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Two new Leaders in Development (LIDs) have started their one-year training at Cemex UK. The programme, started in 2013, is aimed at using young talent from within the business to create the next generation of business leaders.

Cecil Roberts and Callum McPhillips have been selected to take part in the programme, in which they will gain extensive and fundamental knowledge of the business and develop a multi-functional perspective. With this grounding it is hoped to create a mobile talent pool feeding into

Lafarge has sold five aggregates quarries and related assets in Maryland, USA, to Bluegrass Materials for a total enterprise value of $320 million (equivalent to €235 million).

With these divestments, the group has now largely completed its strategy of refocusing on its core markets in the United States. Lafarge today operates a strong network of integrated positions mainly located in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River regions.

Its US operations consist of nine cement or grinding plants and associ

International construction equipment manufacturer Chicago Pneumatic has appointed PML as an authorised distributor of its entire range of construction and portable energy equipment in the south-east of England.
“When the chance arose to partner with Chicago Pneumatic, we jumped at the opportunity. We consider Chicago Pneumatic to be a well-respected brand in the UK, and firmly believe that our customers will benefit from their cost-effective, reliable and quality construction equipment,” says Commenting on

The CDEnviro Recycling plant installed at Eastern Waste Disposal, Brightlingsea, is a UK first as it can recycle road sweepings, gully waste and trommel fines.
The plant has been installed at Eastern Waste Disposal’s Brightlingsea recycling centre in County Essex, suth-east England, and is capable of processing 50,000tonnes/year.
The effects of the landfill directive along with the annual increase in landfill tax have significantly increased the cost of disposal of road sweepings and gully waste for compa

Environmental permitting support provided by SLR Consulting for Wolf Mineral’s Hemerdon Tungsten Mine has led to the first environmental permit for a new Category ‘A’ mining waste facility in England under new EU regulations.
Over the past 12 months SLR has worked closely with Wolf, the Environment Agency and a team of other consultants throughout the application process. The multidisciplinary team from SLR has been responsible for advising on a range of technical issues including air quality, nature cons

The UK Competition Commission (CC) is opening the way for a fifth cement producer in Great Britain in order to increase competition in the market.
In its final report into the market for aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete (RMX), the CC has said that it will require Lafarge Tarmac to sell a cement plant (and some accompanying RMX plants if necessary) to facilitate entry of this new producer. The CC is also introducing measures to limit the flow of information and data concerning cement production and

In order to satisfy requests from the global market Fraccaroli and Balzan has invested in research, development and human resources, and it says that one of its most important and new achievements is the plate over beam four-piston filter press with the code FB 2000. The filter press is a 120 plates expandable to 140 plates press, 2m x 2m plate size, installed for an important customer in Tortona, Alessandria, Italy).
The treatment capacity of the press is approximately 12m³ of dehydrat

Aggregate recycling specialist Cappagh Group’s new Terex Finlay 883 mobile screener is said to be boosting productivity on its Stanwell site, London.
It has been involved in the contractor’s work at Heathrow Airport, London, and is making reject sand, which is used for pipe bedding and filling.
The 883 joins Cappagh’s fleet of Terex Finlay machinery, supplied by Finlay Plant South East, which is being used for washing and recycling processes.
Family-owned Cappagh, started in the 1960s by Tom Ferncombe, h

Unrestricted extraction of natural sand and gravel is becoming less of an option for the construction materials industry due to the changes in thinking, economic forces and the requirement for sustainable and consistent quality products for construction and manufacturing, says Peter Craven from CDE Global.

Permissions for new pits are becoming fewer and harder to secure and while in the past natural sand and gravel extraction has been the backbone of the aggregate industry, this is becoming increasingly

Björn Ingemanson, who has been at the helm of Volvo Penta for over a year, says the company has what it takes to become a bigger player in the off-road business.
“Volvo diesel power gives a competitive edge to the group’s construction equipment and trucks. Our job is to bring the same competitive edge to OEM customers in the external engine business,” says Ingemanson, who was appointed president of Volvo Penta, Volvo group’s diesel engine company, in April, 2012.

