Quarry Products

LafargeHolcim, the world’s largest cement company formed by the combination of French firm Lafarge and Swiss peer Holcim, has announced that its sales declined in Q3 2015, as well as the first nine months of this year.

In January-September 2015, the concrete products output decreased by 16.4% to 16.90 million m³, compared with the similar period of 2014. The most of the products were produced by the Moscow and Moscow region-based plants: 1.13 million m³ and 1.08 million m³, respectively. The Dagestan Republic (North Caucasus) was the leader in the growth rates (+50,000m³).

Saudi Arabia's cement consumption in January-October 2015 grew 8% to 50.2 million tonnes, according to a report by Aljazira Capital.

Cement dispatches in October 2015 totalled 5.13 million tonnes, for a growth of 18.2% sequentially and 26.2% year-on-year.

Further modest growth is expected in the short term as the construction market picks up after a labour shortage in 2014 and with new housing projects and continued government spending on infrastructure.

However, profit margins will be squeezed d

As part of the merger of Lafarge and Holcim, Holcim France, of which the cement plant in Lumbres was a part, was divided into Eqiom, now owned by Irish group CRH, and Holcim Haut-Rhin, which remains part of Lafarge.

CRH will retain the existing logo but adopt the brand Eqiom for the Lumbres plant.

There are as yet no plans for change at the Lumbres plant, which employs 125 staff.

Norwegian government-owned carbon capture and storage company Gassnova, and Norwegian manufacturer of cement Norcem, have entered into an agreement concerning a study about carbon capture that will be undertaken at Norcem's facility in Brevik.

The study will use technology developed by Norwegian oil company Aker Solutions. Gassnova will finance the study.

The study will investigate how a carbon capture facility can be integrated with Norcem's existing factory and how carbon dioxide can be handled and

In the third quarter 2015, Moroccan cement company Ciments du Maroc (CIMAR), which is owned by Italcementi Group, reported a 1.8% increase in turnover to MAD 823mn (€76.5 million/US$82.38 million), compared with the same period a year earlier.

This performance can be attributed to a 39.4% increase in sales of ready-to-use concrete and a 21.1% increase in aggregates. Cement prices were also up.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Crimea has called for bids for the right to explore and mine minerals.

The auction will be held in Simferopol on 25 December 2015. The closing date for bids is 4 December 2015.

In Russia between January-September 2015, the volume of crushed stone supplies by railway exceeded 97.34 million tonnes (-21.8% in Q1-Q3 2014; -28.3% in Q1-Q3 2013).

The upward trend in consumption of crushed stone delivered by railway was registered only in far east of the country at 5% to 2.8 million tonnes. All other regions reduced the consumption. the Central Federal DIstrict by 29% to 27.8 million tonnes; the North-Western by 28% to 7.58 million tonnes; Urals by 21% to 11.9 million tonnes; Volga b

From 1 December 2015, the current general manager of Holcim Romania, Francois Petry, will become the CEO of Aggregates Industries, LafargeHolcim's British division.

Petry worked for the cement manufacturer since 2014 and has previously managed the company's division in France.

Holcim Romania owns two factories, has up to 800 members of staff, while in 2014 it reported sales of around €217 million and a profit of €16 million.