Cookstown Cement rebranding to Cemcor following £15m investment

Cookstown-based cement production business has rebranded to Cemcor, following significant investment from the new ownership.

Committed to investing £15m, the company now known as Cemcor has already begun to grow in stature with a fleet of new branded tanker and curtain sider vehicles on the roads and an increase in full time staff.

The Cookstown plant was originally established by Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) and opened in 1968 with the capacity of around 0.5Mt/yr. Shortly afterwards, the plant came under the umbrella of the Blue Circle group, which was forming at the time. There were selected investments in the plant over the next 30 years under Blue Circle, but the plant continued with the same fundamental semi-dry configuration. Operation continued under Lafarge, which took over Blue Circle in 2001 and up until January 2022 the plant operated as Lafarge Ireland by Aggregate Industries (AI), running the ex-Lafarge cement plants in the UK, itself part of the Swiss multinational Holcim. Cookstown Cement Ltd bought Lafarge Ireland from AI on 21 January 2022 for €67m, where the two shareholders are LCC Group with 80% share and Managing Director, David Millar, a former executive with Lafarge who has 38 years’ experience in the cement and construction industries, with 20% share of the company. With unrealised potential the main driving force behind the acquisition, the company now owns a cement plant with production capacity in excess of 450,000 tonnes in Cookstown, a limestone quarry also in Cookstown, a shale quarry in

Cemcor plant in Cookstown.

Paul Millar and David Millar at Cemcor Plant.

Dungannon and an import export facility in Belfast Harbour. As part of the new owners’ long term investment, facilities around the various sites will receive improvements and renovations to upgrade its environmental capabilities and processes and improve the overall efficiency. Looking to the future, the rebrand of the company is just the beginning and falls under phase one in the plan. Cemcor’s most substantial project currently underway is the process of moving away from reliance on ESPs for dust with the addition of a new bag filter on the back end of the kiln. ESPs were originally designed for a 200mg/Nm3 limit on dust but now Cemcor’s performance is recording at 20mg/Nm3. A bag filter, which will give dust emissions substantially lower than 10mg/Nm3, is the only way to be properly prepared for the future and a condition set by the UK Environmental Agency (EA) upon purchase and set to be completed at Cemcor in Spring 2023. Also in phase one, there will be improvements made to the current hydrated lime installation and SNCR capabilities by March 2023, as part of the plans to future proof the plant. This will include the addition of a new ID fan and upgrading the burner, which will open up greater flexibility for alternative fuels and, hence lower the CO2 footprint. Phase two then looks towards the next three year timeframe where Cemcor plan to further its efficiency targets. There will also be the development of new value-added products, including low CO2 options which will allow the same amount of clinker needed to produce even more cement. Although currently poised in phase two for completion, there are also designs in preparation with a view to develop industry leading products which will be announced in due course.

Not settling for complacency in any area of the company, Cemcor are also investing in new laboratory equipment to improve the speed and accuracy of the raw feed analysis, including online monitoring. Part of this includes new handling facilities for alternative raw materials including biogenic carbonates. There are plans to expand into two new quarries and new heavy mobile plant equipment is expected in 2023. The packing plant is also receiving its own upgrades, including parker heads, weighing systems, controls and a stretch hooder. Completed before Christmas 2022 will be a new control room and plant monitoring system on site as well as cleaning up and renovating the plant itself including branding it with the new company colours. Looking to the future, Cemcor as an independent company has many opportunities in which it can take advantage and innovate and with the committed investment from the new owners and clear objectives, it will continue on its successful trajectory, growing further and cementing itself as industry leaders.