Capital Equipment News January 2016

PURE SUGAR from BIOCOM

A fleet of predominately Cat earthmov- ing machines continue to clear the way for sugarcane farming, cou- pled with downstream energy and ethanol production, at a green field site in Angola’s Malanje province, situated about 376 km by road from the country’s capital. Destined to become Angola’s leading sug- ar producer, BIOCOM is undergoing rapid expansion as it gears up its operations to meet local demand, in the process helping to reduce the nation’s longer-term reliance on imports. Currently, the estimated annu- al sugar consumption in Angola is around 400 000 tonnes, the bulk of which is shipped into the country via the port of Luanda. BIOCOM, a private enterprise, is the first company in Angola to produce and sell sugar, ethanol fuel, and electrical energy (derived from bagasse, a sugarcane byprod- uct). The business venture is 40 % owned by Odebrecht Angola Projectos e Serviços Ltda. The two other BIOCOM shareholders are COCHAN (40 %), a company specialized

in high potential global capital investments, and Sonangol (20 %), an Angolan entity that serves the petrochemical sector. Located in the Capanda Agro-Industrial Hub in Malanje province, BICOM’s most distinctive landmark is the world famous ‘Pedras Negras (Black Rocks) of Pungo Andongo. This geo- logical anomaly, with its range of unusually shaped outcrops, forms the backdrop for BIOCOM’s extensive sugarcane fields, which extend to the horizon in all directions. BIOCOM has been awarded an 81 201 hect- are concession assigned by SODEPAC (Soci- ety for the Development of the Agro-Indus- trial Hub of Capanda). In total, the Capanda Agro-Industrial Hub covers an enormous area of around 411 000 hectares of which approximately 293 000 ha has been determined as arable land.

systems, with the programmes for debris removal, road openings and access to the cane fields mainly led by a Cat fleet, sup- plied and supported by Barloworld Equipa- mentos Angola. BIOCOM’s first earthmoving acquisitions comprised four Cat D6 dozers, which have since grown into a fleet of ten. These are used for vegetation removal, as well as soil preparation for sugarcane cultivation. Allied earthmoving units include Cat 12H and Cat 140K motor graders, D8R track- type tractors, and Cat 938H wheel loaders (used for various material handling tasks, in- cluding the stockpiling of bagasse biomass.) Operators are recruited from the local com- munity and trained by BIOCOM. Suppression, soil preparation, planting and harvesting is 100 % mechanized: BIOCOM currently has 19 machines for sugarcane harvesting on site. In addition, automated in- field seed planting machines are directed via GPS (Global Positioning System).

BIOCOM works include site clearance, road construction, dams, pipelines and irrigation

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