Showing the way to a brighter mining and quarrying future

Despite the current economic climate, or perhaps because of it, shows for mining and quarrying equipment are proving huge successes.

As many quarry and other operators seek to reduce debt, they are still eager to view the latest technology and in many cases to buy it.

While Europe and other parts of the world may still be looking for recovery, such events have shown that there is still a huge market for modern, new equipment.

432 Intermat in Paris in April was the best ever with over 1,300 exhibitors and over 200,000 visitors, while the 427 Hillhead quarrying and recycling event in the UK in June saw a record 459 exhibitors attract over 17,000 visitors.

And only recently in Las Vegas, USA, MINExpo attracted the big names in mining and quarrying equipment. 395 Caterpillar, like many other companies, invested heavily in the event, taking its largest stand ever (the biggest at the show) and unveiling many new models including a number following the integration process with Bucyrus.

Revellers must have looked in amazement at the sight of a shrink-wrapped EMD locomotive (a subsidiary of Progress Rail Services, a Caterpillar company) being towed down Las Vegas Boulevard overnight to the exhibition site.

All this must auger well for 386 Bauma 2013 in Munich, Germany, in April where the show already has a waiting list, and where once again exhibitors, many from the quarrying industry, will be showing the latest technology incorporated in new products.
So the bidding for assets being sold by 725 Lafarge and 868 Tarmac as a precondition for their proposed UK construction materials joint venture is now underway.

One company mentioned early on, 894 Breedon Aggregates, which conducted a thorough review of the assets available in the disposal and which submitted conditional offers for a number of the assets, is now pulling out having seen the offers rejected.

While it says it “remains in discussion regarding the possible acquisition of certain of the other assets and will make a further announcement on this in due course,”

another contender has come forward in the shape of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, reputedly Britain’s richest man with a worth of some £12.7 billion.

He does not have to contend with other major players in the UK building materials sector, 1343 Hanson (HeidelbergCement), 1707 Aggregate Industries and 643 Cemex, who are not allowed to take part in the auction process on competition grounds. If Mittal’s reported bid is successful, he would become one of the UK’s biggest construction materials tycoons.

The portfolio could include a cement plant in Hope, County Derbyshire, UK, the nearby Dowlow quarry and three linked rail depots; a network of ready-mix plants representing over half of the proposed jv’s ready-mix capacity; six aggregate quarries plus Tarmac’s share of two quarries owned through its Midlands Quarry Products (MQP) joint venture with Hanson and one rail depot, along with two asphalt plants as well as Tarmac’s share of five plants owned through MQP.

While some think his involvement in the auction could run into difficulties because Bruno Lafont, chairman and chief executive of Lafarge, is also a board member of 3646 ArcelorMittal, it is understood Mittal is bidding through one of his private ventures rather than through ArcelorMittal.