News

Liebherr showcased a variety of its new machines for the quarrying sector to more than 1,000 international customers at the firm’s recent Quarry Days event in Saint-Nabor, France.

Customers got the chance to put event featured models to the test, and also visit Liebherr’s production sites for crawler excavators in Colmar.

Among the 20 machines on show at Liebherr Quarry Days was the German manufacturer’s new R 956 crawler excavator, the new PR 726 crawler tractor and the new Liebherr large wheeled loa

Slantsev Cement Plant Cesla in the Leningrad region of Russia, and part of the HeidelbergCement group, plans to upgrade production and continue development of its quarry.

The investments in the project will amount to some RUB 1 billion (€14.45 millionUS$15.38 million).

The plant's range of products includes five kinds of concrete.

Also in the Leningrad region a reinforced concrete products plant has been launched to produce wall slabs, intermediate concrete slabs, beam columns and piles.

The pro

Infravation, a European call for projects, has selected the Biorepavation road recycling project being developed by French company Eiffage as part of an international consortium including Ifsttar; the University of Iowa; the Western Research Institute; Nottingham Transport Engineering Centre, and the Dutch subsidiary of Arizona Chemicals.

The project aims to increase the recycling rate of roads, currently around 40%, to above 50% and even to reach 100%.

Eiffage is thus developing a plant-based asphalt

Shareholdings in France-based road and rail-focused civil engineering company Colas Group's subsidiaries Vietnamese Colas and Indonesian Colas have been acquired by Thai asphalt manufacturer Tipco Asphalt (TASCO) for THB 2.2 billion (€ 57.88 million/US$61.62 million) in its effort to become a leading asphalt provider in Asia Pacific.

Within the next five years, TASCO hopes its sales volume to increase to 6 million tonnes/year comprising of some 4 million tonnes of asphalt and 2 million tonnes of diesel

Chicago Pneumatic, whose product portfolio includes rig mounted breakers, portable compressors, light compaction equipment, generators and handheld hydraulic tools, has chosen GT Trading as its newest authorised dealer in Sweden.

LafargeHolcim, the world’s largest cement company formed by the combination of French firm Lafarge and Swiss peer Holcim, has announced that its sales declined in Q3 2015, as well as the first nine months of this year.

Sandvik Construction has staged its first ever customer day in Georgia.

Elite Motors, Sandvik Construction’s authorised agent in Georgia, hosted the landmark event, attracting more than 60 representatives from the government, universities, local and international companies.

The Elite Motors-led customer day followed on from a series of similar events held in Turkey and other parts of Georgia’s neighbouring region. Attendees at the Elite Motors event learnt more about Sandvik Construction’s products, a

CNH Industrial, home to the Case Construction Equipment brand, is to transfer production of its grader product line from Berlin, Germany to Lecce, Italy. Part of the on-going CNH Industrial Efficiency Program, the transfer concerns European manufacturing of graders, and wheeled machines for levelling ground.

In January-September 2015, the concrete products output decreased by 16.4% to 16.90 million m³, compared with the similar period of 2014. The most of the products were produced by the Moscow and Moscow region-based plants: 1.13 million m³ and 1.08 million m³, respectively. The Dagestan Republic (North Caucasus) was the leader in the growth rates (+50,000m³).

Saudi Arabia's cement consumption in January-October 2015 grew 8% to 50.2 million tonnes, according to a report by Aljazira Capital.

Cement dispatches in October 2015 totalled 5.13 million tonnes, for a growth of 18.2% sequentially and 26.2% year-on-year.

Further modest growth is expected in the short term as the construction market picks up after a labour shortage in 2014 and with new housing projects and continued government spending on infrastructure.

However, profit margins will be squeezed d

As part of the merger of Lafarge and Holcim, Holcim France, of which the cement plant in Lumbres was a part, was divided into Eqiom, now owned by Irish group CRH, and Holcim Haut-Rhin, which remains part of Lafarge.

CRH will retain the existing logo but adopt the brand Eqiom for the Lumbres plant.

There are as yet no plans for change at the Lumbres plant, which employs 125 staff.

Norwegian government-owned carbon capture and storage company Gassnova, and Norwegian manufacturer of cement Norcem, have entered into an agreement concerning a study about carbon capture that will be undertaken at Norcem's facility in Brevik.

The study will use technology developed by Norwegian oil company Aker Solutions. Gassnova will finance the study.

The study will investigate how a carbon capture facility can be integrated with Norcem's existing factory and how carbon dioxide can be handled and

In the third quarter 2015, Moroccan cement company Ciments du Maroc (CIMAR), which is owned by Italcementi Group, reported a 1.8% increase in turnover to MAD 823mn (€76.5 million/US$82.38 million), compared with the same period a year earlier.

This performance can be attributed to a 39.4% increase in sales of ready-to-use concrete and a 21.1% increase in aggregates. Cement prices were also up.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Crimea has called for bids for the right to explore and mine minerals.

The auction will be held in Simferopol on 25 December 2015. The closing date for bids is 4 December 2015.