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The quartzite quarry in Austertana in Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, is one of the world’s largest. At some 350m above sea level, the quarry is imposing, and it is necessary to carry the quartzite 3km down the hill to the crusher and nearby quay, which is 40m above sea level. The transport road, which among equipment and vehicle suppliers is regarded as the world’s toughest, has a gradient slope upwards of 1:7. Material transport is being handled by three Caterpillar 775G off-road dump trucks that

Aggregates used in concrete have to be strong, hard, and they must also be clean. This means that the products, including sand, should be free of chemicals, clays, and a variety of leached materials. If they are not, they could interact with the concrete and interfere with the way it sets, and this is why many contractors, and indeed job specifications, now demand only clean materials. Patrick Smith reports. Manufacturers of specialist washing systems have risen to the challenges by producing a wide variety

Lafarge is implementing a worldwide initiative to optimise drilling and blasting operations across its 600 sites globally. The initiative aims to reduce costs, increase safety, and lessen the impact on the environment. The potential savings have been estimated at €10-25 million annually. Fragmentation has a large impact on quarry performance at every stage of the drilling, loading, and blasting process. The initiative therefore plans to increase awareness and understanding of fragmentation and implement bes

Intralogistics specialist Beumer has been demonstrating the functions of its belt conveyors. The German company says that the curved conveyor systems are designed as open trough belt conveyors or closed pipe conveyors, and transport large quantities of bulk material from the quarry, mine or sand workings to the factory or port cost-effectively and quickly. Belt conveyors are equipped with environmentally-friendly electrical drives and low-energy belts. Depending on the topography, the motors can be operated

As up to one million people gather in Rome for Pope Francis’ inauguration mass we head out of the city. The move is not to avoid the crowds, but to drive to a quarry near Anagni, a small and historic medieval town on the ridge of a hill some 475m above sea level and 72km east of the Italian capital. The quarry has invested in a new crushing system, and has drastically reduced truck movements. Patrick Smith reports Built inside powerful Roman boundary walls, Anagni has small twisting streets and steep lanes

Biodiversity is the variety of all life and natural processes on earth, including diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. But studies suggest that global biodiversity is in grave danger from habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, climate change and over-exploitation, according to a joint position paper on biodiversity from the European Minerals Day (www.mineralsday.eu) partnering organisations. These include Cembureau (the European Cement Association); EuroMetaux (the European Assoc

There are many factors to be considered in hauling systems selection but costs can be lowered by making the right choice as Patrick Smith reports. There are various ways in which to move overburden and quarried material from the digging face to the crusher, and from primaries to secondary and tertiary crushing and screening operations. For many, the rigid dump truck remains the machine of choice; a range of sizes capable of carrying anything from 25tonnes to many hundreds of tonnes efficiently and consisten

Issues such as safety, visual appearance, environmental protection and future use will be incorporated into a quarry design before plans are submitted. Designs for quarries, and the plans for their restoration, are as varied as the number of locations where quarrying takes place. According to the British Geological Survey (BGS) via the Explore Quarry Restoration (EQR) some basic principles apply to all quarries to ensure safe and efficient sites during extraction, restoration and subsequent use.

The longest continual slipform concrete pour in the UK, and possibly in Europe, has been carried out by Cemex UK on one of the five shafts for the Thames Water Lee Tunnel project in Beckton, Greater London. Engineers from contractor, MVB, a joint venture partnership between Morgan Sindall, Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche, spent 29 days continuously pouring concrete into the slip form shutter of the shaft on behalf of client, Thames Water. Three cranes were used to deliver the concret

In 2012, Lafarge Beton, Greece's second-largest ready-mixed concrete producer, registered a 39.2% drop in its revenues, to €30.37 million in comparison with 2011. The company also posted an EBITDA loss of €20.08 million as well as a net loss of €23.81 million from €20.09 million losses. Lafarge Beton is owned by Greece's cement producer AGET Iraklis, which is controlled by the French group Lafarge. At the end of 2012, Lafarge Beton employed 167 staff, fewer than its 207 workers in the previous year.

