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A new porous ‘self-healing’ asphalt made of simple materials is currently being tested in the Netherlands.

Erik Schlangen, a civil engineer and pioneer of experimental micromechanics, has pioneered the material which he and his team are testing on the A58 road near Vilssingen. It is hoped that the self-healing asphalt can be used in future roads elsewhere.

This special asphalt is made with tiny steel wool fibres, which, when heated with induction, extends the life of the material. With the introducti

Plans to sell its 50% stake in Lafarge Tarmac to Lafarge have been revealed by Anglo American. The stake will be sold for a minimum consideration of €1.12 billion in cash and the proceeds will be used by the miner to pay down debt. It will sell the stake on a debt and cash free basis.

Lafarge Tarmac was formed as an equal joint venture between Anglo American's Tarmac business and Lafarge UK. The divestment of the joint venture is set to be offered to the European Commission by Lafarge as part of its prop

Cement production in Kenya has risen 19% year-on-year from 1.9 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes in the five months to May 2014. National consumption of cement also increased by 25% from 1.6 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes over the same period, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Terex Mineral Processing Systems is to sign a UAE distribution deal with Dubai-based-dealer, Genavco.

In an interview with PMV Middle East Asif Khan, division manager of Genavco’s equipment business unit, said he expects to begin selling Terex MPS static crushers later this year.

The static range will complement the mobile quarrying and mining equipment already supplied by Genavco under the Terex-owned Powerscreen brand.

CECE, the Committee for European Construction Equipment industry, has appointed Sigrid de Vries as its new Secretary General. The partner in the public relations agency Quick Communications began her new role on 1 July 2014 and will represent the sector to EU institutions and manage the association’s Brussels office. The new Secretary General succeeds Ralf Wezel, who leaves after a 12-year tenure with CECE in order to undertake new responsibilities within the industry association VDMA in Frankfurt.

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Astec Industries has named Jeff Elliott as group vice president of the Astec Aggregate Mining Group. His responsibilities will include direct oversight of Kolberg-Pioneer Inc. (KPI) in Yankton, South Dakota., Johnson Crushers International (JCI) in Eugene, Oregon, Astec Mobile Screens in Sterling, Illinois, and Telestack Ltd. in Omagh County, Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens is an American manufacturer for the aggregate, recycling and construction industries. Telestack is a mob

Mexichem, Elementia and Lafarge were today due to inaugurate the first plant of Cementos Fortaleza.
Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and Carlos Slim Helú, head of Grupo Carso, were set to take part in a special ceremony to mark the occasion.

The new works is located in Santiago de Anaya, Hidalgo, and is expected to produce 2Mta units. Cementos Fortaleza is an alliance between Elementia, which holds 53% of shares, and Lafarge, which holds the balance.

Lafarge and Holcim have today revealed a list of their proposed €5 billion valued asset sales to help ensure their planned near €30 billion merger.
In Europe, Lafarge is looking to sell its German assets; its Mannersdorf cement plant in Austria; its Romanian assets; its French assets on Reunion Island, except for its shareholding in Ciments de Bourbon; and its UK Lafarge Tarmac assets, with the possible exception of one cement plant.
Holcim’s European sell off consists of the firm’s assets in metropolitan

Volvo Construction Equipment has become the newest corporate member and first OEM to sign up to the Institute of Quarrying’s Corporate Professional Competence (CPC) scheme.

The announcement was made during the recent Hillhead 2014 quarry show in Buxton, northern England, by Colin Jenkins, president of the Institute of Quarrying. He was joined onstage by Paul Kersley, director of service & engineering at Volvo CE, who underlined how delighted both he and the company were to be working with the Institute t

Unicem Aquitaine chairman Patrice Gazzarin is angered by the creation of a new under construction aggregate import terminal in Grattequina, south west France. The project requires a €13.7 million investment, primarily financed by local authorities. Gazzarin is quoted in Le Moniteur des Travaux Publics et du Bâtiment saying that the project, designed to receive imports from Norway and Scotland, does not make sense from an environmental or economic point of view. He states that these imports require nine time

Ambitious MTG is to spend €13.5 million on enlarging its plant in Monzón, Huesca, Spain - creating approximately 80 new jobs in the next two years.

