CENTRAL ASIAN CEMENT ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXPANSION PLANS

Central Asian Cement, a subsidiary of Asia Pacific Investment Partners, is pleased to announce that it has recently signed a contract with Chaoyang Heavy Machinery Company, a China based mining and cement facility construction company. The Company is being engaged to renovate CAC’s cement production facility. This marks the first phase of a significant expansion plan which will increase production capacity from 80,000 tons pa to a targeted 400,000 tons pa by mid-Summer 2012.
CAC currently has the third largest cement production facility in Mongolia, based on annual capacity, and the only one to have all of its operations in Ulaanbaatar. APIP expects CAC to have the largest production capacity in the country by the summer of 2012 and, based on current cement prices, this will contribute $60 million pa to the Group’s revenue. Total production in 2012 is expected to be 250,000 tons pa.

Phase two of the expansion plan is the construction of a parallel factory adjacent to the current operations; the tender process for this piece of work has recently been opened. The final stage will see the assembly of two clinker production facilities which will be located at CAC’s limestone deposits to the north and south of Ulaanbaatar. The clinker factory is predicted to be completed by summer 2014 and this will provide a total production capacity of 1,000,000 tons pa.

Lee Cashell, CEO of APIP, commented:

“The orders have been placed for the renovation of the main plant and we expect these improvements to dramatically increase our capacity within 12 months. CAC plans to make continuous efforts to increase productivity and hold down or reduce costs per ton, conserve energy and improve quality.

“We want to be the number one cement provider in Mongolia in the next eighteen months. The impetus from the government to improve infrastructure, combined with the major real estate construction projects opens up huge opportunities for us.

“This is an exceptionally exciting time for Mongolia and we are pleased to be able to play a pivotal role in improving the living standards of Ulaanbaatar’s citizens. These infrastructure projects are integral to the continued development of the country.”