LafargeHolcim to increase limestone production

LafargeHolcim plans to increase production of limestone from its Nongtrai mines in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district, Bangladesh, from two to five million tonnes per year. The company also plans to export limestone.

The company has received notice from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board for a public hearing on the expansion plan at Nontrai for excavation of limestone. In 2009, the company had applied to Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for environmental clearance, says a report.

Meghalaya-based Lafarge Umiam, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bangladesh-based Lafarge Surma Cement, exports two million tonnes of limestone mined at Nongtrai to Lafarge Surma Cement’s Chattak Unit in Bangladesh through a 10-mile cross-border conveyor belt, the report added.

Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd is a joint venture of Lafarge and Cementos Molins, a Spanish Company.