Consol, Africa“s largest glass manufacturer, announced on 1 March 2010 that it intends to build a new ZAR 1.9-billion glass factory in Nigel, boosting its annual output by 25%.
According to managing…
Consol, Africa“s largest glass manufacturer, announced on 1 March 2010 that it intends to build a new ZAR 1.9-billion glass factory in Nigel, boosting its annual output by 25%. According to managing director Mike Arnold, the new glass factory will increase the group“s annual production by 220,000 tons to over one million tons, more than four billion glass containers, thus ensuring sufficient production capacity to meet foreseeable market growth expectations. The new glass factory will be a two-furnace operation, each with an output of 400 t/d and will be built in two phases. The first phase: infrastructure development, the production service equipment and the first of two furnaces, will cost ZAR 1.3-billion, and will be commissioned by September 2011. The installation of the second phase, at a cost of ZAR 600-million, will depend on, and be driven by, market growth and demand. Moreover, with all infrastructure and services already in place, the lead time for installation and commissioning of the second furnace should be less than nine months. In addition to the expansion at Nigel, Consol also plans to increase production capacity in the Western Cape by a further 10%, or 30,000 t/y, to take place during the rebuild of the Consol Bellville No 4 furnace in late 2011 or early 2012. This expansion will increase annual production capacity of glass containers to 1.1 million tons. “In addition to this already sizeable investment, our future capital expenditure plans also include the provision of a new cullet processing plant at our Wadeville and Bellville sites. This will ensure that we are in a position to maximize glass recycling in South Africa,” Arnold concluded.