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The Swiss building materials and construction chemicals producer Sika has expanded its production capacity in the US.

It opened a new plant for concrete additives in Denver and added a grout factory at the existing business site in Atlanta.

Sika now has 12 plants in the US. It did not reveal how much it invested in the new ones.

West China Cement's revenue increased 1.5% from a year ago to CNY 2bn (€242.51 million/US$324.7 million) during January to June 2014, thanks to higher average selling price of cement.

Due mainly to foreign exchange losses, the cement maker recorded a 4.8% decline in net profit to CNY 160 million. The EBITDA of West China Cement rose 11.7% to CNY 635 million.

It is reported that Panyam Cement has shut down its 400,000tonnes/year capacity cement plant temporarily in Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh, India, while Bheema Coromandel is running its 1.2 million tonnes/year plant at token production.

Several other cement companies in Telengana and Andhra Pradesh have also shut down plants or are running them on a campaign basis due to poor demand and unremunerative prices.

South India has recorded demand of 70 million tonnes/year against production capacity of some 110 mi

Ulyanovskcement, part of the Eurocement Group, will construct a new all-dry cement plant on the base of ongoing factory in Novoulyanovsk, (Ulyanovsk, Volga).

An installed capacity of the plant will be 3 million tonnes of concrete/year, and the launch is scheduled for 2017.

China Triumph International Engineering, a part of the CNBM group, has signed a contract for equipment delivery, contract supervision and employee training. The cost of the contract exceeds US$80 million (€59.75 million).

The ent

Germany-based Gebr Pfeiffer has secured an order from Wonder Cement of India for raw meal and coal mills.

The order is part of the cement producer's efforts to have its Tehsil Nimbahera cement works expanded.

The planning work for the grinding plants will be carried out by Gebr Pffeifer (India), and the new 8,500tonnes/day kiln line at the plant will be supplied by the mills.

The MPS 5600 B features a 5600kW drive. It has a raw meal capacity of 605thp as well as a fineness of 1.5% residue.

The annual capacity of Nigeria's cement industry has potential to reach 58.5 million tonnes if all cement producers confirm their expansion plans.
Ashaka Cement is planning to invest over NGN 100 billion (€460.88 million/US$617.1 million) to build a 2.5 million tonnes/year cement plant; build a coal-fired power plant and upgrade an existing cement facility to 1.5 million tonnes/year.
United Cement Company of Nigeria will invest NGN 84 billion to double cement capacity from 2.5 million tonnes to 5 million

Haver Technologies (Tianjin)/HTT in China, part of the Haver & Boecker group, says that it now offers a full product range after moving to its new location.

The Chinese subsidiary links all the group’s technologies and is entering markets as a total systems supplier with increased strength, with the objective of providing tailored machines and solutions to suit the customers’ needs and to significantly broaden the product range.

In addition to the final assembly of packing machines for solid bulk mate

Development of a solar farm at Ketton cement works in County Rutland, England, is just one of the major initiatives highlighted in Hanson UK’s 2014 performance and sustainability report.
The report covers five over-arching themes for the calendar year 2013: people; carbon; water and biodiversity; waste and raw materials and systems, and sets out the company’s 2020 targets for each of these areas.
Investment in the 8 megawatt solar farm at Ketton is part of Hanson’s action plan to increase the use of ren

International building materials group, CRH has issued its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2014.
The key points show that sales revenue increased by 4%; up 7% in Europe and up 1% in the Americas (like-for-like sales up 5%) while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was 27% ahead of first-half 2013 reflecting strong operating leverage, and in line with annual meeting guidance.
The portfolio review is progressing and a multi-year divestment programme of abo

Chinese construction equipment manufacturer SDLG has opened a new parts warehouse in Jurong, west Singapore.

As Shandong Lingong Machinery (known as Lingong) continues to expand distribution of its equipment into global markets, it says it is also improving its aftermarket offering by opening strategically placed warehouses for fast spare parts delivery.

