News

A leading UK independent concrete supplier has extended its range of high performance mixes to complement its existing array of quality-assured ready-mixed concretes.

Hope Construction Materials’ performance mixes – including HOPEFast, HOPEFoam, HOPETough, HOPEEco, HOPESeal and HOPEFibre – are said to have been designed by the firm’s technical team to meet specific construction needs, from high early strength and extra durability to waterproof and lower carbon mixes.

The range’s official launch follow

Ghana’s government is expanding the terminal at Tema Harbour in the south-east of the West African country to enable the port to receive bulk clinker for cement producing companies.

The US$122m project, due for completion in Q4 2015, is expected to create room for raw materials needed by Ghacem for cement production.

The project will allow the port to take four additional cargo vessels at a time and is expected to create enough space for cargo ships carrying clinker to berth at the port for easy disch

The greater flexibility now offered in how UK construction workers complete health and safety training can help boost the industry’s post-recession recovery, a leading health and safety body has claimed.

This new flexibility is the result of talks involving the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the world’s biggest professional health and safety organisation with 44,000 members in 120 countries, and Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS).

It has led to the IOSH’s one-day

Dangote Group chairman and CEO Aliko Dangote said further deals with the Investment Corp. of Dubai may run into billions of dollars after the Emirati holding company invested US$300 million in his Nigeria-headquartered cement business last month.

“We have also agreed to invest in other other ventures in oil and agriculture,” Africa’s richest man said in an interview reported on by Bloomberg business news agency at a conference in Dubai. “They already have a seat on our board. This could run into billions

CONEXPO Latin America 2015 attendees can take advantage of comprehensive industry-focused education while at the exhibition, with a wide variety of CONEXPO-quality training sessions, seminars, professional conferences, and educational workshops.

International and regional industry experts at the October 21-24, 2015 event in Santiago, Chile will share their experience and insights on the latest trends and technologies to help attendees improve their businesses.

Show organiser the Association of Equipm

Cement making giants Holcim and Lafarge are stepping up plans to shed assets in order to win clearance from competition regulators for their planned mega-merger, including possibly spinning them off into a new company.

Swiss firm Holcim says that the two companies are seconding one senior manager each to a committee responsible for divesting assets that would look at options including setting up a new business as well as outright sales.

Analysts have mostly assumed until now that the two companies wou

Sebastian Behr from Germany has taken the 2014 Caterpillar Operator Challenge title after completing a series of timed challenges that measure productivity, efficiency and safety. Sebastian Behr is a second time winner as he first took the title in 2008 when the competition was last held.

After competing in a series of national competitions, the 27 highly skilled finalists representing 11 nations (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United

The board of directors of Sagar Cements gave an in-principal approval to the company to proceed with the acquisition of BMM Cement.

According to a statement, BMM Cement owns a cement plant of 1 million tonnes/year in Anantapur district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, with a captive power unit of 325MW.

Sagar Cements is seeking to acquire a 100% interest in BMM Cement for INR 5.4 billion (€68.87 million/US$88.50 million).

Bank loans worth between IDR 600 billion (€39.29 million/US$50.20 million) and IDR 840 billion are being sought by Indonesia-based cement manufacturer Semen Indonesia for financing the set-up of a new cement plant in Papua's Jayapura.

The company will likely secure the loans in 2015, while the plant will commence construction in 2015. The plant is worth IDR 1.2 trillion and it will be Papua's first cement plant. The plant will be able to manufacture between 600,000tonnes and 1 million tonnes of cement.

The Bank of Moscow has given a seven-year loan of RUB 1 billion (€20.16 million/US$25.91 million) to Tsentr-Izvestnyak company (Tula region, Central Federal District; a part of Terex Group).

The funds will be spent on construction of a lime production enterprise with a yearly capacity of 200,000tonnes.

The investments are estimated at about RUB 2 billion. Phase one will be put into operation by late 2015 and phase two at the end of 2016.

In all, Terex intends to invest over RUB 3 billion in constru

Spanish stone, quartz and marble supplier Grupo Cosentino has opened a subsidiary and three distribution centres in Turkey, after a total investment of €2.50 million (US$3.19 million).

The centres in Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul, have a total surface area of 3,150m² and have a total storage capacity of 10,000 boards.

The Istanbul centre alone has a surface area of 2,000 m². In Turkey, Cosentino aims at selling €2 million worth of products in 2014, and €3.5 million in 2015.

Turkey's Dempo Group is planning to build two plants in Macedonia to produce packaging and marble and stone mosaics in investments worth US$3 million (€2.33 million) and $2.5 million- $3 million respectively.

The location of the plants has not yet been decided, but they are expected to employ 300 people in total when they are launched.

The French arm of Mexican cement producer Cemex is awaiting prefectoral authorisation to launch works on a future sand quarry at Bois Rabot.

Whether or not the prefecture approves the project depends on an opinion from the Departmental Commission for Nature Protection.

According to the regional director for Cemex, Catherine Bonin, the launch could take place in a few months.

At the inauguration of the 49th Marmomacc in Verona, Italy (24 September), the XXV World Stone Report by Carlo Montani, in collaboration with publisher Aldus and the patronage of the Tuscany Region, was previewed. The event runs until 27 September.

The report reveals that the trade in natural stone in 2013 was in excess of US$22 billion (€17.3 billion) with quarried and processed material volumes totalling 265 million tonnes, an increase of 5% over the previous year.

China, India, Turkey and Italy are