News

French company Kerneos, based in Dunkerque, is celebrating 40 years of existence.

It specialises in high alumina cement, which was patented in 1908, and is said to be a world leader in the field.

France accounts for just 10% of the market, while the largest client is Germany.

The high-end cement is notably used in luxury boutiques, as well as in the hangars of Airbus and car assembly lines.

The company has launched a new high alumina cement called Ternal RG-S, dubbed an anti-wrinkle cement.

Cement manufacturer Cimentos da Beira, based in Mozambique, has announced plans to start exporting part of its production to neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe and Malawi, in addition to supplying the local market.

The company is expected to launch operations at its new factory in October 2015, following the testing of the sub-stations that will supply it with electricity.

The factory, located in Sofala, will have an annual production capacity of 800,000tonnes, and is noted as having 40,000to

Dutch construction company H4A is testing a new type of tarmac which uses lignin to bind the sand and gravel together.

It is said that nothing unusual has been noticed about the bio-tarmac in four months but the tarmac is yet to be tested in the autumn and winter months.

Lignin replaces bitumen, which makes up some 4%-5% of tarmac, and of which between 400,000-500,000tonnes are used each year.

Lignin is harder and is not affected by rain and UV. It also needs to be heated to a lower temperature tha

The takeover of Cemex USA's Gypsum Supply Division has been successfully completed by US LBM Holdings, as per the announcement on 9 October 2015. Rosen Materials, the arm it is now part of, will be able to widen its capacity to serve homebuilders and contractors in its region.

French building materials supplier Vicat has reorganised its performance concrete products into four distinct ranges, which vary according to use and where destined.

The BVperf range covers the most commonly used concretes made from local raw materials, so as to reduce the environmental impact.

The Defiperf range is a high performance concrete used in roads, civil engineering structures and buildings.

Cemex has introduced its inclusive social and business programme portfolio in the Dominican Republic in order to improve access to housing, employment, construction and assisted self-construction activities, among other initiatives.

Global inclusive business manager Dulce Alejandre Mora has informed that the business developed the social responsibility programme due to the fact that there are 70 million people in Latin America who live in deplorable conditions and 11% have no titles to the land on which

Net profit of Qassim Cement increased 4% to SAR 445 million (€104.47 million/US$118.66 million) in the first nine months of 2015 from SAR 429 million in the same period of 2014.

The cement producer also recorded a 6% rise in profit to SAR 115 million in the third-quarter of 2015 against SAR 109 million in the same quarter of the previous year.

Dangote Cement of Nigeria has commissioned its new cement plant in Mtwara in Tanzania. The 3 million tonnes/year plant is the biggest plant in the central and eastern Africa, according to Dr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania.

The Rudny Cement Plant of the Kostanay region, Kazakhstan, has postponed its launch until 2016.

The project costs KZT 14.8 billion(€47.45 million/US$53.9 million), and KZT 9.7 billion has already been spent.

Metso and Boliden have signed an extension of their service contract for Boliden's Aitik copper mine in Gällivare, northern Sweden. The 3+2-year extension covers the supply of mill lining solutions and the preventive maintenance of the grinding circuit. The value of the order will not be disclosed. The contract is a performance-based cost-per-tonne agreement in which Metso gets paid according to the output of the customer's process.

Earthmoving attachments solutions provider, Miller UK, has been recognised by Hewden for its continual product development and innovative design solutions.

Miller picked up the Supplier Innovation Award at Hewden’s second annual charity golf day at Mottram Hall in County Cheshire, England, after developing a number of impressive solutions for its hydraulic breaker for the leading rental solution provider.

These developments included an automated lubrication system and bespoke head bracket, which is

Lafarge's Egypt arm intends to invest US$16.8 million (€14.95 million) in a recycling project thereby expanding the total investment in the local Egypt cement market to US$3.20 billion (€2.85 billion) by the end of 2015.

The project is anticipated to start within six months of the receipt of the land from the government.

The company intends to expand its market share, which is presently calculated at 14%.

Ron Wirahadiraksa, 55, has been appointed LafargeHolcim’s new chief financial officer and a member of the executive committee. He will succeed group CFO Thomas Aebischer who is pursuing new opportunities outside the group.

Ron Wirahadiraksa, born in the Netherlands, is currently executive vice president and CFO of Philips, a group he joined in 1987.