The piece “Shayona Cement embarks on massive expansion project” featured below was initially published in Malawi’s Mining Review Issue Number 16 2014 that was circulated in September 2014.

To learn more about this quarterly publication, edited by Marcel Chimwala, read the post about the “Voice of the mineral sector in Malawi”.

 

Shayona Cement embarks on massive expansion project

• Firm targets production of1200 tonnes per day using rotary kiln technology
• Constructing primary school in corporate social responsibility drive

Cement manufacturer, Shayona Cement Corporation, has embarked on a massive expansion project at its Kasungu factory which will see the firm rolling out production from new state of the art machinery imported from a reknowned German based supplier, Thyssen krup Industries.

Shayona Cement MD Jitendra Patel says the firm is investing US$65-million in the project, which is expected to increase cement production to 1200 tonnes per day.

Patel says the expansion project is in two phases and the first phase that has involved installation of two more kilns at the factory will see the firm upping its production from 200 tonnes a day to 400 tonnes and later to 650 tonnes.

He says the second phase involves installation of a new plant at the site comprising rotary cement kilns, the crushing section, raw mills, cement mills and coal mills, whose construction has already started and machinery order advances paid.

Shayona sources up to 90% of its raw materials locally and that includes limestone mined from its Livwezi mine located close to the cement plant, which caters for up to 74% of the production ingredients.

The firm sources iron ore and clay locally, imports gypsum from Tanzania and coal from Mozambique.

The plan is to source all these raw materials locally. We are negotiating with small scale miners from Dowa to supply us with local gypsum.  We will also be using coal sourced locally once we roll out production from our new plant, which will be using the rotary cement kiln technology that can utilise coal with a high calorific value

says Patel.

Shayona Cement caters for up to 25% of market share for cement in Malawi, which is expected to rise to 45% by this month-end and skyrocket further to 80% in 2016 once the 1200 tonnes per day rotary kiln is commissioned.

Patel says the future for the factory looks bright because the demand for cement in Malawi is rising due to the upsurge in activities in the construction industry.

The Shayona MD is also upbeat of the future of the company’s operations because of the readily available limestone at the site estimating that the resource at the operational Livwezi Mine and the untapped Chikowa deposit is enough to sustain a mine life of over 25 years.

We have huge limestone deposits at the two locations that can sustain our operations for 25 years with a production of 1,200 tonnes per day

says Patel.

Shayona Cement Corporation has a total of 1,200 employees both at the factory and the head office in Lilongwe, and in order to help in developing the rural economy, the company gives a priority to the locals when recruiting members of staff.

But people of Kasungu are not only benefitting from the Shayona Cement Project through securing employment as the company is also undertaking a number of corporate social responsibility projects at the site.

A case in point is the construction of Chigumba Full Primary School. Shayona Cement has constructed eight classrooms and an administration block at the school, and Patel says the plan is to finish the work by further construction of four blocks, each with two classrooms, to replace the existing dilapidated structures.

Headteacher for the school Austine Jere is thankful to Shayona for the job, which he says is a right step towards improving quality of education at the school.

We thank Shayona for all this development. We ask them to also continue supplying us with teaching materials and help us construct teachers’ houses which we lack at the school

he says.

Patel responds to Jere’s request by saying the company is geared to continue developing the school into a modern primary school with all the requirements.

In addition to the construction works, Shayona provides the school with tree seedlings that are planted as part of the school’s afforestration initiative, chalk and other learning materials.

We believe that good future for Shayona as a company and Malawi as a country lies in quality education which is a hub for social and economic development

says Patel.

As part of the corporate social responsibility drive, Shayona also constructed a clinic and a police unit at the site, which it financially supports.

Shayona, which boosts of modern decent offices at the site, is also constructing houses for its members of staff.

Shayona’s factory taps electricity from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) grid and the company has a CAT stand by generator, which is used when electricity goes off.

For a remote site, this is a development that one can rarely dream of but it is real in T/A Wimbe’s area all thanks to the work of an enterprising investor by the name of Shayona Cement Corporation.