neighbouring villages attend this school, which teaches in two languages - Gujarati and Hindi. The company also provides healthcare support, managing a clinic that performs medical check-ups and supplies free drugs to the local inhabitants. The company’s ambulance is made available to local inhabitants in need.

PORTUGAL | Cement Plants registered in EMAS up to 2011

After the Environmental Statements for the year 2006 had been validated by APCER (the Portuguese certification association), CIMPOR Indústria’s cement plants – Alhandra, Souselas and Loulé – had their previous EMAS (Eco-management and Audit Scheme) registration certificates renewed by the Portuguese Environment Agency until March 2011.

For more information visit www.cimpor-portugal

PORTUGAL | CIMPOR Indústria awarded OHSAS certification

CIMPOR - Indústria de Cimentos has had its occupational health and safety management system, which is internally known as SISO (Integrated Occupational Health System), certified by the Portuguese Certification Agency since October 2008. This certification proves that the management system implemented at the Alhandra, Loulé and Souselas manufacturing centres, the hydraulic lime plant at Cabo Mondego, the Sines grinding plant, and at the Maia warehouse and sales warehouses, complies with the requirements of the OHSAS 18001:1999/NP 4397:2001 standard.

TURKEY | Çorum receives Safety and Hygiene Award from the Cement Workers’ Union

The Çorum plant is a unit with excellent performances in the occupational safety and hygiene field. The plant was certified in 2005 in conformity with the OHSAS 18001 standard. However, the approach adopted at Çorum went beyond that required by this standard. As a result of this approach, the plant has not registered any time lost due to accidents to either employees or subcontracted workers between 2001 and 2006, encompassing a total of 1830 days in operation. This excellent management performance was rewarded with the “Best Occupational Safety and Hygiene Performance in the Cement Sector Award”, by the Cement Workers Union, on 14 November 2008.

SOUTH AFRICA | Occupational Safety and Hygiene, and the Environment – the NPC Standard

The environmental, health and safety performance of NPC CIMPOR, which is always very committed in those areas, was once again recognised, on 13 June 2008, by NOSA (National Occupational Safety Association), ASPASA (Aggregate and Sand Producers Association of South Africa) and SARMA (Southern African Ready-mix Association). All the areas of activity of the company - cement, concrete and aggregates - as well as the operating units were recognised with the award.