News

A biodiversity project carried out by a team from the University of South Wales has won the UK research section of the Quarry Life Awards 2018.

The project, which looked at the value of translocating ancient woodland soils within quarried landscapes at Forest Wood quarry, Mid-Glamorgan, Wales, claimed the £4,400 first prize at an awards ceremony held at Hanson’s former sand and gravel quarry at Middleton Hall, in Tamworth, central England.

This year is the fourth biennial Quarry Life Awards – an in

The Slate Landscape of North-West Wales is the UK government's next preferred nomination for UNESCO World Heritage site status.

The area runs throughout the county of Gwynedd, and is said to have “roofed the 19th century world” as slate from its quarries and mines was exported around the globe.

The landscape was assessed for World Heritage Status by a UK panel of experts this summer and it will be formally presented to UNESCO next year.

It will then be considered by the International Council of Sit

The Crown Estate has published its fifth annual Marine Aggregates Capability & Portfolio report, providing an annual summary of current aggregate extraction activity offshore, as well as future resource from the seabed around England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The report demonstrates the important contribution the sector makes to UK infrastructure development. Resources from the seabed currently contribute to important projects around the country like the Thames Tideway Tunnel, the new South Quay

Hanson has invested £250,000 in restoring the railway siding at its plant in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester.

The UK aggregates and construction materials supplier says that this is the first-time rail freight has been run into the depot for around 10 years, and will see hundreds of lorry journeys taken off the roads each year. The first service run took place on October 15.

Working in partnership with freight operator GB Railfreight, Hanson plans to run three trains a week from its quarry i

IMER Group has signed an agreement to supply concrete manufacturing equipment to Russian construction materials supplier Eurocement. The equipment from Italy-based IMER Group will be used in the production of high quality and reinforced concrete for infrastructure and housing construction projects in Uzebekistan that start from 2019. The agreement was signed by representatives from Ahangaharacement, a member of the Eurocement group, and Nihol Impeks, a subsidiary of Imer Group in Uzbekistan. Eurocement

Sweden-based Epiroc has agreed to acquire Canadian exploration drilling tools manufacturer Fordia Group for an undisclosed sum. Fordia Group is based in Montreal and has sales in more than 70 countries. It provides exploration drilling tools such as diamond bits, down-the-hole tools, drill rods and drill casings, as well as water treatment systems and pumps, used by mining houses and drilling contractors. Epiroc says Fordia's solutions benefit industry customers by, for example, improving penetration rate

German aggregates plant operator Kieswerke Silzen Peissen (KSP) has purchased three new Doosan machines for the company’s Silzen-based operations. The machines are for carrying out gravel extraction both above and below water and comprise the Doosan DL420-5 wheeled loader, a custom-made long-reach 60 tonne DX530LC-5 excavator and the DL420CVT-5 (continuously variable transmission) wheeled loader. The two KSP plants in Silzen comprise about 70hectares of approved mining area, of which approximately

Australian landscape aggregates supply business Burdett Group says a Volvo CE L260H wheeled loader is helping to dramatically expand the company’s quarrying operations. The vehicle - which can pick up 12 tonnes in one pass - works 16-hours daily at Burdett's Lang Lang quarry in the state of Victoria, helping to produce and load landscaping supplies. Andrew Burdett, director of the Burdett Group, says that using the L260H has also reduced the number of passes required to load a truck-and-trailer combo

The Duke of Devonshire has been made an honorary Fellow of the Institute of Quarrying (FIQ) in recognition of his contribution to the minerals extractive sector. IQ president Phil Redmond presented the honorary title to the Duke at his Chatsworth home in Derbyshire, on behalf of all IQ members. The IQ says the award reflects the Duke’s overall support for the quarrying sector and his role in extraction from quarries that are worked throughout Derbyshire. In accepting his FIQ, the Duke said: “My family has

German off-highway diesel engine manufacturer DEUTZ has sold its 50 per cent stake in DEUTZ Dalian, its Chinese joint venture, to joint venture partner First Automotive Works (FAW). The parties have agreed not to disclose any commercial details, and the transaction is subject to approval by the Chinese authorities. Despite ending the long-running joint venture, DEUTZ and FAW, will continue to collaborate on a basis of a customer-supplier relationship. DEUTZ can still procure engines for off-highway

In the first half of 2018, BDS Market Research (BDS) has identified nearly 200 separate planning schemes for developments in the minerals industry in the UK. These relate to sand and gravel pits, crushed rock quarries, other minerals, aggregates bagging plants, rail depots, aggregates landing wharves and related activity.

Consents were granted for schemes relating to the extraction of around 150 million tonnes of minerals during this period. This is said by BDS, a leading industry market research compan

Wirtgen Group UK, one of Britain’s leading providers of construction equipment, has officially opened its new UK headquarters in Newark, Nottinghamshire, England.

The £12.5 million investment includes a new 5,500m² head office building to support the continued growth of the business, which now employs over 120 people. The 9-acre site also houses a new workshop, capable of providing maintenance and repairs for the company’s largest machines, and a spare parts distribution warehouse that will stock approxi

The Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE) has called on the EU to equip itself with a long-term vision and a strategy for a proper industrial policy, in order to help the continent’s construction equipment sector achieve its full potential. The influential CECE’s call was made in Rome during the organisation’s latest biennial congress for the European construction equipment industry. Hosted by the Italian construction equipment association, UNACEA, CECE Congress 2018 saw nearly 200 delegates

Strong growth in South America, China and Russia, coupled with healthy profitability, fuelled healthy sales in Volvo Construction Equipment’s third quarter of 2018.

Helping parent company The Volvo Group to its best ever third quarter results, Volvo Construction Equipment posted a net sales rise of 24% to SEK 18,598 million (€1.798bn) during the period. Operating income was also up, rising to SEK 2,587 million (€250.23mn), up from SEK 2,023 million (€195.67mn) in the corresponding period in 2017. This ag