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Indian billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla is reported to have said he is open to buying overseas cement factories in a deal similar to his US$5.8 billion (€4.65) acquisition of aluminum maker Novelis in 2007.

“We are at some sort of an inflection point, where we are strong in our domestic market and we want to look at investing abroad more aggressively,” Birla said in an interview with Bloombrg News in his office in Mumbai.

“As far as I can see, there’s no Novelis-type of transaction potentially in the

Romanian ceramic blocks producer Cemacon recorded a net profit of RON 3.70 million (€835,946.22/US$1.04 million) in the first nine months of 2014, compared to a loss of RON 2.8 million in the same period of 2013.

The company's turnover rose by 37% in January-September 2014 to RON 51.6 million.

The merger plans between French concrete block and slab manufacturer Alkern and its competitor precast concrete producer Duroux have been finalised.

The new entity will represent turnover of €200 million (US$249.25 million) and will provide Alkern with a national geographical presence.

Chairman of Alkern's supervisory board, Philippe Renauld, said that the acquisition will enable Alkern to accelerate growth for its outdoor solutions branch.

The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has reported that the sales of cement increased to a total of 8.197 million tonnes in the July-October 2014 period, recording an 8.87% increase year-on-year.

For the period under review, cement exports saw a 4.47% decrease year-on-year to a total of 2.79 million tonnes.

In the July-October 2014 period, cement sales for domestic market by manufacturers in the north and south region saw a 10.4% increase to a total of 6.872 million tonnes and 1.4%

The Commercial Court of the Kemerovo region (Siberia), Russia, has initiated bankruptcy proceedings against Kuznetsk Cement Plant (Novokuznetsk, Siberia), part of United Ce millionent Group).

The claimed debt of the company has not been disclosed.

China Resources Cement Holdings' concrete sales totalled 11.65 million m³ in January-September 2014, up by 10.3% year-on-year. Cement and clinker sales rose by 2.4% to 55.28 million tonnes. Sales in Guangxi and Guangdong accounted for nearly 70% of the company's total sales.

The construction of a new cement plant has started in the Yovon district of Tajikistan.

The works cooperation with the Jung-Say-Mokhir company are to be finished within a year, and the plant's capacity will reach 1.2 million tonnes of cement.

The investments are estimated at about TJS 600 million (€94.96 million/US$118.44 million).

A second cement plant is to be constructed in Kurmenty, Kyrgyzstan.

The project will be implemented under the development of Kurmenty limestone deposit.

The capacity of the limestone will be enough for the production of M-500 cement for some 80 years.

The local administration is soon to allot a plot of land for construction.

In Estonia, the Ministry of the Environment’s proposed surge in environmental taxes, including the tax on the extraction of mineral resources, would increase the cost of the high-speed railway Rail Baltica significantly.

According to a survey commissioned by the Ministry of the Economic Affairs, the 10% hike in the cost of the track ballast for building the trackbed for 211km of rail tracks for Rail Baltica would significantly increase the building cost of the link.

The Ministry of the Environment is

The European Commission has published full details on its decision to rule in favour of the UK Government’s aggregates levy credit scheme (ALCS).
The decision confirms that the scheme was in line with state aid rules, ending uncertainty for quarry operators in Northern Ireland.
The aggregates levy is an environmental tax on commercially exploited aggregates, and the credit scheme gave an 80% tax credit for aggregates originating in Northern Ireland in return for quarries meeting environmental standards.

Elaine Donaghy, marketing manager from Terex Washing Systems, (TWS), has picked up the Marketer of the Year 2014 Award at the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Ireland Marketing Excellence Awards.
She won the award for spearheading the company’s global marketing strategy, and her award was accepted on her behalf by company colleague Gary Stewart from award sponsor, Mukesh Sharma, managing director of Selective Travel. She was attending another awards ceremony in Amsterdam, Holland.
The CIM Marketer of th

CRH has issued an interim management statement in accordance with the reporting requirements of the EU Transparency Directive.
The key points show third-quarter group like-for-like sales growth of 3%; EBITDA is up 6% during the period; Europe is close to 2013 results for Q3, and the Americas is up 10%.
CRH says strong operational leverage in the businesses underpins improved margins and returns.
The group says that its portfolio analysis is complete, and the refined portfolio criteria provides focus to i

John Deere has unveiled a new engine for gen-sets with a key power node of 250kVA prime power in a 6.8litre package.

The company says that 250kVA generator sets are usually driven by larger engines, and to produce its latest offering it built on proven technologies developed to meet emission regulations for its certified engines, such as its high-pressure common rail technology, hardened block and piston and four-valve cylinder heads.

The 250kVA engine is available as a bare engine or as a power unit

Volvo Construction Equipment sales region EMEA (Europe/Middle East/ Africa) has launched an App designed to give customers instant and easy access to the entire stock of Volvo used equipment in the region via their Apple smartphone or tablet.

The App is available for free download from the AppStore and also contains contact details (email or phone) in respect of each unit, and features a full dealer locator search function for participating Volvo CE used equipment dealers in the EMEA geographies and a sp

CASE Construction is teaming up with Indoogoo, heavy industry’s first social trading network, to list its entire product range on the site.

The global construction equipment manufacturer says it is the first OEM to offer its dealers a social media platform to list and sell its complete line of equipment. The website, Indoogoo, is dedicated to trading within heavy industry and now hosts CASE’s entire product range – from large excavators and backhoe loaders to rough terrain forklifts and dozers.

By cre

France is big and wealthy and has a correspondingly sizeable aggregates industry, driven by the globally renowned construction industry. Julie-Anne Ryan reports.

But while the country’s market has somewhat predictably not found itself in quite such dire straits as many smaller nations, the post-slump improvements seen less than two years ago have not continued, and many organisations are posting reduced circumstances.

Building and public works sectors weakened in the second quarter of this year. Munic

The striking Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on the northern bank of the Moskva River in Moscow, the Russian capital, is clad in it. A few blocks south-west of the Kremlin, the cathedral has an overall height of 103m and is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. It joins the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Defence, the Memorial Complex of Poklonnaya Hill, over 100 subway stations in Moscow and St Petersburg, and hundreds of other buildings throughout

Terex Washing Systems says frac sand is a fast-growing industry and that it plans to make its first appearance at the forthcoming Frac Sand Insider Show, to be held in Pittsburgh, USA, from 17-18h November 2014.
TWS says it will use its stand at the show (Stand 109) as a platform to unveil details of a new product currently in development that is specifically designed to process this specialised sand.
The development of the new product, due to be officially launched early in 2015 at an exclusive open day

Metso has introduced the world's largest cone crusher, the MP2500, to respond to the mining industry's efficiency challenge

The first crusher will be operational at First Quantum Minerals’ Sentinel mine in Zambia in early 2015

As ore grades decline, more and more ore needs to be processed to obtain the same amount of the valuable mineral and to meet production targets. This equation often results in increased processing costs and can prove problematic for miners.

Metso says it is responding to th

With the start of the new European Commission’s mandate, the European Union (EU) should put a fresh focus on smart regulation, trade, and competitiveness so as to boost jobs, innovation and growth during its five-year term.

This was the key message during a high-level policy discussion at the European Parliament between Paul Rübig MEP; Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP and Vicky Ford MEP, officials from the European Commission as well as business leaders from the European machinery industry.

“When talking abou