News

There has been a very welcome increase in the number of Twite birds at Cemex’s Dove Holes quarry in county Derbyshire, England.

Numbers are said to have swelled thanks to the flower-rich five hectare meadow planted on the edge of the quarry site, which provides the young Twites with the sorrel seeds they need.

RDS Technology’s new iSOSYNC PC software is said to enable control of the quarry loadout operation, while also offering inventory, productivity and traceability management.

The software can be used with either LOADMASTER a100 or LOADEX 100 and allows the rapid transfer of job information from a central computer to the loader or excavator, with the resultant load information sent back to the PC upon completion.

The system can be one- or two-way and is designed to operate fully automatically and without

Donald M James, non-executive chairman of US aggregates supplier giant Vulcan Materials, will retire at the end of this month. J Thomas Hill, Vulcan’s president and chief executive, will succeed James as chairman.

James T. Prokopanko, Vulcan's lead director, said: "Don has led Vulcan Materials as the largest aggregates supplier in the US for 18 years, significantly expanding its operations throughout the nation. During that time, he has guided Vulcan through periods of strong growth as well as difficult

Joule, the pioneer of liquid fuels from recycled CO2, and HeidelbergCement have formed a partnership to develop Joule’s technology to reduce carbon emissions in cement manufacturing.

The partnership could result in the co-location of Joule’s Helioculture Technology at one or more HeidelbergCement sites around the world.

"We've been focused on lowering carbon emissions for more than two decades, and we are excited to take further steps to lower our CO2 emissions by working with a dedicated organizatio

Recent steel plant closures are having a major impact on the UK’s lime industry, according to the Mineral Products Association (MPA).

The recent announcement of the decision to mothball the Lhoist Thrislington, County Durham, England, dolomitic lime production plant with 40 job losses is a direct result of weakening UK steel manufacturing, says the MPA, the UK’s trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, dimension stone, lime, mortar and silica sand industries.

“The recent steel

Cement industry leaders have revealed a plan to reduce their emissions by 20%-25% by 2030.

The Cement Action Plan launched at COP21 in Paris, France, by cement companies signed up to the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development calls for an international CO2 policy framework and the removal of existing barriers in order to unlock the sector’s full reduction potential. The Plan is part of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Low C

Vicat’s Montalieu (Isère) cement plant in France will process 530 tonnes of used tyres by the end of December 2015, by transforming them into usable material or burning them and producing electricity. The project is part of Vicat’s 2020 sustainable development strategy, which should see 65% of its energy produced from waste from regions where it is present.

Local SME, Arc-en-ciel Recyclage will be responsible for the collection of the tyres, which will then be handed over to Valerco (50% subsidiary of V

Two private equity firms and a strategic partner are reportedly submitting bids for cement operations under Jaiprakash Associates, the flagship company of India's Jaypee Group, for an enterprise valuation approaching INR 195 billion (US$2.93 billion).

A source told Business Standard, India's leading business site for Live Markets, that the sale would be completed by March 2015. Jaiprakash is said to be seeking to pare down its INR 612.85 billion ($9.16 billion) debt - as of 2014/15 - and has already sol

Turkey's marble exports generated €2.02 billion revenue in 2014, reports Dünya Gazetesi. The figure is up 230% on the €8.83 marble export revenues in 1984. Of the2014 total, €920,580 came from block marble exports. Turkey is said to contain 40% of the global marble reserves.

Komatsu, the world’s second-biggest maker after Caterpillar of mining and construction equipment, says it faces another tough year ahead, reports Bloomberg.

Coming just a week after Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman tipped another difficult trading year for the US giant in a filmed interview with Fortune magazine, the Komatsu forecast is a further sign of poor prospects for global aggregates and mining markets, as falling commodity prices cool customers’ investment plans.

“Demand will probably be lower

Cemex has published a new book titled Earth’s Legacy: Natural World Heritage. The new book is the latest in a more than two-decade tradition of Cemex’s Conservation Book Series. Packed with stunning photographic images, this latest read from the Mexican building materials’ giant looks to enhance readers’ comprehension and concern for the conservation of planet Earth’s culturally arresting and naturally diverse World Heritage sites. This year’s Cemex book volume is presented in collaboration with the United

Pakistan’s cement sector posted an overall growth of 5.46% during July-November 2015, according to national media reports. Local sales are also reported to have risen by 15.64% on-year, while cement exports dropped 26.58% from 1.26 million tonnes to 0.93 million tonnes.