SLR Consulting’s work on the regeneration strategy for East Pit/Lakes of Rhosamman, adjacent to the Brecon Beacon’s National Park in South Wales, has been shortlisted in this year’s Royal Town Planning Institute’s (RTPI) awards for Planning Excellence. The project, for a consortium consisting of The Land Trust, Oak Regeneration and Celtic Energy, covers the transformational rural redevelopment of a former surface coal mine into an international tourism and leisure destination. It is one of four shortlisted

Turkey’s bid to join the EU has seen a big investment in infrastructure and is a boost to its aggregates industry. A geologically diverse country, Turkey boasts most kinds of rock among its outcrops and formations. Along with huge quantities of hard rock there are also useful sources of sedimentary and magmatic rock. Julie-Anne Ryan reports Most of Turkey’s aggregates market involves the processing of limestone material, though the relatively small quantity of basalt formations are also used for the region’

The Mitteldeutsche Hartstein-Industrie (MHI) is again making suitable areas in Europe’s largest basalt quarry in Homberg/Nieder-Ofleiden, Germany, available for Steinexpo 2014. Along with the signing of the contract, the Steinexpo organiser Geoplan has been finalising preparations for the 9th Steinexpo (3-6 September 2014) event since the start of the year. “Together we have wrestled with the right strategy for success,” says Steinexpo trade fair manager Dr Friedhelm Rese.

Metso is launching a new slurry seal to meet the increased sealing demands from its customers. Focus has been to offer a sealing solution that minimises dilution of sealing water into product, eliminates leakage to atmosphere, increases life time of the seal by preventing slurry from entering the seal chamber and allows easy conversion from box packing solutions to mechanical seal solutions, says the company. “Metso's new ESF design seals satisfy the demand for advanced and reliable sealing solutions on eve

The energy market may have served the UK well for many years, but energy security and climate change objectives have spurred a review which has resulted in the proposed Electricity Market Reforms. These may prove to be beneficial to the extractive industry, Sonya Bedford of Stephens Scown Solicitors paints the current and future pictures of the UK and European landscapes with this in mind.

The Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) have introduced a targeted Lane Rental scheme. It allows TfL to charge companies a daily fee for undertaking roadworks on the UK capital’s busiest roads at the busiest times. This scheme should encourage more efficient working and reduce disruption from roadworks. One way to help minimise the amount of time that works disrupt traffic is to clarify the early-age strength requirement of concretes, and other cement bound materials, used for the reinstatement o

The principle of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) directive is to provide a high level of protection of the environment and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation of projects, plans and programmes, with a view to reduce their environmental impact, prior to their approval or authorisation. They ensure public participation in decision-making and thereby strengthen the quality of decisions. The objective of the review of the directive is to take into acco

While rock mining with heavy-duty hydraulic breakers is not feasible in every quarry, it is seen as an alternative to explosives. Once, such breakers were looked on as auxiliary equipment to be used after drill and blast to reduce rocks further where necessary for crushing, but manufacturers are claiming that large breakers can offer advantages on production, costs and the quality of the material. Patrick Smith reports. “For operations with an output of up to 600,000tonnes/year, feasibility studies should b

The Belgian city of Antwerp is regarded as the world’s main centre for diamond cutting and the diamond trade. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, it is the third largest seaport in Europe, and is the ideal gateway for goods shipped to and from Europe. However, to cope with ever-increasing freight traffic volumes in the greater Antwerp area, it is of vital importance to drive the development of infrastructure and improve maritime accessibility. High-level infrastructure measures are already well underway in Antwe

Hans-Christian Schneider followed a family tradition when he took over as chief executive officer of the Ammann Group in January. Previously deputy CEO, by assuming overall responsibility for the group he extended the tradition followed over the past 144 years by this Swiss family and company into the sixth generation. Schneider intends to continue to pursue Ammann’s well-established corporate strategy, which aims to see the group pursue its expansion strategy to grow from an international to a global provi