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The UL Mineral Products Association (MPA) welcomes the government’s initiative to improve UK productivity, which is a key to sustained long term growth.

Issues such as the encouragement of private and public investment, the development of skills, effective and proportionate taxation and regulation and competitive energy supply are of prime importance to the UK minerals products industry, which underpins much of our national production and economic activity.

Government will launch a specific review int

Taiheiyo Cement Corporation of Japan is reported to have a new cementitious material with compressive strength of 464N/mm2, a world record, using normal pour and form techniques.
The material properties and manufacturing method associated with the newly-developed cementitious material are distinguished by two technological characteristics.
The material is designed so that multiple types of particles can be packed as closely together as possible based on the principles of micromeritics, the science and tec

LafargeHolcim has officially launched the new group around the world and announces key elements of its ambitions for the future.

Following the successful completion of the merger between Lafarge and Holcim and the listing of the new LafargeHolcim shares in Zurich and Paris, the new group will now work towards creating the highest performing company in the building materials industry.

LafargeHolcim CEO Eric Olsen says: “Now as LafargeHolcim, we will step into the next phase of our transformation to bec

In June 2015, sales of cement in Morocco fell 6.27% year-on-year to 1.16 million tonnes, reports the Ministry for Housing and Town Policy.

Sales in the quarter were down 1.32%.

Holcim Maroc and Ciment d'Atlas (Cimat) should be negatively impacted by a drop in sales in the regions in which they are most active, while Ciments du Maroc (Cimar) should benefit from the situation, says reports.

Saudi Cement reported a SAR 254 million (€61.51 million/US$67.71 million) net profit in the second quarter of 2015, an 11.8% year-on-year decrease which it attributed to lower local sales.

JCB is celebrating a major order from one of Europe’s leading plant hire companies which is investing in a brand new machine fleet worth more than £11 million (€15.5 million).

Netherlands-based Boels Rental has signed a deal for 250 JCB machines including telescopic handlers, wheeled loading shovels and wheeled excavators.

It is the fourth major order in four years that Boels Rental has awarded to JCB and means the company now has more than 1,300 JCB machines operating across Europe.

JCB Group m

Société Générale and UBS Securities France, acting on behalf of Swiss cement group Holcim, have indicated to the French stock market authority AMF that their exchange offer (OPE) on the shares of French building supplies group Lafarge will reopen from 15-28 July inclusive.
Following the previous exchange offer, Holcim controlled 87.46% of the capital and at least 83.94% of the voting rights of Lafarge.
The group will offer nine Holcim shares for ten Lafarge shares and aims to acquire the remaining capita

The Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO) gives national cement production at 15.77million tonnes between 21 March and 21 June 2015, along with 19.26million tonnes of clinker.

Exports during the 93-day period totalled 4.34million tonnes, while domestic sales stood at 12.67million tonnes.

For the month of 22 May - 21 June, Iran produced 5.88million tonnes of cement and 6.4million tonnes of clinker.

The cement industry in Vietnam is projected to report a yearly output capacity of 81.56million tonnes across 76 production lines by end-2015, disclosed the Ministry of Construction.

Meanwhile, consumption for the commodity in 2015 is predicted to increase by between 1.5% and 2% year-on-year to a range of 72 million to 74 million tonnes comprising 19million to 20million tonnes in foreign markets and between 53million and 54million tonnes in the domestic market.

The total volume of cement consumed in Vi

Oman Cement has recorded a 40% drop in its net profit in the January to June 2015 period from OMR 9.09million (€21.23million US$23.62million) in the same period in 2014, to OMR 5.44million. The cement producer has registered a 7.7% decline in its total revenue in the six months under review to OMR 27.33million. It has posted a marginal decrease in its sales revenue in the period under review from OMR 25.68million in the same period in 2014, to OMR 25.53million. Investment and other income dropped by 54.1% i

Vishal Devan has been appointed as the general manager of supply chain at cement manufacturer Lafarge South Africa.

