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In Morocco, French construction materials group Lafarge has launched the Kafilat Takwine Lafarge touring campaign which aims to train 6,000 building site workers across the country over a two-year period. Launched in November 2013, the campaign will raise awareness concerning the appropriate usage of construction materials, safety regulations for work sites and project sustainability.

Weir Minerals, a leading supplier to the global minerals processing industry, has appointed two new authorised distributors in the United States.

JCI Industries is the company’s authorised full-line stocking distributor for Kansas, Nebraska, and Western Missouri, and is are also certified to repair Weir Minerals’ equipment. JCI will supply local service through parts inventory, application engineering assistance, and support from seven offices with shops in Lee’s Summit, Omaha, Wichita, and Dodge City.

The marble sector in Macael (Almeria) in Spain expects to reach earnings growth of €30 million in 2013, with estimated sales for the year being in the region of €500 million. There are 120 companies which are active in the sector, employing 3,250 people directly. The sector achieved record exports in 2012 at €197.90 million, with its main customers being the US, Germany, France, Japan, UAE, UK, Russia and Italy.

CEMEX is implementing a Corporate Water Policy that defines its global strategy for responsible water management and acts as a framework for the development of local water conservation and efficiency strategies across its operations worldwide.

The policy recognises the important role that the building materials industry plays in the sustainable management of this finite resource.

“CEMEX is fully committed to carrying out our business activities in a sustainable manner, minimising pressure on water r

The Board of Guangxi LiuGong Machinery. (LiuGong Machinery) recently announced that Mr. Yu Chuanfen will succeed Mr. ZengGuang’an as the President of LiuGong Machinery.

Mr Yu has been with LiuGong since he got his bachelor’s degree in Welding Technology & Equipment from Wuhan Huazhong University of Science & Technology in 1994.

During his 19 years with LiuGong, he has served in a number of different management positions. Before being promoted to his current role, he held the position of Vice President

Controls, the Italian manufacturer of materials testing equipment for the construction industry, is to expand in North American with the opening of a subsidiary in the USA in January 2014.

With a local presence, Controls believes it will be in a better position to partner with its customers in the US, deliver expertise and provide outstanding pre- and post-sale service.

Located in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area, Controls USA (controls-usa.com) will offer a complete line of materials testing pr

Hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels, Belgium, Euromines held an event on Wealth Creation by Mineral Extraction in Europe.

Jacques Glorieux, EESC, welcomed the participants to this fruitful dialogue and highlighted the advisory function of the EESC to the other European institutions, while Ingmar Haga, vice-president Europe of Agnico-Eagle, the company that operates the EU’s largest operating gold mine at Kittilä in Finland, gave practical insights regarding the mine,

Cemex has reached a multi-year strategic partnership with Neoris to provide long-term IT outsourcing services to Cemex around the globe. The agreement covers several projects over the course of the next ten years and is valued at approximately US$500 million (€73 million).

As part of the agreement, Neoris will provide IT services such as software engineering, application development and technology deployments for multiple projects employing its best-in-class global delivery model. The agreement enhances

Komatsu Europe International has donated a new HB215LC-1 hybrid excavator to the International Polar Foundation, and BIA, the official Komatsu distributor for Belgium, provided free attachments for the machine, which will be transported by sea to Antarctica to work at the Princess Elisabeth Station.

A short handover ceremony in Fleurus, Belgium, was attended by Keiko Fujiwara, Komatsu Europe CEO and managing director, as well as by several other BIA and Komatsu top managers and by representatives from th

After a fall of around 18% in asphalt demand during 2012, the UK market is likely to stabilise during 2013. The fall in the market last year wiped out the recovery that asphalt producers had enjoyed in the previous two years.

