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Cement News Briefs

Francesca Mills
  • Neighbors of Lafarge Canada’s Exshaw cement plant have filed a class action lawsuit, alleging that the facility is a source of ongoing dust and noise since its expansion in 2016, according to the Calgary Herald. “Following these expansions, the amount of dust leaving the cement plant greatly increased,” said law firm Napoli Shkolnik Canada. “Huge clouds of carcinogenic cement dust now regularly leave the plant and blanket nearby properties.” The plaintiffs from in and around the hamlets of Exshaw and Lac des Arcs are seeking punitive damages for the plant’s impact on residents and for Lafarge’s allegedly misleading statements about the facility’s environmental effects. Lafarge has yet to respond to the suit but said it has invested more than $30 million this year to reduce the facility’s carbon emissions.
  • Caribbean Cement Co. announced the appointment of Jorge Alejandro Martinez Mora as managing director, effective Dec. 1, 2023. Martinez Mora succeeds Yago Castro Izaguirre, who will be moving to another position within parent company Cemex. Martinez Mora is a civil engineer with extensive knowledge and experience in the commercial, corporate, and operational fields. He has been employed with Cemex and its subsidiaries in Mexico since December 2004 and, most recently, held the position of builders segment regional director for Cemex’s Central Region based in Mexico City.  Caribbean Cement is Jamaica’s sole cement manufacturer.
  • U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced the Concrete and Asphalt Innovation Act of 2023 to accelerate deployment of low-emissions concrete and asphalt. The bill would direct federal resources to encourage research, development, demonstration, and commercialization of low-emission concrete and asphalt technologies while also setting a strategic plan for government agency coordination.
  • CarbonCapture promoted Dr. Saeb Besarati to the position of chief technology officer. He previous joined the company in 2019 as director of systems engineering. In his new role, Besarati will lead innovation across all of the company’s technology-related activities, including sorbent development, systems engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, and intellectual property development.

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