Lingong currently sells a range of SDLG wheeled loaders and motor graders in South East Asia, with other road and construction equipment products set

Weir Minerals has launched two new configurations for its Gemex belt-tensioning system, integrating the system with two more of its most popular pump ranges.

The Gemex tensioner has been incorporated into updated versions of the company’s latest and most advanced heavy-duty slurry pump, the Warman WBH centrifugal slurry pump and the medium-duty Warman MU pump.

These are the first combined pump-and-tensioner packages to be added by Weir Minerals since the integrated package was designed for the company

HxGN Live 2014 held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas saw around 3,500 attendees see and learn about exciting new and in-demand design, measurement and visualisation technologies for industries including mining, quarrying and road construction. Guy Woodford reports. Individual users of exciting information technology innovation hold the key to successfully tackling mounting global challenges, stressed Hexagon president and CEO Ola Rollén in his key note speech titled ‘The Disruptive Power of Transformation’ tha

Businesses in Asia and Europe are benefiting from the latest loading equipment and technology. Guy Woodford reports. A battalion of SDLG wheeled loaders are working at a concrete manufacturing facility in Shaanxi Province, west China, close to the site of the famous Terracotta Army.
Lintong, a rural settlement 35km to the east of Xi’An, western China , is famous for being the birthplace of the Terracotta Army, a collection of terracotta figurines depicting the army of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first-ever Emp

In Indonesia Industrial Ministry is reported as saying that demand for cement in 2014 will be around 60 million-70 million tonnes.

Sales of cement in July 2014 were at 3.76 million tonnes, 25% lower than the 5 million tons sold in July 2013.

Sales in Java dropped by 28% to 2.08million tonnes, but it still accounted for 55% of total sales in July 2014.

Cement demand from Kalimantan dropped by 29% to 273,46 tonnes; sales in Sulawesi dropped by 12.3% to 289,124 tonnes while sales in Sumatra dropped 26

French group Lafarge has obtained certification for operational excellence at its factory in Martres-Tolosane in the Midi-Pyrénées. Lafarge will pursue efforts to improve operations at the site in the service of its clients.

Sephaku Cement (SepCem) of South Africa is expecting its Aganang plant to start producing clinker in August 2014 after one month of delay.

The company says that clinker will be delivered to its mill in Delmas by the end of August 2014. The company's plants in Delmas and Aganang have annual capacity 1.4 million tonnes and 1.1 million tonnes respectively.

Janos Kalman, managing director of the Hungarian cement producer Hejocsabai Cement es Meszmu (HCM), has revealed that the company will need the government's support to be able to restart cement production at its plant in Miskolc.

HCM could start the necessary development only after receiving the required permits and a specific government decision could speed up the process

HCM plans to spend HUF 9billion (€28.7 million) on setting up the first two production lines, and some 66% of this amount may be c

Tonging Shanfeng Cement (Shanfeng Cement) has signed an agreement with Zhu Rongjun to develop a cement and cement clinker project in Kyrgyzstan.

Zhu now holds a 100% stake in Zeth Cement, and after the deal, Zhu will reduce its stake in Zeth Cement to 42%, while Shanfeng Cement will hold a 58% stake in Zeth Cement.

The two entities will build a cement clinker line with a production capacity of 3,000tonnes/day in Kyrgyzstan.

The Republic of Karelia's Ministry of Natural Resources (North-West) has called for bids for 15-year licences to develop three granite quarries. The auction is scheduled for 25 September 2014, although bids are accepted until 5 September 2014.

Mustavara (30 hectares) and Hapamyaki (3 hectares) will be used for block stone production, and Ninimyaki (5.4 hectares) for exploration and production of granite.

The Federal Agency for State Property Management has invited bids for the government's 14.99% equity stake in Uraltransprom reinforced concrete and ballast maker from Yekaterinburg (Urals). The starting price is set at RUB 39.24mn (€811,319).