Features

Are the EU Nature Directives effective, efficient, consistent with other EU policies and legislation, still relevant and of added value?

These are the questions which the European Commission is tackling with the Natura 2000 Fitness Check.

In a precedent article of Aggregates Business Europe (March-April, 2015) we explained what was at stake for the aggregates industry, and how the Fitness Check would be done.

The process is now well advanced, and some conclusions may already be drawn, although no

Keeping tight control of your IP and other assets can help in tough conditions says Simon Trahair-Davies, partner at Stephens Scown LLP.

These are challenging times for many in the mining and minerals industries. With commodity prices on a long downward trend, the pressure has risen for operators.

A requirement to make the best use of all extracted material, along with tougher aggregates specifications, is seeing an increase in the use of washing equipment.

The latest technology from manufacturers also looks to minimise the impact on energy and water consumption while offering quarry operators the opportunity to produce quality sand.

In Germany, mobility was the key when Anton Klee of Bad Beisig, which overlooks the River Rhine some 35km south-east of Bonn, was looking for a washing plant.

Service packages for equipment from aggregates industry suppliers are now a big part of their business and although they come at a cost, they can provide long-term savings.

For example, Metso says: “Your profitability and cash flow depend on smooth-running production with minimal downtime and predictable costs. When equipment fails unexpectedly, production time is lost and there is the added unexpected cost of spare parts and repair work.

Cartoon figures Norman, the loveable walking disaster, and Monty, his long suffering boss, are back on the ‘big screen’, in the latest Cemex UK health and safety video, Step In...Save a Life! For the first time in the building materials industry, the video involves cartoon characters interacting with real live colleagues.

Not everyone would be happy to come across a Dingy Footman on a dark night, but in a recent survey of moths by Butterfly Conservation at Southam Quarry, in county Warwickshire, UK, a lepidopterist was delighted to see one.

This moth and, more importantly, the Pammene Suspectana are just two of 120 species surveyed at the site, making Southam Quarry one of the most important sites in the Midlands for both moths and butterflies.

A ‘first’ for Warwickshire and the rarest moth spotted at the site so far

A new diesel-electric-driven Metso Lokotrack LT330D has been received enthusiastically by Finnish crushing contractors.

Hämeen Moreenijaloste is one of the many crushing firms across Finland that have purchased the LT330D.

The 2014-launched Lokotrack model, which uses a cone crusher and a full three-deck screen, was used as the crusher for a 40,000tonne aggregate contract project carried out by Moreenijaloste on behalf of Etelä-Suomen Kiviaineskauppa in the Pennala logistics area in Orimattila, southe

A family-run business in eastern England is reaping the efficiency and production benefits of investing in the latest washing solution technology.

Peterborough-based PJ Thory has joined forces with Aggregate Processing Solutions (APS) to introduce the latest high-performance CDE washing system to its business operations.

Comprising of a M2500 and an AggMax 83R, the system is already proving its worth, processing 1,000 tonnes/day of concrete aggregates at sizes 10mm, 20mm and 40mm, as well as concrete

Bogaevsky Karyer is a relatively new aggregates production and quarrying company with operations located not far from Oreshki village in the Ruzsky district of Moscow province, Russia.

Centred on the previously explored Redkinsky mixed sand and gravel deposit, the company’s quarry has been under development since early in 2015.

Faced with a sharp decline in the availability of mineral aggregates in Moscow province, the decision was taken to develop full-scale production of high quality crushed stone a