Features

The multi-million euro acquisition of Terex Trucks by Volvo Construction Equipment is big news in the quarrying equipment sector, filling what was a notable gap in Volvo CE’s otherwise extensive equipment range. The company’s boss, Paul Douglas, spoke to Aggregates Business Europe about the likely impact of the major deal.

The completion of the €123.5 million Terex Trucks acquisition by Volvo Construction Equipment earlier this year was music to Paul Douglas’ ears.

Based at Terex Trucks key articulat

France is big and wealthy and has a correspondingly sizeable aggregates industry, driven by the globally renowned construction industry. Julie-Anne Ryan reports.

But while the country’s market has somewhat predictably not found itself in quite such dire straits as many smaller nations, the post-slump improvements seen less than two years ago have not continued, and many organisations are posting reduced circumstances.

Building and public works sectors weakened in the second quarter of this year. Munic

The striking Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on the northern bank of the Moskva River in Moscow, the Russian capital, is clad in it. A few blocks south-west of the Kremlin, the cathedral has an overall height of 103m and is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. It joins the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Defence, the Memorial Complex of Poklonnaya Hill, over 100 subway stations in Moscow and St Petersburg, and hundreds of other buildings throughout

Cooperativa Trasporti Imola’s Linaro aggregates processing plant near Imola in northern Italy has seen notable operational gains since the installation of a Ma-estro Q-Automation plant control system in early 2013. Aggregates Business Europe Editor Guy Woodford visited the site to find out more.

Ettore Bergamaschi is very warm and welcoming to visitors to his aggregates processing plant on the outskirts of Imola in the beautiful countryside of Emilia Romagna in northern Italy.

With a MOBIREX MR 122 Z impact crusher from Kleemann, the Scottish quarry operator Grange Quarry has recently strengthened its fleet of machines.

Founded in 2000, Grange Quarry is now one of the largest manufacturers of high-quality aggregates and ready-mixed concrete in the south of Scotland and the north of England.

For Grange Quarry, the MOBIREX MR 122 Z impact crusher is not the first plant that it has acquired from Kleemann, a member of the Wirtgen Group.

A German sand-gravel quarrying operation says it has doubled, and in some cases tripled, output using innovative cutting technology.

For some time, Saarland-based Kies-Hector has been mining ‘natural concrete’ with a Rockwheel D30 cutting unit on a 36tonne Volvo EC360CL excavator.

The gravel-sand conglomerate in the middle bunter sandstone is being mined in the open-cast mine belonging to August Hector near Saarlouis-Lisdorf.

Making its debut in the marble quarry sector is a New Holland Construction B100C backhoe loader that has been specially equipped to cut marble.

A support arm and chain cutter, mounted in place of the traditional backhoe, are said to offer “a new ingenious and simple method for cutting blocks of marble that is both fast and efficient.”

The BI00C was fitted with a chain cutter (model CST 965) developed by Italian company Benetti Macchine, based in Carrara, Italy, who specialise in supplying marble-cutti

Volvo Construction Equipment is hosting a new initiative that will promote sustainability throughout the entire construction industry and provide much-needed funding for environmental research.
Launched in June, the new initiative works with partners to drive sustainability across the construction industry.
Volvo CE says this is not restricted to the manufacture and operation of construction equipment, but rather stretches the length of the construction industry’s value chain, from extraction and producti

Volvo Construction Equipment is hosting a new initiative that will promote sustainability throughout the entire construction industry and provide much-needed funding for environmental research.
Launched in June, the new initiative works with partners to drive sustainability across the construction industry.
Volvo CE says this is not restricted to the manufacture and operation of construction equipment, but rather stretches the length of the construction industry’s value chain, from extraction and producti

Simon Trahair-Davies of Stephens Scown LLP outlines the European Commission’s proposals for regulating the operations of drones in civilian applications, an emerging technology with significant possibilities in the aggregates and quarrying world. Last year at an aggregates producer conference in the UK proceedings were enlivened by the demonstration of a drone (also known as an unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV) used for aerial mapping of quarries. There was a touch of James Bond about the whole thing, and a s

A popular tourist destination for nature lovers keen to capture a glimpse of the Giant Panda in its natural habitat, Chengdu in Sichuan Province, south-west China is also the location of a construction boom, writes Guy Woodford.

It may be more famous for a certain animal species, but the Chinese city of Chengdu is now as much as a haven for senior citizens who are investing in retirement property and driving regional housing demand.

The increase in demand for housing in second-tier cities such as Chen