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Extending a partnership approach to training in the supply chain is benefitting apprentices from Finning who have taken part in a workshop at Lafarge Tarmac’s Tunstead Quarry in County Derbyshire, England.
The visit was for apprentices from the company’s Leeds and Chesterfield branches.

Breedon, the UK’s largest independent aggregates business, has acquired Huntsman’s Quarries, a long-established aggregates company based in the north Cotswolds, England, for a cash consideration of £15 million (€18.4 million).
Huntsmans operates a substantial limestone quarry and ready-mixed concrete plant at Naunton, between Cheltenham and Chipping Norton, together with a second ready-mixed concrete plant at Evesham in County Worcestershire and a fleet of 20 haulage and mixer trucks. It owns three furth

Cilas, the joint venture set up between Lafarge-Algérie and businessman Abdennour Souakri, has awarded the contract to build the new Djamoura cement works at Biskra to Chinese firm Sinoma.
Sinoma has also been tasked with upgrading and renovating the grinder at the Zahana (Mascara) cement plant owned by the GICA group.
An initial €296.41 million (DZD 32 billion) will be made available for the Djamoura site, which will employ 600 personnel. The plant's production capacities on its completion in early 2016

Semen Indonesia will reportedly take at least six months to complete the acquisition of a cement plant in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi plant will have an estimated annual capacity of 600,000tonnes-1 million tonnes, according to the president director of state-owned cement producer Dwi Soetjipto.
Dwi refused to reveal the value of the Bangladeshi deal but mentioned that it will not cost as much as an earlier deal in Vietnam, where Semen Indonesia spent US$ 157 million to buy a 70% stake in Thang Long Cement

The volume of China's import and export of cement between January and April 2014 declined by 9.32% and 9.4% to 94,600tonnes and 2.96 million tonnes, respectively, compared to the first four months of 2013.
Meanwhile, according to further figures released by The General Administration of Customs, the import and export volume of clinker reached 87,400tonnes and 1.31 million tonnes, reflecting a growth of 430% and 63.09%, respectively.

The Reshenie company anticipates that St Petersburg's market of reinforced concrete structures will grow 13% in 2014.

This is attributed to the growth of prefab home construction. The market of large-panel construction (including production and assembly of reinforced concrete structures) is worth RUB 25 billion (€535.62 million)/year and the market of reinforced concrete structures is worth RUB 7.50 billion (€160.68 million).

There are about 30-40 large producers of reinforced concrete in the city, ac

The Finnish State is to sell Finnish infrastructure and construction company Destia to Ahlström Capital for €148 million.

The ownership no longer bears a strategic significance to the state.

Pekka Haavisto, Finland's Minister responsible for ownership steering, justifies the sale saying that the government decided to support new investments and to slow down the state's running into more debt in the framework budget talks.

Cemex has announced further changes to its senior level organization, effective immediately, following the recent appointment of Rogelio Zambrano as chairman of the board, and Fernando A. Gonzalez as chief executive officer (CEO).

This follows the death of Lorenzo Zambrano, former chairman and CEO, who died away earlier this month.

Cemex’s corporate staff functions will now be organised into six executive vice-presidencies, all reporting to the CEO, led by the following executives:

Lafarge has sold its cement operations in Ecuador for an enterprise value of US$553 million (equivalent to €405 million) to Union Andina de Cementos (UNACEM).

Lafarge Cementos operates an integrated cement plant of 1.4 million tonnes capacity, located in Otavalo in the north of the country.

This divestment will contribute to Lafarge's objective to reduce net debt below €9 billion in 2014.

This transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Screening and crushing company McCloskey International has welcomed Mexican dealer Maquineria to its global network of distributors.

“Having MAQSA on board will further strengthen our distribution network globally. Mexico presents some unique and exciting possibilities that we anticipate will contribute to our growth in the marketplace,” says John O’Neill, vice-president of marketing and sales for McCloskey International.

