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Marble has for centuries been used to build some of the most iconic structures in the world. Patrick Smith reports

Little has changed over the years, or is likely to, as the stone - quarried, cut, shaped and polished - is still the building material of choice for impressive buildings such as the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi; the Uzbekistan parliament building and parts of the new Ground Zero structure in New York. In Makkah (Mecca), Saudi Arabia, the holiest city in the religion of Islam, it is not only s

Lafarge’s third-quarter figures to 30 September reveal that the group’s sales were down 4% to €4,236 million and EBITDA was down 6% to €1,007 million (both up 4% like-for-like).

The company says its current operating income is down 7% to €755 million up 5% like-for-like.

Over the nine-month period sales were down 4% to €11,484 million (stable like-for-like); EBITDA is down 10% to €2,309 million (-3% like-for-like) and current operating income is down 15% to €1,546 million (-5% like-for-like)

Volume

The Holcim Group has also announced a series of changes in its senior management that will further “streamline and focus the leadership of the group. At the same time, these moves will strengthen the development of a new generation of leaders with broad commercial and technical experience as well as a sound track record in occupational health and safety.”

Holcim, said to be the world's largest cement maker by market value, says it does not expect to reach the previous year’s sales volumes of cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete in 2013. In its third-quarter result, 2013, the group says that while region Europe is expected to witness higher cement sales volumes, it is somewhat less optimistic with regard to Latin and North America and Africa Middle East. In Asia Pacific cement sales are expected to reach similar levels to previous year.

The Doosan Academy in Dobris, south of Prague, Czech Republic, opened its doors again to customers and dealers to attend the Demo Days.

FLSmidth and its affiliated companies have signed a number of contracts with the Nigerian cement producer Dangote Cement for operation and maintenance of certain production lines at their cement plants in Nigeria for five years. The parties have agreed not to disclose the value of the contracts. FLSmidth has had a business history with Dangote Cement, which includes the supply of two of the four production lines at its plant at Obajana, Kogi State, Nigeria.

Over 100 customers and distributors joined Sandvik Construction Mobiles as the new S type gyratory cone crusher range received its official launch in Northern Ireland. At the launch event the guests undertook a tour of the Sandvik Ballygawley facilities, participated in interactive seminars/presentations, and saw the QS441 and QS331 demonstrated at a local quarry.

Controls, a leader in the manufacture of materials testing equipment for the construction industry, has expanded in the Middle Eeast area with the opening of a subsidiary in Iraq. With a local presence, Controls believes it will be “in a better position to partner with its customers in Iraq , deliver unique expertise and provide outstanding pre- and after-sale service.”

It is essential to adopt selective and economic techniques for purifying and recycling water. This is the view of Italian manufacturer Tecnoidea Impianti, which says that a gradual pollution of available water resources [for many reasons], and an increasing demand for it, make such actions necessary. Indeed, another Italian company, Fraccaroli e Balzan, has recently supplied a filter press to an Estonian company to complete a recycling process

Andre Martin has been appointed president of Lafarge Group, cement and non-metallic materials producer, in Russia. Previously he used to be the senior vice-president of Lafarge office in Paris, France.

In France, Holcim Granulats is installing new fixed equipment at its Malancourt-la-Montagne quarry in Lorraine in January 2014 in order to increase production capacity.

Until now, the quarry (opened in 2010) has operated using mobile equipment. It produces material for public works, earthworks, ready-to-use concrete and asphalt.

Holcim has initiated sustainable development actions at the site, including implementing an action plan for biodiversity.

Sandvik Construction’s newly-appointed distributor for Rammer and Bretec hydraulic breakers and demolition equipment throughout Chile is Comercial Autana Ltda. Additionally the company will also provide full aftermarket care, spare parts, as well as installation and dedicated customer service.

Comercial Autana is an established name in Chile, with workshops and service engineers in Calera and Copiapo.

“We are sure that the combination of Rammer and Bretec equipment, and the local knowledge and indust

Powerscreen is launching a refresh to the appearance of all machines during the second half of 2013.

The colour scheme will now be two-tone: traditional Powerscreen green with dark grey on the chassis and conveyors.

In addition to the machine colours the company has decided to streamline the naming convention of the crusher machine range. The jaw crusher range will now be called Premiertrak (with the exception of the Metrotrak) and the impact crusher range will become the Trakpactor range. The cone c

Cemex UK is about to complete a £1.5 million (€1.75 million) upgrade of its Cambusmore Aggregate plant in Callandar, County Perthshire, Scotland, increasing its capacity by 15%; minimising waste and reducing energy consumption by 10% and maintenance costs by 20%.

The new plant will improve the safety of colleagues as the 30-year -ld plant with potential structural problems, poor access and lots of working at height has been replaced with a new modern production plant with easy access consisting of

Sandvik has launched a new website focusing on their market leading range of mobile crushers and screening equipment: www.sandvikmobiles.com.

The company says the new, dedicated website reflects the growing demand for Sandvik’s mobile crushing and screening products worldwide. Driven by the need to provide information to customers specifically looking for mobile solutions, the site will provide a clean, modern layout and intuitive navigation system, enabling quick access to product specific pages. Jaw,

Vallourec is investing in additional iron ore processing equipment to deliver increased efficiencies at the Barreiro Plant in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Prior to the delivery of iron ore to the blast furnace the existing equipment on site was not able to liberate or separate the highly clay bound fines from the lump ore on the more difficult ROMs.

This led to final lump ore being sent onto the smelting process with higher levels of contamination being retained. The knock-on effect on the smelting process

William Gagie has joined Fisher German’s Ashby, England, office after 20 years with Cemex.

The chartered surveyor has been recruited to expand Fisher German’s capacity to support existing clients but also grow its portfolio of customers in the minerals sector.

He said: “I think the experience I have gained in the minerals sector will help Fisher German strengthen and develop in this area. It also has a national reputation for its expertise in estate management and that is the perfect foundation for e

Cemex is supplying 150,000tonnes of cement for the construction and expansion of a four-lane, 50km stretch of highway that connects Cañas to Liberia in the Guanacaste province, a crucial route for Costa Rica’s Pacific Corridor. The project, which also includes 18 bridges, is expected to reach completion in 2015.

Guanacaste is the country’s largest province and a hub for tourism. This project is expected to have a strong effect on regional and national development as it helps to increase tourism and the c

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) says that UK third quarter figures support provisional GDP estimates that construction activity is starting to recover

The organisation says that aggregates, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete sales volumes showed significant growth in the third quarter, ranging from +9% to +11%, compared with the third quarter of 2012. The improvements of the second quarter have been sustained through the third quarter.

Underlying aggregates and ready-mixed concrete trends are now

About 260 jobs are being created by a US global engineering company Terex in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Terex, which manufactures equipment used in the construction, quarrying and mining industries, has factories in Dungannon and Omagh, and the move is part of a £21.7 million (€25.3 million) investment with the jobs being created over the next four years.

The company plans to build new factory space, purchase new equipment and invest in research and development with the help of £2.6 million in