News

A loan agreement worth around PLN 1.93 billion (EUR 461.36 million/US$515.27 million) has been signed by the major Polish bitumen producer Lotos Asfalt, to complete the finance for the company’s EFRA project to construct a delayed coking plant in Gdansk.

A consortium of institutions are to supply the finance. These are: BGZ, Bank Pekao, Bank Zachodni WBK, PKO Bank Polski, Societe Generale, Bank Millennium, Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen and Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen na Zycie.

The repayment date is

HeidelbergCement, the German cement and concrete manufacturer, has announced that its Romanian subsidiaries, Carpatcement Holding, Carpat Beton and Carpat Agregate, will be merged and consolidated under the name HeidelbergCement Romania.

French quarrying company Carrières Ballastières de Picardie (Holcim) is to extract gravel at a privately-owned 35hectare site in Condren, France.

The company will mine the site for an estimated 10-12 years, and will use waterways to transport its production to clients.

It previously sought to carry out the extraction at a site owned by the municipality, but it was refused permission.

Antoine Duclaux is the new chief executive of Lafarge Central Europe and heads up the future country cluster of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Until recently, he was senior vice-president strategy at Lafarge’s headquarters following earlier appointments as managing director at Lafarge Emirates Cement, Dubai, and Lafarge Cementos, Honduras.
He has been part of the Lafarge team since 2002, when he started as vice-president of corporate audit.

JCB is celebrating an order worth more than £7 million (nearly €10 million) for a fleet of more than 500 micro and mini excavators from Travis Perkins, one of the UK’s major suppliers to the building industry.

The JCB machines, all made at the JCB Compact Products factory in Cheadle, County Staffordshire, England, are, supplied by JCB dealer Watling JCB, and will be delivered throughout 2015.

They are now being pressed into service by a variety of customers across the UK, where Travis Perkins has ove

According to a statement, the Angola-based Kwanza Sul Cement Factory is planning to raise its output capacity from 4,200tonnes/day to 4,500tonnes/day either in short or medium term.

The company has been in operation since February 2014, and it is producing cement under the Yetu brand from its facility built on a site of 14,000 hectares, the statement further added.

Egypt-based Amreyah Cement has awarded a turnkey contract to Christian Pfeiffer Maschinenfabrik.

Under the deal, the company will be required to deliver and build two identical horizontal ball mills with an effective grinding length of 6.75m and a diameter of 3.4m and a 3m-long integrated drying chamber.

Work on the construction is due to start soon and is scheduled for completion within a year.

In order to rebuild the devastated north-eastern region of Nigeria, Lafarge Africa has committed to accelerate the ongoing NGN 100 billion (US$502.77 million/€458.1 million) expansion of cement manufacturing company AshakaCem's new and existing plants and coal-fired captive power plant.

AshakaCem's production capacity will increase from 1 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, Lafarge Africa is also interested in collaborating with a Presidential Initiative for the North-East (PINE) for redeve

The Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPCC) recently hosted a health and safety seminar for cement block makers from Dar es Salaam.
A total of 250 attendees participated in the seminar where they were exposed to knowledge on health and safety as well as quality and boosting efficiency at the work place.
TPCC noted that it will hold more such training seminars in the future to foster awareness on the importance of quality and safety at the workplace among personnel in the cement sector of Tanzania.

Topcon Positioning Group announces the appointment of Adam Olivier as regional sales manager for South Africa. In his new role, Olivier will be responsible managing and maintaining the distribution for the geopositioning portfolio, as well as developing new opportunities in the region.

"It gives me great pleasure to welcome Adam to the Topcon family," said Francois Erceau, vice president the GeoPositioning Solutions Group in Europe. "His experience within the industry, and local knowledge will add a ne

CRH, the globally renowned construction materials producer, is reportedly looking to spend nearly US$900 million to purchase the second largest aggregate producer in South Korea, Tongyang Cement and Energy. The company is working with Goldman Sachs to make the bid, according to The Irish Examiner.

CRH chief executive Albert Manifold said in May 2015 that the company has the strongest acquisition pipeline it’s had for a long time. And the company is taking advantage of it with a separate potential deal i

Superior Industries, a major U.S. manufacturer and global supplier of bulk material handling systems and their related components, has appointed management company Vega-Pro as its new, exclusive conveying and washing dealer for the Russian Federation. The appointment will see Vega-Pro will market, sell and service Superior’s full line of bulk material conveying and washing equipment.

“After our seven year existing partnership, we determined it was the right time to officially make Vega-Pro a contracted S

Egyptian company Arabian Cement has commissioned the latest addition to its alternative fuel processing machinery at its Hot Disc plant located in the Suez governorate.

The equipment is said to allow Arabian Cement’s plant to rely completely on coal and alternative fuel to run its operations. It also enables the plant to operate its kilns using alternative fuel materials directly without the need to pre-treat them, it added.

“Use of alternative fuel is expected to result in reducing emissions by appro

Ash Grove Cement Company says its Louisville, Nebraska, USA plant manager has signed an agreement extending the use of an on-site building to Nebraska Wildlife Rehab Inc. (NWRI). The agreement gives the rescue centre space at US$10 per year for the diverse wildlife they receive. Ash Grove first made the building available to the organisation in 2010.

“We are happy to provide a home to the centre’s staff and volunteers, and the orphaned and injured wildlife they care for,” said Louisville pla