“MAQSA has excellent relationships with customers in the mining and construction

According to Andre Martin, CEO Lafarge Russia and Ukraine, the France-based group plans to increase sales of cement to 700,000tonnes in 2014 against 2013, as it will launch a new plant in the Kaluga region (Central FD).

Sales of non-metallic materials are expected to increase by 30%. The plant in Kaluga region will switch into partial use of alternative fuels (solid waste) from 2015, and in the future, alternative fuels may account for 45% of the enterprise's total consumption. Dry kilns will help to im

In what is said to be a first for the ready mix sector, UK customers are set to benefit from the introduction of new mobile Ultra ready mix concrete plants.

Lafarge Tarmac has invested in two units to strengthen its existing nationwide concrete offering and provide customers with 24-hour security of supply to projects in remote locations.

CEMEX UK has won 13 awards at this year’s prestigious Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Occupational Health and Safety Awards, which recognise significant safety achievements within all areas of the CEMEX business: concrete, cement, aggregates, asphalt, building products, rail, logistics, marine and ash.

“It is an outstanding achievement to win so many health and safety awards and to be recognized for our work in this area, especially when you consider the challenging environment of

The UK Mineral Products Association (MPA) is warning about the dangers of swimming in quarry lakes, and asking people to Stay Safe and Stay Out, following two recent water-related fatalities in Wales, one involving a young man at a disused quarry.

It also urged people not to ignore the warning signs and fencing designed to protect them from potential risks in both active and disused quarry sites.

School holidays and the warmer weather often mean an increase in the number of young people who may be tem

British independent construction materials company, Hope Construction Materials is on the lookout for new talent to join its £300 million (€370 million) business in the County Derbyshire and County Yorkshire areas.

The company has launched an Apprenticeship Academy which is looking to appoint four new apprentices this year at its quarries at Dowlow near the town of Buxton, County Derbyshire, and Holme Hall, near Rotherham, County Yourksihire and its cement works in the Hope Valley, also County Derbyshire

At the Hillhead show, which is to be held near Buxton, England (24-26 June, 2014), John Deere Power Systems (JDPS) says it will be showcasing its Final Tier 4/Stage IV engines for the most demanding off-highway applications.

The company says that its UK distributor E.P.Barrus will display a 9litre FT4 engine; 6.8litre FT4 engine; JDPS FT4 Integrated Emissions Control System elements, and a 4.5litre GSPU Stage III A engine.

JDPA says that for the Final Tier 4/Stage IV, John Deere adopted the best avai

According to Indriani Siswati from Holcim Indonesia, the cedment company is aiming for its Plant I in Tuban to start grinding clinker t the end June 2014 and for the plant to be commissioned in August 2014.

The plant is presently producing cement but the clinker is being supplied from Cilacap. The output from the plant with capacity of 1.7 million tonnes will be for the Sumatra and East Indonesia market.

The company has a total annual production capacity of 9.1 million tonnes. The firm's Tuban II plan

Some 400 people have protested against a project by French construction materials group Lafarge to deepen its Grand-Vallon quarry in Sénas, amid concerns that it may pollute the groundwater.

Lafarge Granulats Sud is looking to reach a depth of 15m across 7hectares, as the granulate deposit is beginning to run out. Some of the organisations to take part included Agir pour Orgon, La Ligue de Défense des Alpilles, Confédération Paysanne and France Nature Environnement.

The project must now be considered

Swiss cement manufacturer Holcim was ranked in the top 50 most valuable Swiss brands for the first time in 2014 with a value of CHF 1.2 bllion (€982.27 million). The food production giant Nestlé retained the highest position in the ranking, with an overall value of CHF 20.2 billion for its Nescafé, Nestlé and Nespresso brands, followed by watch producer Swatch in second place with a value of CHF 7.5 billion.

Turkey's Competition Board (RK) has launched an investigation on the country's cement sector. RK claims that the sector is involved in serious competition issues, such as region and customer sharing, refusing to provide products, and destructive pricing. It adds that the number of complaints have grown in time despite the number of penalties issued on companies.