Quarry Products

While today's super-quarries maybe grabbing the headlines, micro-quarries can still be profitable operations. Mike Woof visited one in Germany to find out more

Close to the village of Pfatter, around 23km from the city of Regensburg, in the southern German state of Bavaria is the small Scheck sand and gravel quarry. This operation is typical of the many such quarries lying along the banks of the Danube River. These quarries range from the very small, to mid-sized operations and the area is well known for

Cemex UK's Barrington quarry and cement plant is a record breaker when it comes to safety. Claire Symes reports. Achieving zero lost time accidents is a target for almost every quarry operator in Europe but reaching this benchmark calls for continual focus and vigilance. One site that appears to have the right ingredients is Cemex UK's Barrington quarry and cement works in Cambridgeshire.

Cemex has announced that its German operation has secured an extension to the deal to supply ready mixed concrete to construction work on a new power plant in Hamburg, Germany. Under the deal the company will supply a further 350,000m3 to the coal-fired power station project. The company has already delivered 310,000m3 of ready mixed concrete to the scheme since work began in 2008. Work on the plant is expect to be completed in 2012 when it will produce 11billion kilowatt hours per year and provide 180,000

Trading practices in the UK aggregates market are to come under scrutiny after the Office of Fair Trading has announced it is to launch a market study of the £4.8billion a year sector. In a statement, the OFT said, “Aggregates is a sector with high barriers to entry, increasing concentration at the local level and Government involvement in the form of a national system of control over outputs. The study will look at all of these factors to determine how they influence competitive conditions and whether the

Cement demand in Russia is forecast to continue growing over the next nine years, reaching 100million tonnes a year by 2020, according to investment organisation CMPro. The company has said that it expects demand this year to be 55million tonnes with the average price per tonne reaching €60. The organisation has said growth in demand is likely to take annual consumption to 70million tonnes per year in 2015 and 100million by 2020.

Spain’s cement association Oficemen has reported that demand for cement in Spain increased by 2.73% in February this year – the first increase in monthly demand since October 2007. Nonetheless, the organisation has said that this is not a sign of recovery but more a of a reflection of the low level of demand in February 2010 due to poor weather. Oficement has said that without the impact of the weather on demand last year, the level of demand in February 2011 would show a 10% decrease.

Environmental and safety accreditations are common in the aggregates industry but Cemex Spain's quarry restoration effort means it will soon boast an agricultural certification. Claire Symes visited the quarry at El Clotet to find out why

Aggregates, cement and ready mixed concrete top the list of Cemex Spain's product range in terms of revenue but lower down it also includes nectarines, plums, oranges and mandarins. The company added fruit to its product range over 20 years ago when it started to restor

Lafarge has expanded its aggregates operations in the Ukraine with the opening of the new Koscheevsky quarry in the Kiev region. The company has invested €12million to develop the 900,000tonne per year capacity granite quarry, which gives the company a 10% market share in the Ukraine.

Heidelberg Cement has announced that it has expanded its operation in Africa following signing of an agreement with George Forrest to buyout operations in the Democratic republic of Congo. The deal will see Heidelberg acquire a 55% stake in the Cimenterie de Lukala (CILU) cement plant, located close to the capital city of Kinshasa, and of 70 % in the two Interlacs plants, located in the eastern part of the country. The Forrest Group will retain a 30% stake in the operations.