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January 8, 2015

McLanahan Australia receives ISO 9001:2008 certification

McLanahan Corporation’s location in Warabrook, New South Wales, Australia, has received certification in the AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System for the design and manufacture of materials handling equipment, including spares and after sales service for the mineral, agricultural and resource industries.

The official registration audit was completed by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited out of Melbourne, Victoria.

The company says the success of the registration evaluation was ultima

January 8, 2015

IronPlanet and Associated Auction Services to merge

IronPlanet, the online marketplace for buying and selling used heavy equipment and trucks, and Associated Auction Services, an alliance of Caterpillar and several of its independent Cat dealers, that operates under the name of Cat Auction Services, has confirmed that they have signed an agreement to merge the two companies.

Once combined, IronPlanet and Cat Auction Services will provide buyers and sellers of used heavy construction equipment a unique auction experience, backed by technology, services and

January 8, 2015

Best Exporter Business Award for Terex Washing Systems

Terex Washing Systems has been honoured with the Best Exporter Business Award at the Mid Ulster Business Awards 2014, which recognise businesses from all sectors across Mid Ulster and County Tyrone for exceptional achievements.
Sean Loughran, Director of TWS, said: “It was the first time TWS entered the awards and we are honoured to receive this award, as the Mid Ulster region is the manufacturing home to over 80% of global quarry and sand machinery.
“TWS is committed to continually developing and introd

Mid Ulster Business Awards 2014
January 8, 2015

CRH reveals €190mn 2014 acquisition and investment spend

CRH, the international building materials group, has revealed a 2014 acquisition and investment spend of €190 million, reflecting completion of 21 transactions. On the divestment front, the Group completed 16 transactions and realised total disposal proceeds of €350 million.

“In August 2014 we announced a multi-year €1.5 billion to €2 billion divestment programme; the proceeds of €0.35 billion generated in 2014 demonstrate that this programme is well underway,” said Albert Manifold, CRH Chief Executive.

January 8, 2015

Hope make new cement plant investment

Hope Construction Materials, the UK’s leading independent supplier of cement and concrete, is investing €17.85 million (£14 million) to boost production at its Hope Works cement plant.

The company, which celebrated its second boom year of cement production on 7 January 2015, has kicked off several major capital projects which will help improve the plant’s sustainability, improve the efficiency of the operation and help to secure future supplies for construction.

Hope has owned and operated the cement

Hope Industrial Director Ashley Bryan
January 8, 2015

Finning’s coal landmark at Miller Argent site

Miller Argent’s Ffos-y-fran mining facility in South Wales has reached the landmark figure of five million tonnes of processed coal. After seven years of refining its processes, the huge land reclamation project based in Merthyr Tydfil now produces up to a million tonnes of coal/year.

Much of the finished product is used to fuel nearby Aberthaw Power Station, which generates enough electricity to power five cities the size of Cardiff. Port Talbot Steelworks is also a beneficiary, using the fuel to prod

A Cat D9T dozer at work at Ffos-y-fran mining facility
January 8, 2015

Study shows rising global demand for industrial silica sand

Global demand for industrial silica sand is forecast to advance 5.6% a year to 289 million tonnes in 2018, according to US-based business research company, Freedonia Group.

Accelerations in construction spending and manufacturing output worldwide are expected to drive growth in important silica sand-consuming industries, including the glass, foundry, and building products sectors.

Particularly rapid gains are projected for the hydraulic fracturing market as horizontal drilling for shale oil and gas r

January 8, 2015

30% onsite fee discount offer for World of Asphalt and AGG1

A 30% onsite fee discount is on offer to all those registering early to attend the co-located 2015 World of Asphalt Show & Conference and AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo. Deadline for the reduced onsite fee offer is January 23, with early registers also receiving discounts on show education programmes. One registration fee includes admission to both shows being held 17-19 March 2015 at the Baltimore Convention Centre in Baltimore, Maryland, US. You can register online via the shows’ websites - www.agg1.org a

January 7, 2015

Metso to divest its Tampere foundry to TEVO

Metso has concluded the study related to Tampere, Finland, foundry announced in 2013. As a result Metso will divest the Tampere foundry to a Finnish company TEVO. The new owner will continue the foundry operations under the TEVO-Lokomo name at the foundry's current premises in Tampere.

