Dangote Cement Plc has begun the test run of its six million metric tonnes per annum cement plant at Ibese, near the Polytechnic town of Ilaro in Ogun State, preparatory to the commencement of cement production in August. The 620 million US dollar plant is said to have attained over 80 per cent completion level. It is believed that when the plant rolls out the first batch of ordinary Portland cement in August, it will reduce the price of the product by at least 15 per cent in the open market. All the raw materials required to flag off the production of cement – limestone, shale and red soil, barring gypsum, are readily available at the company’s Ibese Mines. The mines have an estimated reserve of 760 million tonnes of limestone which is expected to last for the next 105 years. The conveyors which are currently being test-run without loads will transport materials from the crusher location to the cement plant located about two kilometres away. Ibese cement plant which has two production lines, will be powered by three turbines being built by the company. Each of the turbines being installed by Siemens of Germany, will generate 37 megawatts of electricity. The Ibese plant can also operate with coal, natural gas and HFO. The plant is equipped with gamma matrix on-line analyser, which is used to control the quality of incoming raw materials from mines automatically and corrects the mix-up to 99 percent at crusher itself. The plants Robo lab ensures that there is no manual intervention. It guarantees auto sampling and testing.
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