Quarry Products

Cemex is celebrating completion of its five year contract to supply construction materials to the expansion project at Alicante Airport in Spain. The company started working on the scheme in 2006 and has now supplied the site with 120,000m3 of concrete and 95,000tonnes of cement. The company was selected for the project by architect Bruce Fairbanks on the basis of Cemex’s ability to supply materials that met the stringent demands for the energy efficient design.

Cemex is celebrating completion of its five year contract to supply construction materials to the expansion project at Alicante Airport in Spain. The company started working on the scheme in 2006 and has now supplied the site with 120,000m3 of concrete and 95,000tonnes of cement. The company was selected for the project by architect Bruce Fairbanks on the basis of Cemex’s ability to supply materials that met the stringent demands for the energy efficient design.

Although it celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, the European Ready Mixed Concrete Organisation is firmly looking to the future. Claire Symes reports. Ready mixed concrete is an essential building material in modern-day construction but until the 1920s concrete was manufactured in batches on demand and on site. Today the industry in Europe alone produces almost 400million cubic metres of material each year off site at hi-tech plants.

Demand for aggregates in Poland reached 110million tonnes in the first six months of 2011 – up 6million tonnes on the same period last year due to increased road construction activity. Aggregate volumes for the full year of 2010 reached 200million tonnes but demand this year is expected to be between 215 and 220million tonnes.

Efforts to reduce carbon emissions at Lafarge’s Teresa cement plant in the Philippines have been officially recognised as having achieved a global standard. The project to recover heat from the plant to turn into electricity has been registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) by the CDM executive committee in Bonn, Germany. The project at Teresa provides 30% of the plant’s electricity needs and has helped reduce carbon emissions by 12,000tonnes per year. This project is the fourth with Lafarge to ac

Strong growth in demand for cement in Poland in April has led to suggestions that the sector will see 10% growth for the whole year in 2011. According to Polish Association of Cement Producers (SPC) president Jan Deja, demand last month reached 1.7million tonnes, which was up 17.4% on the same period last year. As a result he has revised his full year growth forecast from 7% up to 10%. Further growth is also forecast for next year and the association has suggested that this trend will continue until 2015.

The latest survey of industry sales volumes from the UK Mineral Products Association (MPA) shows a mixed picture in the second quarter of 2011. Aggregates and asphalt sales were 4% lower than the second quarter of 2010 and ready mixed concrete and cement sales 2% and 1% higher respectively than a year previously. Taking into account the positive first quarter in 2011, the markets have been stronger in the first half-year than had been expected due to some growth in private sector construction in early 2011

Cement demand in April was at its lowest level in Spain for 22 years, according to the national cement producers association Oficemen. The slowdown in the construction market and the Easter break have been blamed for the 17.5% drop in demand compared to April 2010.

Cemex has completed its nine month-long project to upgrade its ready mixed concrete facility in Grimaud, France. The €1.9million investment enables the plant to produce up to 80m3 of concrete per hour and has also improved the site’s recycling and environmental performance.