PPC last month invited media to a tour of its Slurry operation, in the North West, and the construction site of the R1.7-billion Slurry Kiln (SK) 9 project, scheduled for first clinker production at the beginning of 2018. The brownfield project, which started construction in October 2015, will increase cement production at Slurry from 1.2-million tons a year to 1.9-million tons a year.
PPC CEO Darryll Castle said the SK 9 project would replace outdated and inefficient kilns at Slurry and would result in the operation becoming more competitive. Increased production at Slurry would help PPC “attack the areas of South Africa that really make sense to deliver from Slurry”.
“[This project] is about us being dominant, being the market leader and making sure we get the next part of the expansion in the South African environment,” he stated.
Meanwhile, PPCprojects executive Leon du Plessis explained that SK 9 would replace the outdated SK 5 and 6 units, which would be demolished, as well as the soon-to-be-mothballed SK 7 unit.
SK 9 would also comply with National Environmental Management Air Quality Act requirements, coming into effect in 2020, that dust be limited to 30 mg/Nm3 of air across a site.
PPC senior projects manager Dipeen Dama said the SK 9 unit would incorporate the latest technologies and energy efficient systems.
