Quarry Products

Cemex has extended its sand and gravel businesses in France and Germany with the buyout of two quarries. The company has acquired a sand and gravel quarry located near Willich, 10km from Dusseldorf which extracts sand and gravel deposits from the River Rhine. The quarry extracts material from below the water table using a pontoon excavator and conveyor network.

Lafarge has strengthened its ready mixed concrete business in France with the opening of a new plant in Breteuil-sur-Iton. The new facility has capacity to produce up to 40,000m3 of concrete each year, including specialist mixes. The new plant replaces an older unit at Conches-sur-Ouche.

Following Heidelberg's record breaking acquisition of Hanson last year, the company has set up a new Competence Centre for Materials. Claire Symes interviews the man charged with leading the business in Europe, Gerhard Mühlbeyer. The €11.7billion price tag paid by Heidelberg Cement for Hanson last year may seem high but according to Heidelberg the good fit means that it is having a very positive effect on its business. In the latest results for the first nine months of 2008, Hanson's business bolstered Heid

Holcim has reported rising sales volumes across cement, aggregates and ready mixed concrete with sales up 2.5% from 2009 levels to record a total of CHF22billion in 2010. The largest gains were in aggregates with a 10.1% increase in volumes and ready mixed concrete with a 9.8% increase. A release from the company said, “Despite the challenging environment in many markets, Holcim increased its sales volumes. This volume growth is broad-based, with group companies in all five group regions contributing to the

Combined efforts by UK trade associations and companies working in the concrete sector to become seen as a leader in sustainable construction by 2012 have been recognised with a national award. The Sustainable Concrete Strategy was singled out as the winner of the 2010 Trade Association Forum (TAF) Best Practice Awards for Environmental Initiative.

Ten years after the initial investigation, Skanska, NCC and the Swedish Transport Administration reach an agreement regarding asphalt cartel activities in eight municipalities. The municipalities of Tranås, Kristianstad, Värnamo, Bromölla, Götene, Ulricehamn, Vaggeryd, and Klippan will receive €2.2million in an out of court settlement on the understanding that their lawsuits against the companies will be dropped.

Cemex has announced that it is to sell assets in Kentucky, US to Bluegrass Materials Company for US$90million. Under the agreement, Cemex will sell seven aggregates quarries, three resale aggregate distribution centres, and one concrete block manufacturing facility, which it describes as non-core assets. The operations were acquired by Cemex as part of its buyout of Rinker in 2007 and transfer of these to Bluegrass is expected to take place int eh third quarter of this year. Proceeds from the sale will be i