News

A major new report by industry marketing specialist, BDS Marketing Research claims the quarrying industry has failed to replenish aggregates production for many years with consents for new reserves and that this “is now having a serious impact on the industry.”

The report estimates the volumes of reserves and reserves life at each operating and inactive pit and quarry in Great Britain, and concludes that, of the largest regions, the south-east and County Yorkshire have the lowest sand and gravel reserves

Cemex Dove Holes Quarry in County Derbyshire, England, close to the world-famous Peak District has delivered its two millionth tonne of aggregates of the year. It is Cemex’s largest quarry and provides limestone for construction projects all over the country.

Approximately 50% of the limestone is transported by rail by DB Schenker to Cemex rail heads close to major markets in Leeds, Manchester, London, Birmingham and the Home Counties.

Some 50% is premium aggregate used for production of concrete and

A six-year price war in the Danish concrete industry has finally resulted in the players cutting capacity, reports Børsen.

A possible upturn in the construction sector is said to have been unable to offset the surplus capacity in the concrete sector. Two of the six biggest players in the

Danish concrete sector, H+H International and Ambercom, a family-owned producer of concrete panels, reported losses in 2013 and the other four: CRH Concrete, Spæncom, Boligbeton, and Confac and Romodan posted a profi

HeidelbergCement has opened its €200 million Caspi cement plant in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau region. The facility is expected to produce around 1 million tonnes of cement each year. China-based CDI, part of SINOMA, is the plant’s general contractor and automatic equipment supplier. The Caspi plant is said by HeidelbergCement to be one of the first cement plants offering dry production of clinker using dry chalk stone for grinding. The plant will use raw materials from nearby deposits at Shetpe-Yuzhnoye and Aus

A new porous ‘self-healing’ asphalt made of simple materials is currently being tested in the Netherlands.

Erik Schlangen, a civil engineer and pioneer of experimental micromechanics, has pioneered the material which he and his team are testing on the A58 road near Vilssingen. It is hoped that the self-healing asphalt can be used in future roads elsewhere.

This special asphalt is made with tiny steel wool fibres, which, when heated with induction, extends the life of the material. With the introducti

Plans to sell its 50% stake in Lafarge Tarmac to Lafarge have been revealed by Anglo American. The stake will be sold for a minimum consideration of €1.12 billion in cash and the proceeds will be used by the miner to pay down debt. It will sell the stake on a debt and cash free basis.

Lafarge Tarmac was formed as an equal joint venture between Anglo American's Tarmac business and Lafarge UK. The divestment of the joint venture is set to be offered to the European Commission by Lafarge as part of its prop

Cement production in Kenya has risen 19% year-on-year from 1.9 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes in the five months to May 2014. National consumption of cement also increased by 25% from 1.6 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes over the same period, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Terex Mineral Processing Systems is to sign a UAE distribution deal with Dubai-based-dealer, Genavco.

In an interview with PMV Middle East Asif Khan, division manager of Genavco’s equipment business unit, said he expects to begin selling Terex MPS static crushers later this year.

The static range will complement the mobile quarrying and mining equipment already supplied by Genavco under the Terex-owned Powerscreen brand.

Astec Industries has named Jeff Elliott as group vice president of the Astec Aggregate Mining Group. His responsibilities will include direct oversight of Kolberg-Pioneer Inc. (KPI) in Yankton, South Dakota., Johnson Crushers International (JCI) in Eugene, Oregon, Astec Mobile Screens in Sterling, Illinois, and Telestack Ltd. in Omagh County, Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens is an American manufacturer for the aggregate, recycling and construction industries. Telestack is a mob

Mexichem, Elementia and Lafarge were today due to inaugurate the first plant of Cementos Fortaleza.
Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and Carlos Slim Helú, head of Grupo Carso, were set to take part in a special ceremony to mark the occasion.

The new works is located in Santiago de Anaya, Hidalgo, and is expected to produce 2Mta units. Cementos Fortaleza is an alliance between Elementia, which holds 53% of shares, and Lafarge, which holds the balance.

Lafarge and Holcim have today revealed a list of their proposed €5 billion valued asset sales to help ensure their planned near €30 billion merger.
In Europe, Lafarge is looking to sell its German assets; its Mannersdorf cement plant in Austria; its Romanian assets; its French assets on Reunion Island, except for its shareholding in Ciments de Bourbon; and its UK Lafarge Tarmac assets, with the possible exception of one cement plant.
Holcim’s European sell off consists of the firm’s assets in metropolitan

Volvo Construction Equipment has become the newest corporate member and first OEM to sign up to the Institute of Quarrying’s Corporate Professional Competence (CPC) scheme.

The announcement was made during the recent Hillhead 2014 quarry show in Buxton, northern England, by Colin Jenkins, president of the Institute of Quarrying. He was joined onstage by Paul Kersley, director of service & engineering at Volvo CE, who underlined how delighted both he and the company were to be working with the Institute t