News

The first step towards the development of a new cross-industry approach on the control of mineral dust in quarries and other workplaces has been taken this week, says the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

Experts from across UK industry have agreed to work collaboratively with IOSH to develop a new way of sharing good practice around tackling respirable crystalline silica (RCS) exposure across industry.

It follows a roundtable discussion at The Shard, in London, on Monday 14 March

Caterpillar Work Tools, a leading global manufacturer of excavator and wheeled loader attachments, has opened its new Work Tools distribution centre in Den Bosch, The Netherlands.

The distribution centre will provide shorter shipping times as well as increased product availability to Work Tools customers and Cat® dealers in EAME and CIS.

The 9,000m² facility, which houses both hydraulic (grapples, hammers, pulverisers, shears), and fabricated work tools (buckets, brackets), consolidates distribution

HeidelbergCement is expecting growth in sales of cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete in 2016 after increasing its revenues last year, while also significantly reducing company net debt.

Revenues rose by 7% to €13.5 billion, while operating income was up by 16% to €1.8 billion. Net debt was greatly reduced in 2015 to €5.3 billion.

The German building materials giant said its sales growth forecast for 2016 is a reflection of its positive outlook for the global economy; despite increasing geopoli

LafargeHolcim, the world’s biggest cement maker, expects growth of 2-4% in its building materials markets in 2016, after reporting a Q4 2015 dip in sales.

The sector giant expects China and Brazil to remain tough places to do business in an overall improving environment for emerging markets, where LafargeHolcim is counting on cost cuts and efficiency gains to shore up profit.

Terex Materials Processing has opened its new €6.46 million (US$7.2 million) global parts facility in Dungannon, Northern Ireland.

The state-of-the-art site consists of a main office block of 957m², where a dedicated and knowledge team of parts experts are on hand to answer all parts technical and sales enquiries.

The facility has extensive warehouse capacity of 5,462m², with the addition of an external canopy of 650m² providing additional overhead storage for larger product types.

Three dock le

Ash Grove Cement Seattle has earned the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) coveted Energy Star certification.

The Energy Start recognition is for the plant’s 2015 performance in being among the top 25% of cement manufacturing facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meeting the strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.

"Ash Grove Cement Seattle is pleased to earn EPA’s Energy Star certification in recognition of our energy efficiency efforts,” said plant manager Ca

Société des ciments de Ain el Kebira cement company has received approval to be listed on the stock exchange. In all, 11 million shares will be available in the Algerian company - with 1% going to workers. The shares will be awarded according to previously disclosed segmentations. This listing will enable the firm to raise some DZD 18 billion (US$165.06 million). As a result, it will pay back a significant part of an FNI loan.

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed Sudan-based Atbara Cement Company from its specially designated national (SDN) list of sanctions targets in the 9 March 2016 update bulletin. Sudan has been under US sanctions since 1997, with factories being restricted in imports and exports, particularly in terms of spare parts and technologies.

Greek firm Titan Cement posted a 20.7% year-on-year rise in its 2015 revenues, a 19.2% increase in its EBITDA to €216.4 million, and a 9.1% growth in its net profits to €33.8 million. In last year's Q3, the group's revenues went up by 25.8% to €368.3 million, and its EBITDA by 46.7% to €51.2 million. Titan Cement also posted a net loss of €2.4 million, from €0.4 million profits in the same period of 2014.

In Algeria, production is back underway at the Sour El-Ghouzlane cement plant after repairs and the installation of new electro-filters to protect the environment. The plant was shut down for nearly two months, causing an acute shortage of cement in the region. Several construction projects were blocked and prices rose.

A group of leading cement makers has won a battle with the European Commission over excessive data requested by the Commission for a cartel investigation.

As part of the near-five-year-probe closed in mid-2015 due to insufficient evidence, the Commission had visited the companies and later asked them to complete a questionnaire, while suspecting them of possibly restricting imports into the EU, and divvying up markets and coordinating prices.

In 2014, companies including Lafarge, Holcim, Cemex, Heide

Cemex Holdings Philippines, the Mexican building materials giant’s Philippines subsidiary, has applied through a registration statement to the Philippines authorities to sell a minority stake in its assets in the Southeast Asian country.

The document outlining details of the planned sale has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (Philippine SEC). Cemex Holdings Philippines assets are mainly focused on cement manufacturing.

The filing of the registration statement is