CANADIAN outfit, Cemcorp, plans to build a US$340-million, 1.5-million-ton cement plant at Port Esquivel, St Catherine, that will use red mud extracted from waste ponds created by bauxite company — Windalco — to make the clinker.

In its environmental impact assessment submission to the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Cemcorp, which trades in Jamaica as Cement Jamaica Limited, proposed that the plant would take 30 months to build and commission and would make 900,000 tons of cement clinker in its first year of production, which in the December 2010 report was aimed at 2013.

Cement Jamaica, which said that it will export three quarters of the 1.5 million tons of cement clinker it expects to produce each year, identified Jamaica as an “ideal landscape for the production and export of cement” due to the abundance of limestone and other raw/waste materials, such as clay and red mud.

“It is somewhat ironic, therefore, that Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL) is the sole manufacturer of cement in Jamaica and, until 1999, was also the sole supplier of cement to Jamaica,” said the report.

Cemcorp went on to say that even though the three cement plants located in the Caricom — all owned by Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) — benefited “from protection under the Common External Tariff (CET)”, the import of cement by “Caricom member states from non-TCL sources are more recently significant and highlight the degree to which distributors are seeking cheaper alternatives to the TCL Group”.

Cemcorp plans to acquire the gypsum it will use to mix with the clinker to make the cement from TCL’s operations at Rockfort, Kingston, and establish contracts with existing clay quarry operating within a 20-kilometre radius from the proposed plant location.

A major part of the investment, however, is aimed at greatly expanding the existing quarrying operations in Clarendon, from which it will transport limestone to the the plant via an enclosed overland conveyor system.

Interestingly, the final raw mix component to be used by CJL is a waste product, red mud, from Jamaica’s bauxite industry.

“It is planned to use the waste material from WINDALCO’s existing industrial facilities located at Ewarton and/or Mandeville and to take advantage of regular rail or truck service from these facilities to WINDALCO’s port at the Port Esquivel Industrial Complex, St Catherine,” said the report.

The plant will run on a 54 MW coal-fired/co-generation facility.

Also, access to the existing deep water port at Port Esquivel will allow for cost-effective export of cement products to the wider Caribbean, USA and Canada.

“Deep water access for the export of cement to neighbouring Caribbean islands, such as Haiti, is readily available via an existing sea port at Port Esquivel,” said Cement Jamaica. “In this regard, a cooperative agreement exists between CJL and the West Indies Aluminum Company (WINDALCO) to increase the utilisation of the existing port facility which is currently used only 40-60 per cent of the available time at Port Esquivel.”

This is not the first time Cemcorp has attempted to build a plant in Jamaica. In mid-2007, the company had formed a venture with St Ann mining outfit Lydford Mining to build a plant there. The project has not materialise to date.

Cement Jamaica said it “has already concluded significant take or pay contracts with strong and reputable users and distributors of cement to cover a significant portion of its proposed production which will serve to effectively manage the new company’s profitability”.

Cemcorp Canada, the parent company of CJL, is a group that includes the largest condominium builder in Canada and major construction company. The group, itself, uses 70,000 tons of cement per annum.

In a note on the project rationale, the report added: “Jamaica is one of the largest economies in the Caribbean and it should be able to reverse the flat to moderate economic performances of prior years and start to achieve significant economic growth. The project described… will have a favourable impact on all sectors of the economy, particularly the construction sector which tends to experience a boom during the periods to economic growth. Moreover, the ability of the GOJ to improve tax revenue collections will impact on the Government’s ability to address Jamaica’s growing debt and provide additional resources for investment in public infrastructure. As a result of this project, it is expected that tax revenues from GCT (General Consumption Tax) and Income Tax will generate approximately US$75 million annually for the GOJ.”