BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA LAFARGE Cement Zimbabwe (LCZ) has signed a multi-million-dollar vertical cement mill supply deal with Chinese firm CBMI Construction Co Ltd, the cement producer has announced. CBMI’s businesses cover materials building, power generation, water works, environment protection, power transmission and transformation, energy saving transformation and other related fields. “Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has signed the supply contract for a multi-million dollar vertical cement mill with CBMI of China in a virtual ceremony. This state of the art cement grinding station will double the company’s production capacity, improve cement quality and position the company to expand its cement varieties,” LCZ said in a statement. “This investment will guarantee the Zimbabwean construction market of high quality and consistently available tried and trusted Lafarge cement. This signing ceremony marks the official initiation of the project which was awarded national project status in 2019 when the company announced the investment.” The announcement comes a few weeks after the Environmental Management Agency (Ema) ordered LCZ to stop operations at its integrated Harare plant due to abnormal dust emissions. As previously reported by NewsDay Business, the agency observed that the plant was repeatedly discharging dust emissions and generating fugitive dust from the kiln stack and the surrounding plant. However, following engagements with Ema, the company resumed operations, but under very strict conditions. The upcoming vertical cement mill is the most advanced technology in cement production that consists of a vertically placed large-sized machine which is equipped with some rollers used for grinding raw material into fine dust. CBMI executive director and general manager of CBMI Tong Laigou signed the agreement with LCZ director Precious Nyika. “The new cement grinding station EPC project will be built with a maximum capacity of 0,7Mta cement inside Manresa cement plant located in the east of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe,” CBMI said. “It will become the most advanced cement grinding plant with the biggest production capacity in Zimbabwe and will significantly increase the market occupation rate, competition and influence power of Lafargeholcim and will also ease the cement supply tension in the country.” CBMI said it would continue to provide its advanced technologies, construction and service to ensure the final product is of high quality.