Quarry Products

Leipfinger-Bader of Germany has acquired the assets of brick plant Schönlind from Merkl, including real estate, production plant and clay pits.

Leipfinger-Bader announced that it will invest a relatively large sum to modernise the plant and increase output of heat-insulating bricks.

A cement grinding plant has been launched in the village of Atlan-aul in the Republic of Dagestan, North Caucasus, Russia.

The facility was built using private investment and details were not disclosed. The project will provide cement to the district and to the republic as a whole.

Reaching niche construction and memorial markets both locally and across the globe, dimension stone mining operations in north-west South Africa’s greater Rustenburg district in the Pilanesburg region have been ongoing since the 1950s.

The world’s two largest cement producers, Lafarge and Holcim, have agreed a multi-billion merger of equals in the industry's biggest ever tie-up. The merger, planned for completion in the first half of 2015 will create LafargeHolcim, “the most advanced group in the building materials industry.”

Thailand’s Siam Cement says it expects 2014 domestic cement demand growth to be lower than the 7% posted in 2013 due to slowdown of the government’s infrastructure spending. Cement demand grew only 2% since the beginning of this year compared to a 6% growth in the fourth quarter of 2013, chief executive Kan Trakulhoon told an earnings briefing.

According to the Federal Customs Service (FCS), crushed stone imports exceeded 25.567 million tonnes worth US$399.2 million (€294.77 million) in 2013, compared with less than 25 million tonnes in 2012. Ukraine was the leader in terms of supplies and accounted for 86% of imports. Norway took the second place (6%) and Belarus the third (4%). Crushed stone was also imported from Kazakhstan (2%), Sweden (1%), and Turkey.