The foundry, one of the most modern in Europe, is equipped with state-of-art technology for the production of wear parts for mining and construction earth moving machinery, with a current yearly production of 5,000tonnes. The multi-million euro investment, between 2014 and 2016, will go to new infrastructures and machinery to increase the site’s production c

Gorazdze, the Polish cement producer owned by HeidelbergCement, aims to increase its annual ready-mixed concrete sales by 1 million m³ to 3 million m³/year and its aggregate production from 6 million tonnes to 10 million tonnes/year by 2019.

The firm’s concrete and aggregate operating profit has systematically fallen over the last few years, and since 2012 has been around zero. Also part of the group’s ambitious new sales strategy, based on its in-house produced cement and aggregates, are plans to increa

Vietnam: Cement consumption, export grew nearly 10% in January-June 2014

Vietnam’s domestic cement consumption and exports rose by almost 10% to 33 million tonnes from January to June 2014, compared to the same period of 2013.

The encouraging figures were revealed by Vietnam Cement Association chairman Nguyen Quang Cung and reported by Vietnam Net. At present, cement plants that are operating in the country are able to produce over 70 million tonnes/year, which satisfies local demand for clinker and c

Italcementi, the Italian construction material specialist, has achieved a 99.42% subscription for its new share emission worth €497.1 million, La Repubblica has reported. The option offer is reported to have involved 103.62 million new shares, of which 103.03 million shares were subscribed. A total 1.394 option rights for 597,570 shares were not underwritten and will be offered on the market until tomorrow (8 July 2014).

With funding available of up to €54,603 (SEK 500,000), academic submissions are now being invited for pre-studies or similar projects that support the aims of the Volvo Construction Equipment-hosted Construction Climate Challenge.

A global initiative, Construction Climate Challenge (CCC) submissions are encouraged from all continents and people associated with universities, research institutes and similar organisations, with pre-studies being supported with funding over a period of nine months.

The CC

Lafarge’s Zambian branch has floated more shares on the stock market, increasing its floating capital to 25%. The French construction materials group received 25.1 million offers for 18.1 million shares in its Zambia operation. Following the move, the parent group will see its stake in the Zambian subsidiary decline to 77.37%. Lafarge Zambia is valued at €622.26 million.

ARM Cement of Kenya has reportedly taken full control of Rwanda-based Kigali Cement. The firm already owns 35% of Kigali Cement, and it has bought out shareholders who held a combined stake of 65% previously. The transaction giving the Kenyan company full control of Kigali cement was finalised in April this year. The cost of the deal was not revealed by ARM Cement, but going by the net asset value of Kigali Cement, it is estimated to be nearly €900,000. The deal will give ARM Cement a stronger foothold in E

Komatsu, the world’s second biggest maker of building and mining equipment, says its Chinese sales are falling more steeply than anticipated as national economic growth continues to lose momentum.

The Japanese construction equipment manufacturing giant’s sales in China dropped dramatically in April and May 2014, with delays to the start of a number of major construction projects likely to see the firm missing its annual national target, Chief Executive Officer Tetsuji Ohashi said in an interview publishe

HeidelbergCement aims to offload its US and British building products business this year to have the best chance of buying cement assets that Lafarge and Holcim must sell to complete a near €30 billion merger, a source with knowledge of the company's plan has told the Reuters news agency.

Lafarge and Holcim have committed to shed around €5 billion of assets to secure approval from competition authorities for their tie-up. HeidelbergCement's stated priority is debt reduction but the German firm may seize

Blackstone, Cinven and a Canadian pension fund are said by the UK’s Financial Times (FT) newspaper to be exploring a joint bid for €5 billion worth of assets earmarked for sale by cement makers Lafarge and Holcim.

The move by the two private equity groups and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said by the FT to have been disclosed by two people familiar with the talks, is the latest claimed interest from buyout groups in the facilities to be sold by the world’s two largest cement groups to help wi