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Despite economic slow-downs, demand remains high for companies that can demonstrate competitiveness in quality, price and delivery.
This maxim applies as much to the rough and tough industries such as minerals, aggregates, fossil fuels, demolition, recycling and forestry as it does to the service sector.
Where load and haul is a central component of an operation, optimising plant availability is the key to success and this success depends on skilled staff and a rigorous maintenance schedule with particula

Recognised as the world’s biggest quarry equipment demonstration show, Hillhead 2014, again being held at Lafarge Tarmac’s Hillhead Quarry, County Derbyshire, England, from 24–26 June, will see suppliers of plant, equipment, materials and services showcase their latest developments. DRILLING & BLASTING The Sandvik DI550 down-the-hole drilling rig features a 324kW diesel engine and a 24.4m³ compressor air flow at 24bar pressure, which is said to make it a perfect match for the 5” DTH hammer. Atlas Copco’s r

The first Hitachi ZW330-5 wheeled loader in the UK has been bought by one of the country’s largest independent quarry operators, Morris & Perry, who will take delivery of the new model after it has been displayed at Hillhead 2014 (see also Hillhead Preview).

“The new ZW330-5 is equipped with a 12.9litre six-cylinder water-cooled turbo engine that enables a powerful digging performance, impressive travel speeds and a reduction in fuel consumption of more than 10%,” says Hitachi Construction Machinery (Eur

Shetland, Scotland, based EMN Plant has added more Volvo excavators to its 30-strong fleet of tracked machines.
“We’ve been adding Volvo excavators and mini diggers to the fleet since 2010 with the EC140D and EC27C being the most recent additions,” says director Ellis Nicolson.
“And the reason for continuing to do so is due to the level of support we enjoy from Volvo CE and in particular Neil Bruce, their mobile engineer for the far north of Scotland.”
The EC140D is powered by a Volvo four-cylinder D4H

Caterpillar says the new 374F and 390F hydraulic excavators build on the durability, reliability and performance of the D-Series.

Design criteria included low fluid consumption for minimal operating costs, optimum operator comfort, easy serviceability and productivity.

With respective net power ratings of 352kW and 391kW, the Cat C15 ACERT engine on the 374F and C18 ACERT on the 390F meet EU Stage II/US EPA Tier 2 emissions regulations.

Compared with Stage IIIA engines, the 374F and 390F are more f

Based on an Atecap report, the Italian concrete industry will see a 9% year-on-year drop in production in 2014, compared to a 20.5% year-on-year drop in 2013. A slow recovery ranging between 4%-6% is expected in 2015-2016.

Austrian cement manufacturer Kirchdorfer's concrete subsidiary TIBA Austria wants to take over a production plant for ready-made concrete parts for canal and waste water works. It is located in St Veit/ Glan and owned by Rudolf Kandussi. In return the latter will get a 26% stake in TIBA.

The competition authority is currently looking into the matter. Kirchdorfer said the deal is an important part of its export strategy. It will improve logistics and help exports to northern Italy and Slovenia

Two large projects are to be implemented within the state programme for accelerated industrial and innovative development of Kazakhstan in 2014.

Koktas-Aktobe company plans to build a cement plant with a capacity of 1 million tonnes/year. Investments will total KZT 18bn (€72 million), and some 300 jobs will be created.

Talks are being held with the Chinese company Huaxin Gayur Cement on setting up a joint enterprise.

The second project implies the production of mineral fertilisers on the site of

South Korea-based Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) has created a cheaper and eco-friendly method for asphalt production through a collaboration with sister companies Hyundai Steel, Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor.

The new method, which has been tested as road pavements since 2012, produces asphalt by heating furnace slag, car glass and other industrial by-products at a temperature of 120°C.

There are clear signs of a revival in the construction industry in Poland, with the leading rail freight firm PKP Cargo reporting a record rise in transport of building materials and aggregates in the first quarter of 2014.
Aggregate transport was up in particular, rising by over 80% year-on-year. However, prices have remained stable, and the aggregate industry association PZPK estimates that 60-80 million tonnes of the industry capacity of 220 million each year is currently unused.
Cement producers are

The French union of construction materials and quarry industries (Unicem) awarded its environmental charter's biodiversity mention to the Cemex quarry in Ségrie (Sarthe).

The mention recognises actions carried out by the quarry, and underlines its efforts in partnership with birds protection league LPO Sarthe to protect the yellow-bellied toad which is in danger of becoming extinct in Pays de Loire.

A birdhouse for peregrine falcons is soon set to be installed on the site. The quarry already received

Swedish firm Züblin Scandinavia, a subsidiary of STRABAG, will head the joint venture partnership building the Marieholmstunnel project in Swedish city Gothenburg. This project will be for an immersed tunnel, which will pass under the River Göta älv. The design & build agreement also comprises the mechanical and electrical works and has a total contract value of around €170 million. The owner of the project is the Swedish road and railway authority Trafikverket, to which the tunnel is to be handed over in O

Lafarge will be merging some of its operations in Africa under a new entity called Lafarge Africa.

According to Lafarge, the new entity will be holding assets in both Nigeria and South Africa, and the merger will involve the issuance of 1.4 million Lafarge Africa shares to the parent company, Lafarge, as well as some €146 million in cash payment.

Lafarge Africa will be listed on the Nigerian stock exchange.

According to Amal Tantawi, CEO of Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe, production at the company will rise to 500,000tonnes/year on completion of the current plant upgrade. Presently its capacity utilisation is around 70% and it produces 370,000tonnes/year.

Kenyan cement producer, ARM expects to start building a cement plant costing KES 26bn (€218 million) in Kitui in October 2014, according to the company’s CEO, Pradeep Paunrana.

He said the company will use its cash reserves and debts to fund plant, which will have daily capacity of 8,000tonnes. Kitui has substantial limestone deposits and there are large coal reserves near the Mui basin.

Dangote Cement of Nigeria will also build a plant in Kitui with daily output of 5,500tonnes, at a cost of €294 mill

Cemex has opened a new distribution centre in Rubi, Spain.

The company expects to generate a turnover of €250 million in Spain during 2014.

Eurovia, a subsidiary of French group Vinci, is reinforcing its presence in Canada with the acquisition of Canadian company Imperial Paving which specialises in road construction works for local authorities in the Greater Vancouver area.

The acquisition should enable Eurovia to generate annual revenue of €100 million in British Columbia with seven asphalt mixing plants. Western Canada represents strong potential for growth. Vinci generates annual turnover of over €600 million in Canada.

Testing the knowledge and competence of parts and service personnel worldwide, the team from Volvo Constructioon Equipment’s Warrington, north-west England, customer support centre has won the final round of the Volvo Global Masters competition.

The team represented Volvo CE’s GB dealership in the contest that tests parts and service personnel on their skills and knowledge of the company’s products.

Over the course of national, regional and global rounds the original 3,000 participants from dealers i

Roskilde University, the Department of Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Byg), Swedish construction company NCC and the Danish Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet) are involved in the COOEE research project, which aims at developing a type of asphalt concrete that results in lower friction compared to traditional paving.

Tests have shown that friction can be decreased by up to 10% with the new material, and this could in turn reduce the consumption of fuel by up to 3%.

There

Holcim has received unconditional clearance by the European Commission for its proposed acquistion of Cemex West in Germany. The decision follows a detailed Phase II review by the European Commission. The acquisition in Germany is part of the strategic portfolio optimization in Europe that includes a series of transactions together with Cemex and that is separate from the intention to merge with Lafarge. In the Czech Republic, the proposed acquisition of Holcim Cesko by Cemex was cleared by the local co