Within 18 months, Cimpor will start a pozzolan exploration in a Cape Verdean island, with an investment of 3 million euros, and generate about 100 jobs.
Portuguese cement company Cimpor will start pozzolan exploration on the Cape Verdean island of Santo Antão within 18 months, at an investment of 341 million escudos (3 million euros), according to an agreement signed Wednesday.
The deadline is set out in the concession contract draft for pozzolan exploration between the State of Cape Verde and Cimpor that was signed in the city of Porto Novo, defining that over the next 30 years the Portuguese company will be able to explore the existing pozzolan deposits in the area of the Fundão cemetery for production of pozzolanic cement.
The project will involve an investment of 341 million escudos (3 million euros) and expects to generate about 100 direct jobs. The operation will cover an area of 108 hectares for the production of about half a million cement, but with potential for about 790 hectares, and about 4.7 million tons of production.
For the Cape Verdean Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Olavo Correia, who accompanied the signing by videoconference from the city of Praia, this is an “important step” for the promotion of economic dynamics of the northernmost island of Cape Verde. “Specifically, this concession will allow for the creation of conditions for cement production in Santo Antão with pozzolanas to serve the Cape Verdean market and perhaps the international market,” the minister projected, understanding that the plant will have a “very large impact” in terms of externalities for the entire construction sector.