Quarry Products

Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPC) saw a 15% growth in sales in 2014, and a 55% rise in operating profit to US$41.24 million (TZS 76.29 billion). The Tanzanian firm that goes by the brand name Twiga also reported a 47.3% jump in net profit from $20.05 million (TZS 37.64 billion) to $29.53 million (TZS 55.44 billion) on a year-on-year basis.

A new US$300 million cement producing joint venture is to be set up by Nepal-based Shiva Cement and China-based Hongshi Holdings Limited. A total 30% shareholding in the new joint venture company will be held by Shiva Cement, while the remaining 70% shareholding will be owned by Hongshi Holdings. According to Hongshi Holdings' executive vice president Xu Youyuan, 95% of the raw materials to be consumed by the new plant after its operation begins will be obtained from Nepal. The new plant will be using a new

Saudi Arabia’s cement industry is lobbying for the axing of a three-year-old export ban, wishing to supply other countries in the region as well as Ethiopia. Jihad Al-Rasheed, chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers' cement committee, is reported as saying Saudi firms are ready to ship six million tonnes to Egypt for the recent major infrastructure contracts in the North African country. Qatar's sports facility works ahead of the 2022 World Cup make it a further major potential client. Al-Rasheed is repor

Cement giants Holcim and Lafarge have agreed on revised terms to allow their €42 billion merger to go ahead. A statement released this morning by the two companies said both parties had agreed on a new exchange ratio of 9 Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares. A new chief executive officer for the combined group, to be proposed by the Lafarge board and accepted by the Holcim board, will be appointed as from the closing of the transaction, the statement continued. The appointment is expected to be communicate

A large variety of Volvo Construction Equipment models are playing a key role in the success of a Turkish marble quarry, as Guy Woodford reports.

Turkish mining company Yüce Maden is mining 170,000 tonnes of marble a year at a quarry in Sogut, a town in western Turkey, using a fleet of 34 Volvo Construction Equipment machines.
The past five years have seen an encouraging upturn in the Turkish economy, and one of the industries behind the economic revival is the marble mining sector.

Saint-Gobain Weber, the French building materials group, has opened a production plant in Samsun, Turkey. The €10.86 million (TRY 30 million) plant is based in Kavak industrial zone (Kavak OSB).

The India-based Jaypee Group is reportedly in talks with Heidelberg Cement and Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Cement, to form a joint venture which will control the majority of its cement plants as part of an ongoing exercise to reduce debt. According to India’s Economic Times (ET) newspaper, the plan envisages a separate joint venture entity which will house around 20-22 million tonnes of Jaypee's operational units spread across Uttar Pradesh, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and a new greenfield

Sifbéton, a new Moroccan company specialising in concrete products for the building and public works sector, has launched its new business. Total investment amounted to MAD 70 million (€6.63 million/US$6.95 million), which went towards two production units equipped with the most advanced technology.

Arabian Cement Company (ACC) in Egypt is installing a new renewable energy facility that will enable it to bring its capacity utilisation up to 100%. The company is currently running at about 80% of capacity, and coal makes up 70% of its energy requirements with waste and biomass adding another 10%. The conversion process is said to be scheduled for completion by mid-April 2015.