Nice, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on the French Riviera, has for decades been a tourist hot spot.

The city, France’s fifth most populous after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, is nicknamed Nice la Belle (Nice the Beautiful).

Founded some 2,300 years ago by the Greeks who called it Nikaia after Nike, the goddess of victory, it attracts over four million visitors each year and has France’s third busiest airport.

On my visit the UK’s world-famous Red Arrows Royal Air Force (RAF) aerobatic te

Eric Thomas Poupier has been appointed to a newly-created position in Group Executive Management as Group Executive Vice President, Business Development at FLSmidth.

A French citizen, Poupier has since 2011 been a manager at Bain & Company in Stockholm, Sweden, managing projects for Nordic clients. From 2007 to 2011 he was a consultant for the company in Stockholm specialising in reorganisation, growth strategy, sales force effectiveness and performance improvements.

Poupier holds a Master of Mechani

Sandvik has agreed to acquire Varel International Energy Services for approximately US$740 million (€544 million), subject to standard regulatory approvals and certain environmental due dilligence.

Varel is a global supplier of drilling solutions focusing on drill bits, downhole products for well construction and well completion, and its key customer segment is in the oil and gas sector, with some exposure to the mining and construction industries.

The manufacturing sites are located in Houston (USA),

Italy's marble exports to the US rose by 24% in volumes and by 30% in value in the first nine months of 2013.

This means that Italy's stone and marble sector achieved a rise of 3.2% in volumes and 7.2% in value to €1.40 billion in exports in the same period.

Growth exceeded 10% both for marble blocks and slabs, and for processed marble.

Organisers of the ninth Steinexpo 2014 stone quarry demonstration exhibition, being held at the basalt quarry at Nieder-Ofleiden, Germany, from 3-6 September, say the exhibition layout will differ noticeably from previous events.

The trade fair, which had its premiere at the quarry (which belongs to the MHI group) in 1990, is held in a three-year cycle and offers live demonstrations against the backdrop of the magnificent stone quarry where manufacturers and dealers of building and processing machinery,

Lafarge announces the sale of its 20% minority stake in European and South American gypsum operations to Etex for an immediate cash consideration of €145 million. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the coming weeks

Danish company FLSmidth has received an order worth approximately €40 million (DKK 300 million) from Indonesian cement producer PT Semen Padang for a cement production line with a capacity of 8,000tonnes/day. The plant is located in Indarung, just outside the city of Padang in West Sumatra, Indonesia.

The order comprises equipment for the main part of the production line, including a raw mill, coal mill, preheater, kiln, burner, clinker cooler and silo equipment as well as a complete control system for

The newly-appointed managing director of RDS Technology is Angela Simkins who has 25 years of general management experience and more recently has spent ten years in an electronic engineering environment supplying to both on-road and off-road sectors.

Being a chartered engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering means that she brings engineering expertise to the role combined with a strong Lean bias gained during her time acquiring a Master’s Degree in Lean Operations.

Simkins’ arriv

CRH says it made seven acquisition and investment initiatives during the second half of 2013. These transactions, together with the previously announced acquisition of Mykolaiv Cement in Ukraine, and the purchase of Sree Jayajothi Cements by its 50:50 joint venture, My Home Industries, in India, bring total second half spend to €0.22 billion and group development activity for 2013 to approximately €0.69 billion.

“Development spend of almost €0.7 billion in 2013 reflected our strategic focus on establishi

Entrepreneur Amit Bhatia, who is chairman of Hope Construction Materials, has told of his optimism for the future as the company celebrates its landmark first anniversary.

The company, launched 12 months ago, has gone on to sell two million m³ (enough to build 22 Wembley Stadiums); 1.3 million tonnes of cement and four million tonnes of aggregates in its first year.

Hope was launched in January 2013 after the acquisition of 180 UK operational assets, from the south coast of England to the Scottish Hi