Saudi Arabia: City Cement subsidiary Nizak Mining Company has entered talks with UK-based calcined clay producer Next Generation SCM about a possible joint venture. The proposed joint venture will build a reduced-CO2 concrete plant in Riyadh, with further such plants to follow. TradeArabia News has reported that commercial-scale production will commence in mid-late 2025, with an initial target capacity of 350,000t/yr.
City Cement CEO Majed Alosailan said "This joint venture is a significant step in our commitment to the continued growth of Saudi Arabia as a global materials and infrastructure hub. Not only will it support domestic job creation, it will also dramatically improve accessibility to critical low-carbon materials that we will soon be able to export around the region. As the materials transition continues to accelerate, finding solutions that support the Kingdom’s infrastructure ambitions hand in hand with sustainability targets is essential to realise the opportunity ahead."
Next Generation SCM CEO Christian Husum said "There are over 4bn people who live in urban areas right now, and that is going to increase by 2bn over the next 30 years. This is a massive, global building project, which is equivalent to building an additional New York City every month. Those cities will also need the infrastructure to cope with an influx of people and there is no way to do that without concrete. There is also no way for our planet to cope with concrete production at that scale unless we find a way of producing it without generating enormous amounts of carbon emissions. Now, there is a way. This joint venture will put the process into practice to bring about a revolution in how we build everything from stadiums to skyscrapers in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and then the world.”
