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Granite was the most produced solid mineral in Nigeria last year with around 17.5 million tonnes, 38.12% of the total tonnage of solid minerals produced in the country during 2017.

In total Nigeria produced more than 45 million tonnes of solid minerals in 2017, according to mining and quarrying data from Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics.

Limestone was the second most produced solid mineral with nearly 14 million tonnes (30.5% of annual solid minerals tonnage), followed by laterite (3.7 million

The Western European construction equipment market is tipped to grow 3% this year taking demand to over 165,000 units – the highest annual level in the decade since the global economic crisis.

The 2018 forecast by Off-Highway Research (OHR) follows the far more impressive 26% rise in construction equipment demand in 2017. OHR predicts a moderate 1% decline in demand for 2019, but this “should be seen as the market stabilising at a historically high level.”

OHR notes that in 2017 the construction equip

Machine attachments have been voted the top attractions to see at next year's Plantworx construction equipment exhibition in Peterborough, UK.

Plantworx 2019 will be staged by the Construction Equipment Association (CEA) at the show's new home of the East of England Arena on 11-13 June next year.

A poll of prospective attendees conducted on the Plantworx Twitter page put machine attachments top of the list. New technology came second with 28% of voters wanting to see virtual reality training, 25% opti

LafargeHolcim has acquired Metro Mix, a leading provider of ready-mixed concrete in the Denver metropolitan area in Colorado, USA. With Metro Mix, LafargeHolcim further strengthens its position in the United States, where it is already present with operations in cement, ready-mixed concrete, aggregates and asphalt. Jan Jenisch, CEO of LafargeHolcim, said: “This is our fourth acquisition this year in line with our Strategy 2022 – ‘Building for Growth’. Metro Mix’ operations are highly complementary to our

Vulcan Materials, America’s largest producer of construction aggregates, saw its second quarter 2018 net earnings rise to US$160 million, compared to $112 million over the same period of last year. The company’s adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $1.23 per diluted share versus $0.90 per share in the prior year's second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased 13% to $325 million. Further published Vulcan Materials’ figures reveal the firm posted 11% growth in gross profit - led by a 13%

Cement and building materials producer TITAN Group posted an increased net profit of 78.3% the first half of 2018. Turnover and EBITDA declined in H1, but net profit increased to €24.8million from €13.9mn. TITAN says the net profit increase is mostly derived from foreign exchange (FX) gains and lower tax charges. FX gains amounted to €4.5mn in H1 this year compared to FX losses of €17.1mn in H1 2017. TITAN Group had a lower tax charge of €9.6mn in the first half of this year compared to €16.5mn in H1 2017

Demand in the UK construction market for mineral products recovered in the second quarter of 2018 after a very poor first quarter. Activity in Q1 had been hampered by the cumulative effect of exceptionally bad weather and the collapse of construction company Carillion. Despite the rebound, the Mineral Products Association’s (MPA) quarterly sales survey shows that growth in construction work remains heavily skewed towards housing and that, outside of housebuilding, construction activity remains subdued.

Smiley Monroe, a global market manufacturer of endless conveyor belts and custom cut parts for OEMs within the crushing, screening, recycling, road construction and environmental industries, is reporting strong and growing demand for its Zip Clip replacement belts. Focused on maximising uptime, the Lisburn, Northern Ireland-headquartered firm’s mechanically-fastened Zip Clip belt is supplied ready-to-fit, without the need to wait for a splice team or specialist training. As with cold or hot vulcanising

Geopipe, a US company using Machine Learning to create copies of urban reality and generate digital models, has won the 'Best Pitch’ prize in a construction startup competition. The competition was launched in April by the venture capital unit of CEMEX and challenged startups in construction technology (Constructech) to lead innovation in the sector. Entrants competed to gain access to CEMEX Ventures’ investment portfolio. They were evaluated on criteria including the level of innovation, the escalating

United Plant, a UK engineering company providing on-site maintenance and support to customers including quarries, has revised its Health & Safety policy as part of its commitment towards a 'zero harm' working environment. The firm says the H&S policy has been updated using industry best practice to help maintain the safety and well-being of United Plant employees, meet the needs and objectives of its customers, and to protect the environment in which it works. The new policy focuses on a number of core

The materials processing division of Terex Corporation posted second quarter 2018 sales of US$319million, an increase of 14% on Q2 last year. Terex said the growth was driven by consistent execution and the increasing global demand for materials processing products generated by broad-based economic growth and construction activity. Backlog for the segment at the end of Q2 was US$393mn, up 75% versus last year. It added that the materials processing business segment was a strong contributor to overall com

HeidelbergCement has posted strong second quarter results and says it expects to see continuing growth in its northern European, Australian and north American businesses. The cement and aggregates manufacturing heavyweight says that continuing positive market dynamics enabled "robust" sales volume growth in all its business lines in Q2 2018. Group revenue rose by 4% to €4.8billion (compared with €4.6bn in Q2 2017), while profit for the period increased by 8% to €429million (previous year: €397mn).