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It seems that people will park in the smallest of places, despite the efforts of urban street designers and town planners to ensure an orderly arrangement of suitably spaced cars.

As the picture of a Berlin street shows, the advent of smaller-than-small cars has meant drivers will park in smaller-and-smaller spaces.

Surly some spaces are just too small to attract drivers of even the smallest car. But the city of Bristol, in southwest England, has taken no chances and has painted the double yellow ‘no

For a big country that is behind only Russia, Germany and Turkey in aggregates production – not to mention one that is at the centre of the biggest business story in the aggregates world currently - France is still subdued in terms of activity and hoped-for growth, writes Julie-Anne Ryan. It sits in the middle of the tables for production per capita and predicted tonnages, despite producing almost ten per cent of the output for the 35 aggregate producing countries and associates listed by the UEPG.
The sec

PERI partnered with M & L Contracts Ltd to help restore the harmony of traffic flow along the shores of the beautiful Loch Lomond, in west central Scotland, immortalised by the famous Scottish folk song about its ‘bonnie bonnie banks’. Guy Woodford reports

The A82 at Pulpit Rock winds along one side of Loch Lomond and is currently undergoing major reconstruction work to improve traffic flow that has, for many years, been hindered due to a major landslide which blocked one lane of the original road width.

Fitting the right tyres on loading and hauling equipment can save quarrying sector businesses money through their increased longevity. Guy Woodford reports.

If your child enjoyed erasing the gritty coating on sandpaper, you would probably tell him or her to stop, avoiding any potential for upset at seeing the eraser erode and vanish within minutes. But if the sandpaper was a sandstone quarry, and the eraser the tyres of a dump truck transporting 100tonne loads, 12 hours a day, the matter would be far mor

Greater efficiency is a key feature of the latest washing solutions to have come out of Europe and the US. Guy Woodford reports.

Terex Washing System’s AggreSand solution is said to be playing a key role in enabling The Geddes Group, a Scottish sand and gravel product supplier, to meet its concrete and asphalt business customers’ demands.

The company’s sand and gravel reserves were running low at its Stannochy Quarry site in Brechin, northeast Scotland, prompting a recent move to a new site at Struan

In November 2013, FLSmidth signed a number of contracts with the Nigerian cement producer Dangote Cement for operation and maintenance of production lines at their Ibese and Obajana cement plants in Nigeria for a period of five years.

Due to changed market conditions, Dangote Cement and FLSmidth have reached an agreement to end the operation and maintenance collaboration on the two plants.

The discontinuation of the O&M contracts will have no impact on FLSmidth's Group guidance for 2015.

However,

Heidelberg Cement’s first quarter results show group revenue up by 12% to €2.8 billion (previous year, €2.5 billion like-for-like, +4%) and operating income before depreciation (OIBD) improved by 46% to €299 million (previous year: €205 million like-for-like, +29%).
The results show a margin improvement in all group areas; significant reduction in net debt to €6.1 billion thanks to completed sale of
building products business; outlook for 2015 confirmed; a positive outlook for the global economy althouhg

Drilling and blasting is not just a method of safely making the solid rock accessible to the quarrying process.

The processing of aggregates and rock material starts at the drilling and blasting or breaking stage, but such material has to be moved quickly to the processing plant, writes Patrick Smith.

Excavators are usually the equipment of choice to load material from the quarry face onto haul trucks to be taken to crushing and screening facilities, and are also used to carry the breakers and to remove loose material from a quarry face.

Wheeled loaders are also widely used to load haul trucks and can be used t

A rare bird, thought to be close to extinction, is being given a chance of survival by global cement giant Cemex. The company’s team at Dove Holes Quarry, near Buxton, County Derbyshire, central England, in partnership with the RSPB nature conservation charity, has created a five-hectare flower-rich meadow that provides seeds such as sorrel for the Twite, a bird similar to sparrows but smaller. They feed their young entirely on seed, and have declined because of a lack of such food. Today, it is thought tha

Lots of new crushing and screening solutions, including dual-powered models, from leading international manufacturers have come onto the market in the first few months of 2015. Guy Woodford looks at some of them.

Crushing and screening equipment offering high efficiency, versatility and productivity is always going to attract strong interest from quarry-based customers. And the new QA335 Doublescreen from Sandvik Construction Mobile Crushers & Screens is a mid-sized unit said to deliver all three.

Bas

Work on the cement mill of Cemex Philippines at the Apo Cement Plant in Naga City has been completed.
During the construction period, the project offered jobs to some 800 workers.
The facility covers 3,433m², and cost PHP 3 billion (€ 60.18 million/US$67.31 million).

HeidelbergCement, the cement producer, has started the construction of its Global HeidelbergCement Technology Center (HTC) in Leimen, Germany.

Investment in the new office and laboratory building that is to accommodate up to 170 staff will amount to €20million.

The HTC will be set up by Mannheim-based construction company Diringer & Scheidel and is due to be ready for occupation by the end of August 2016.

An agreement has been signed by cement maker Lafarge Zambia with oil company Total Zambia to have cement sold at all Total filling stations of nationwide. The material is to be sold in Lafarge-branded containers, and it is said the initiative will enhance proximity for the construction industry.

In Vietnam, the Ministry of Construction hopes that exports of building materials will grow 10-15%/year.
It is hoped that by 2020, exports of building materials will hit US$2billion-2.5billion.
In order to achieve the target, the Ministry of Construction will assist the sector to become competitive, seek new outlets for items such as sanitary ware, porcelain tiles, granite tiles and cement as well as consolidate traditional overseas market.
It is projected that by 2020, Vietnam will export 100-110 milli

Three plants worth TJS 1.60 billion (€227.97 million/US$255.33 million) will be built in the Dangara special economic zone (SEZ) with the help of Chinese investors.

The capacity of the cement plant will be 1.6 million tonnes/year. A tiles plant will produce 2 million tonnes/year while a glass plant will manufacture 2 million tonnes/year.

In Malaysia, Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) is developing its third grinding facility at a cost of MYR 190 million (€47.37 million/US$52.82 million).

When operational in the first quarter of 2016, the companhy will be able to expand its cement output capacity by 60% to 2.75 million tonnes/year. Also, the company will improve its distribution facilities by spending another MYR 17 million in 2015.

Spanish cement company Cementos Molins, generated a profit of €15.10 million during the first quarter of 2015, which represents a 132% increase compared to the same period in 2014. Its Spanish units saw Ebitda hit €2.1 million.

Algerian cement producer GICA is constructing 14 ready-to-use concrete plants with a total annual capacity of 3.5 million m³, which will be operational at the end of May 2015.

The project is part of the group's plan to create 16 plants for total investment of DZD 7.2 billion (€66 million/US$73.92 million).

The 16 plants include 13 fixed sites and three mobile plants, and of the 14 that will be operation in May, 12 are fixed sites and two are mobile plants.
Algerian cement producer GICA is constructin

Nigeria-based Dangote Cement is planning to start operations of its new US$500 million (€448.42 million) factory in Tanzania during August, 2015.

The plant is to increase the annual production of the company in Tanzania by two-fold with its 3 million tonne/year capacity, and is part of a strategy of the company to increase its overall manufacturing capacity to 62 million tonnes by 2017 from 42 million tonnes at present. The new plant will be initially powered from the grid, while supply is for the domest