All 128 people currently employed by the foundry will continue with their current employment contracts. Completion of the divestment is expected to occur on 1 March, 2015. The value of the transaction will not be disclosed

January 7, 2015

India’s Tamil Nadu state government launches cement scheme

The Tamil Nadu state government has introduced a subsidised cement scheme dubbed Amma Cement, which will be priced at US$3 (INR 190) per 50kg bag. The cement will be sold via Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation's (TNCSC) warehouses, which are located in TVS Toll Gate, Adhavathur, Irungalur, Thuraiyur and Musiri in Trichy district. The scheme was launched through TNCSC under the nodal agency, Tamil Nadu Cements (TANCEM), that supplies up to 50 bags of cement for a 9.29m² building site and up to 750 bags of

January 7, 2015

Ethiopia’s Draft Cement Industry Development Strategy unveiled

Ethiopia's Ministry of Industry has unveiled a draft Cement Industry Development Strategy prepared by Adama Science and Technology University. According to a statement, it will cost around US$29.74 million (ETB 600 million) to implement the strategy. It aims to help increase domestic cement consumption in the country by over three-fold from six million tonnes at present to 20 million tonnes over the next 10 years. The strategy also includes a plan to offset shortage in the local market, as well as providing

January 7, 2015

Russian aggregates market nears crisis

The Russian aggregates industry is on the verge of a serious crisis due to sanctions imposed by the West following Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. Eugene Gerden reports.
The trade sanctions imposed on Russia are biting hard.

January 7, 2015

India’s Malabar Cements to import 1.32mn tonnes of raw materials

Malabar Cements (MCL) of India plans to import 1.32 million tonnes of limestone, sand, clinker, coal and other materials for production after the company received approval to establish a US$25.19 million (INR 1.6 billion) bulk handling cement unit in Kochi's Willingdon Island. MCL has finalised a tender to import 30,000tonnes of clinker from the Middle East by January 2015 for its clinker grinding plant at Alappuzha in Kerala. The company also plans to buy 1,300tonnes of fly ash per day from Udupi Power Co

January 7, 2015

Turkey’s Sancim acquired by Askale Cimento

Turkish cement firm Sancim Bilecik Cimento (Sancim) has been acquired by Askale Cimento. The acquisition follows the recently aborted acquisition of Sancim by another firm, Cimsa, for €185.14 million. The new owner of Sancim is a joint-venture of Sonmez Holding (43%), Aunde Teknik (38%), E.N.A. Tekstil (10%) and Umut Insaat (9%).

January 6, 2015

HeidelbergCement to sell Hanson Building Products to Loan Star Funds

HeidelbergCement is to sell its brick and roof-tile business to private equity firm Lone Star Funds for €1.17 billion (US$1.4 billion), as it looks to cut debt and return its focus to products such as cement and aggregates.

The sale of Hanson Building Products includes North American assets outside of western Canada as well as operations in the UK, the Heidelberg, Germany-based cement maker said in a statement. The price includes a payment of as much as €84 million ($100 million) from Lone Star that’s de

January 6, 2015

Bruno Lafont to be CEO of merged Lafarge Holcim firm

Bruno Lafont will be CEO of the new company created by the multi-billion euro merger of Lafarge and Holcim.
The naming of Lafont and the rest of the new firm’s future executive committee comes after the merger, which will create the world’s largest cement firm with annual sales of €39 billion, was approved by the European Commission in December 2014.
Lafont will head up a project team of 10 experienced and seasoned managers who will lead the transition – with all the teams already engaged in the integrati

Bruno Lafont CEO lafarge-Holcim
January 6, 2015

Cemex closes Holcim transaction series

CEMEX says it has closed a series of transactions with Holcim, originally announced on August 28, 2013 and supplemented on October 30, 2014. The Mexican headquartered building materials’ giant acquired all of Holcim’s assets in the Czech Republic and divested its assets in the western part of Germany to Holcim. In Spain, CEMEX acquired Holcim’s Gador cement plant (cement capacity of 0.85 million tonnes) and its Yeles cement grinding station (cement capacity of 0.90 million tonnes). As part of these transact

January 5, 2015

Kenyan cement output up in first 11 months of 2014

Six Kenyan cement producers have raised output from 4,637,081 metric tonnes in the first 11 months of 2013 to 5,208,934 metric tonnes during the same period in 2014, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

KNBS said that the cement companies are operating at excess capacity and output already exceeded 5,059,129tonnes in the full year of 2013. The domestic market used 87% of total cement produced on average and it is expected that road projects, construction of Terminal Four in Jomo K

January 5, 2015

Cambodian cement factory workers end strike

A strike at Chakrey Ting Cement factory in Cambodia's Kampot province ended on 31 December 2014 after workers agreed to go back to work. Nearly half of the 200 workers at the Chinese-owned plant went on strike on 30 December 2014, demanding higher wages, health insurance, yearly bonuses and equal treatment for Chinese and Cambodian employees.
Workers' representative, Heng Chen, told national media that Chakrey Ting Cement promised to address allegations that preferential treatment was given to Chinese work

January 5, 2015

Pakistan announce lower cement prices

Pakistan’s cement producers have revised down their products’ prices in line with failing international oil prices, with Dewan Cement and Bestway Cement reducing the respective price of their cements from US$5.05 (PKR 510) to $4.84 (PKR 490) and from $4.96 (PKR 502) to $4.86 (PKR 492) per bag.
Similarly, the price of cements from Lucky Cement and Cherat Cement are down from PKR 520 to PKR 497 and from PKR 520 to PKR 497 per bag, respectively. Cements in the city of Lahore are now sold at PKR 490 per bag (