Although the elimination of any further decline in demand is welcome, the asphalt market has performed less well in 2013 than the aggregates and ready-mix concrete sectors. Asphalt producers rely on government expenditure for much of their business and government finance remains tig

HeidelbergCement priced a Eurobond issue (ISIN XS1002933072) under its €10 billion EMTN programme with an issuance volume of €500 million and a maturity date of 21 October, 2021. The proceeds of the transaction will be used for general corporate purposes.
The eight-year bond bears a fixed coupon of 3.25%/year and the the issue price is at 99.337%, resulting in a yield to maturity of 3.375%.
Joint lead managers of the transaction are Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, ING and Nordea Markets

The UK’s Minerals Products Association – Cement has published its first full sustainable development report.

Marking a significant change from traditionally reporting on principally its environmental performance, the new sustainable development report sees the industry setting out its broader sustainable development aspirations, not only in the manufacturing process, but also in how cement can help contribute to a more sustainable environment, economy and society.

Commenting on the report, Dr Pal Cha

Cemex’s Assisted Self-Construction Integrated Program or Programa Integral de Autoconstrucción Asistida (PIAC) has been chosen as a winner for the 2012/2013 Corporate Citizen of the Americas (CCA) Awards in the Citizen Security category, by the Trust for the Americas with support from the Organization of American States (OAS); the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and AES Corporation.

The category recognises initiatives that foster public private partnerships aiming at more secure communities.

After 40 years with the company, Richard Danby has decided to retire as managing director. He has been with RDS since the company’s formative years working out of a chicken shed, through to the current day, where the business employs over 95 people and sells to 28 countries. In the early days, the challenge was trying to get the industry to accept the concept of electronics on farm and other mobile machinery, but today this has changed. RDS, based in Minchinhampton, Stroud, UK, is part of the US Company, D

A former senior partner of leading south-west England lawyers, Stephens Scown LLP recently celebrated 60 years of legal expertise with the company.

Ian Waite, 83, has spent his entire legal career with the company after joining it in County Cornwall, south-west England in 1953 as an articled clerk. He moved from London to become a qualified solicitor, his father paying £300 so that he received this training.

“Starting at the bottom rung of the ladder, Ian learnt the finer details of not only the gener

The Polish paving slab manufacturer Libet expects to have limited downtime for its production lines due to the mild autumn 2013 and also to a high level of orders, which include one for Amazon's new logistics centres.

In the first nine months of 2013, Libet posted revenue of PLN 160 million (€38.04 million). Analysts expect revenue for the whole year to be PLN 220 million to PLN 225million, with profit of between PLN 8-9 million.

Danish company FLSmidth has confirmed reports that it has signed a Letter of Intent with Qatar National Cement Company (QNCC) for supply of a cement plant in Qatar.

The company says that if and when the contract is finalised and becomes binding, it will immediately inform the market.

“FLSmidth is continuously negotiating many potential contracts on the global market. To be considered binding, such contracts require not only signing but also exchange of down payment and guarantees, etc,” says the co

French construction materials group Saint-Gobain is aiming for €4 billion of acquisitions between 2013 and 2018.

The group, which is primarily focusing on external growth outside of Europe, has carried out €1.3 billion of acquisitions since mid-2010, and in addition to refocusing its activity with the sale of glass division Verallia to Ardagh, the group hopes to generate €800 million of additional savings between 2014 and 2015.

The Algerian branch of French construction materials group Lafarge has signed an environmental performance agreement alongside the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environment (MATE) and the National Pharmacy Union (SNAPO).

The agreement concerns waste sorting processes, reducing waste at the source and developing good practices in terms of waste co-incineration.

The SNAPO is involved in the agreement as out-of-date medication is co-incinerated in the ovens of cement factories. The agreement takes ad

Tooperang Quarry has completed a silica sand washing plant at a new site near Adelaide, South Australia.

The plant has been supplied by CDE and is producing glass sands for use by Owens-Illinois at its glass bottle manufacturing plant in Adelaide .

The new turnkey plant includes a range of equipment from the CDE product portfolio including the M2500 with integrated Counter Flow Classification Unit (CFCU); EvoWash fines recovery system; fine sand screens, attrition cells and spirals.

The plant confi