This is a newly-created role at the company, following its decision to implement a more integrated procurement model.

Devan will report to Ken MacLean, the country CEO, and will be a part of the executive committee at Lafarge South Africa.

He holds an experience of over ten years in supply chain management and has worked at several multi-national companies, including Toyota South Afri

The cement industry in Indonesia reported a consumption volume of 28.09million tonnes in January-June 2015, disclosed the Indonesian Cement Association.

Consumption in May 2015 alone dropped by around 8% year-on-year, while that in June 2015 rose by 2.7% to 4.96million tonnes from 4.83million tonnes.

State-owned cement producer Semen Indonesia registered domestic sales of 9.92million tonnes (down 5.3%) during the first five months of 2015.

Following the completion of works on a new RWF 126.70 billion (€157.97 million/US$175.81 million) facility, Rwandan cement maker Cimerwa is targeting the regional export market.
The plant will boost the capacity of Cimerwa, Rwanda’s only cement maker, by 500,000tonnes, from its current 100,000tonnes to 600,000tonnes/year. The local market needs 450,000 tonnes, hence the balance of 150,000 tonnes is expected to be export to the DR Congo and Burundi.
Across the three nations, the existing demand is around

A new road is being created in Sluiskil, the Netherlands, for the port authority Zeeland Seaports.

The road uses sustainable tarmac that contains bitumen and lignin in a 50/50 concentration.

The tarmac is to reduce noise pollution and is said to have a lower resistance.

The tarmac is developed by a research centre of Wageningen WUR; engineering consultancy Grontmij, and the tarmac centre Asfalt Kennis Centrum.

The new law on quarry mining in Morocco has come into force, with the aim of encouraging investment, creating sustainable jobs, and simplifying procedures.

The new rules state that for authorisation to open and mine a quarry, authorities must give a response within 60 days, reduced to 30 days for explorative licences or for public works.

Operators must carry out an environmental impact study, and they will also lose their authorisation if they do not mine the quarry within two years. Authorisations ca

FLSmidth has signed a contract worth €57 million (approximatelt DKK 425million) with D.G. Khan Cement Company to supply engineering and equipment for a 8,500tonnes/day greenfield cement plant in Pakistan.
The plant will be located in Hub in the province of Baluchistanm some30km north-west of Karachi.
D.G. Khan Cement Company is a major cement producer in Pakistan, and is part of the Nishat Group which is one of the largest conglomerates in the country.
The first contract between D.G. Khan Cement Company

South America's first Nordberg GP220 cone crusher is in operation and is said to be “yielding good results” at Arenas y Gravas La Fontana in Colombia.
The production plant in a rural area of Garagoa, Boyacá produces and trades aggregates, and at present its main customer is Cemex, one of the major cement and concrete producers in the region.
The company says the new cone is increasing the company's monthly production by 114% while adhering to strict environmental regulations. In addition to the crusher, M

Holcim and Lafarge have completed their global merger and have launched LafargeHolcim, a world leader in the building materials industry.

All conditions for the completion of the merger have been fulfilled following the successful completion of the public exchange offer and the issuance of new Holcim shares to Lafarge shareholders.

Holcim’s shareholders had previously approved the merger-related resolutions at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 8 May, 2015.

With the completion of the merger the m

Holcim today announced that in connection with the successful public exchange offer and the expected closing of the merger with Lafarge, Bernard Fontana will step down from his position as CEO of Holcim with the completion of the merger. He will also resign from all mandates in all Holcim Group entities. Fontana said: "It has been a pleasure and honour to work with remarkable and passionate people throughout the past years at Holcim. I wish the new company LafargeHolcim and the entire team all the very bes

Block Tech of the UAE, a subsidiary of Tech Group, hopes to increase its production base by almost a million units/month with the launch of its third concrete manufacturing plant, which cost AED 60 million (€14.85 million/US$16.34 million).

The new factory will serve the growing demand for blocks, interlock and other concrete products in the eastern region