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The Institute of Quarrying (IQ) and Mineral Products Qualifications Council (MPQC) has undertaken the delivery of three days of training sessions to Arabian Explosives (AREX) at its production plant in the Northern Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah (UAE).

Utilising materials tailored to the bespoke needs of AREX, the training provided a comprehensive guide to Health, Safety and Environmental Awareness over three half-day sessions. The course was designed to be interactive and included a number of specially desig

The Moscow government will hold a tender for the supply of three stationary asphalt-concrete plants Benninghoven TBA 3000 UC to the Avtomobilnye Dorogi enterprise on 5 November 2014. Reports say the starting price of the public contract is set at RUB 610.60 million (€11.73 million/US$14.91 million). The equipment should be delivered by 31 December 2014 and bids are accepted until 27 October.

Dutch concrete producer MBI has cooperated with the Dutch research company MGX to produce paving stones with less concrete in it.

MGX developed the new stones by adding mecalithe to the mixture which enables concrete producers to use less cement and more sand while the concrete remains equally strong.

A decrease in cement leads to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, although it is said that, the new product could well face difficulties as European legislation states that concrete must have a minim

India-based Ambuja Cements has been ranked 10th in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index.

According to the latest India 200 Climate Change Report 2014, published by the Carbon Disclosure Project, the cement company has managed to score 92 out of 100 in the index.

Compared to the industry average of 67%, some 91% of Ambuja Cements' products are fly ash blended. The higher use of fly ash in its cement production lowers the use of limestone and the carbon dioxide emissions.

Ambuja Cements, under the

In the Philippines, the board of Southeast Asia Cement Holdings has approved the change of company name to Global Ferronickel Holdings.

Meanwhile, SAC Holdings' 90% shares were sold to Platinum Group Metals Corporation (PGMC).

A total of 6.29 billion shares or 89.82% issued shares capital and outstanding capital stock were involved in the transaction.

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received an order from Al Sawfa Cement to build a complete cement production line.

The order is worth around €100 million (US$127.94mn).

The new 5,300tonnes/day cement clinker production plant will be constructed parallel to the existing line in Jabal Farasan, approximately 150km north-east of Jeddah.

As part of a regional integration support project, Kenyan manufacturer Savannah Cement confirmed ongoing plans for its East African expansion.

According to the company, local dealers will be appointed in Burundi and Rwanda to raise the availability of products in both countries, while dealers have been appointed in Arusha and Mwanza in Tanzania to cater for inland cement demand.

In addition, Savannah Cement also plans to build a clinker manufacturing facility, commission a second grinding unit and has

Indonesia's state-run cement maker Semen Indonesia has announced it will carry out an expansion to the west and build an additional cement factory in Aceh to meet higher demand in the province.

This will come after the company's plan to set up a cement plant in Papua. The company is planning to set up a cement plant in Kalimantan and Sulawesi, aside from Aceh, its finance director is reported as saying.

The company chose to set up another plant in Aceh to meet higher cement demand due to the building

According to the Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS), aggregate imports exceeded 19.185 million tonnes in January-September 2014.

The value totalled over US$300 million (€235.33 million).

Further figures show that over 2.218 million tonnes of aggregate were imported in Russia in September 2014, down 3.7% on August 2014.

Ukraine was the leader by shipments, with its share totalling 81.2% (Novopoltavsky Quarry 36.2%; Ovruch Aggregate Plant 8.4% and Granit Pervomaysk Quarry 4.6%).

Norway's shar

The Algerian Minister of Industry and Mines, Abdesselam Bouchouareb, is reported to have announced to officers of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) that he wants Chinese companies to actively participate in the growth of industry in Algeria.

The Minister declared its plans to support any investment initiatives that would create jobs and bring wealth and a transfer of know-how to Algeria, notably bringing up a new mining law which has advantages for investors and the country's m

Steel producer SSAB has launched Laser Plus, which it says is a totally new generation of steels for laser cutting that offers maximum flatness deviation of 3mm/m after laser cutting and bending radius of 0-1.5 x the material thickness.

These features make it possible to meet the most challenging requirements in automated production environments.

“The dead flat process gives optimum flatness and minimum internal stress, which allows us to guarantee a maximum deviation of 3mm/m after laser cutting Lase

The Construction Products Association (CPA) envisages a 5.3% rise in output in 2015. In comparison, the British Chambers of Commerce predicts UK economic growth of 2.7%.

The Moroccan branch of cement company Holcim expects the national cement market to have overall sales of 14.3million tonnes in 2014, representing a decrease of 4-6% compared to 2012.

For 2015, the company expects cement sales to shrink by 3% to 13.9million tonnes before stabilising at 13.7million tonnes in 2016-2017.

The group expects sales will be flat in the second half of 2014 due to a succession of religious holidays.

The company is also reported to be concerned about rising costs, notably a 10

A group of experts has looked at how to ensure a steady and secure supply of minerals to support the UK’s population and economy in the years to 2050 in the new report Future Minerals Scenarios for the UK.

The report shows how dependent the UK is on minerals, relying more and more on imports in an increasingly uncertain world. But the UK still has significant mineral resources in important sectors of the economy.

Future Minerals Scenarios for the UK sets out how these can secured sustainably through

Enterprises of the Siberian Cement holding group produced 3,499 million tonnes of cement in January-September 2014, up 3% on Q1-3 2013.

Topkinsky Cement produced 2.414 million tonnes (+4%); Krasnoyarsk Cement 722,365 tonnes (+2%); Timluysk Cement Plant 362,473 tonnes, and Sibirsky Beton 261,982m³ of custom concrete and mortar over nine months.

Mika Cement plant (Razdan), Armenia, which was suspended in April 2014, has paid the most part of the debt and is reported as having resumed production.

The plant intends to produce 100,000tonnes of cement by the end of the year.

A total of 410 employees work at the plant and in future the company intends to widen the range of products and to export produce to Georgia and Russia.

A total of 430,900tonnes of cement were produced in Armenia in 2013 versus 437,600tonnes in 2012. The share of Mika Ceme

The third-biggest cement producer in Thailand, TPI Polene, is to boost the capacity of its waste-to-energy power station in Saraburi from the present 60MW to 120MW with an investment of THB 3 billion (€72.60 million US$92.56 million).

The power station's output caters to the needs of TPI Polene's cement factory.

The additional output will be used starting in the 2015 fourth-quarter, with full capacity operations to take place in the 2016 first half.

In 2013, the capacity of TPI Polene's cogenerati

Recovery in the GB asphalt market from the middle of 2013 has continued into 2014, and while demand for asphalt last year showed a slight decline, this could be higher by 5% in 2014.

These are some of the conclusions of BDS Marketing’s just-published annual report on the sector, Estimated Outputs of Asphalt Plants in Great Britain.

“Comparisons in the first half of 2014 with the previous year are with very poor demand in 2013. For the rest of 2014, the asphalt market will struggle to match the buoyant

The Prime Minister of Morocco has approved the merger of the Moroccan subsidiaries of cement companies Lafarge and Holcim on condition that there be no job cuts and that the merger be in the interest of both management and employees.

The new entity, which aims to become world leader in the cement market, should have 60% of the Moroccan market share, placing it first ahead of Ciments du Maroc (subsidiary of Italian group Italcementi).

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received a near US$128 million order from a Saudi Arabian firm to build a new cement production line.

The new 5,300tonnes/day cement clinker plant for Al Sawfa Cement will be built parallel to the existing line in Jabal Farasan, around 150kms north-east of Jeddah.