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Cemex has released A Gift of Nature. Twenty Years of Conservation & Photography, the 20th anniversary edition of its celebrated conservation book series. Published in partnership with Earth in Focus Editions, the anniversary issue commemorates and encapsulates an expanded and updated retrospective look back at 20 years of powerful science, images and strategies that have changed the field of conservation publishing. Cemex says this volume recaptures the powerful impact of its earlier editions and sets the p

FLSmidth has won a five-year contract worth approximately US$190million/DKK1.1 million (€146 million) from Minera Los Pelambres to supply maintenance services for their copper and molybdenum plant in central Chile. Minera Los Pelambres is owned by AMSA - Antofagasta Minerals. The contract is a five-year extension of FLSmidth's current maintenance contract that dates back to the turn of the century. All major process equipment at the plant has been supplied by FLSmidth, starting in the late 1990s and with su

Breedon Aggregates, the UK’s largest independent aggregates business, has welcomed the decision by Transport Scotland to award its trunk road maintenance contract for the north-west of Scotland to Breedon’s associate company, BEAR Scotland. The contract is one of two awarded today by Transport Scotland, worth a total of £230 million (€284 million). The other, for maintenance of trunk roads in the south-west of Scotland, has been won by Scotland Transerv.

The UK’s Mineral Products Association (MPA) has offered a cautious welcome to the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Changes’ statement that it is looking at exempting energy-intensive industries from the cost of ”contracts for difference,” subject to state-aid approval. While the government has not said exactly which sectors will be exempt, they do acknowledge the important role cement has to play in building the infrastructure for a low-carbon economy and the need to ensure that energy intensive

Cyrille Ragoucy, CEO-designate of the proposed UK joint venture between Lafarge UK and Tarmac’s owners Anglo American, has named his designated executive team for the business, which will be structured around four business units (cement, aggregates and asphalt, contracting, and concrete) with central functional heads. “I am delighted to announce my designated executive team. It draws on the strength and depth of expertise of the two companies and I am confident that their combined skills and experience crea

A purpose-built facility on the small island of Jersey has allowed it to double the amount of building and construction waste recycled. A Jersey haulage, demolition and recycling contractor has invested in a fleet of new mobile screening and crushing equipment. A.A. Langlois has developed over the last decade to become the island’s largest demolition, recycling and haulage contractor employing over 40 staff. It recently acquired a new fleet of Sandvik mobile crushing and screening plant to further develop i

Contractor Carlomagno Gaetano from Lagonegro in northern Italy has been contracted by main contractor SIS to build the new Renazza Tunnel on the A3 Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway. The previous tunnel, which collapsed in the past, is constructed through fragile ground conditions of mainly sand and clay, calling for delicate operations. Italian-Spanish contractor SIS entrusted Carlomagno with the excavation and with disposal of the excavated material from the tunnel workings. The two tunnel bores run paralle

Thomas Armstrong (Aggregates) buys third generation of Doosan wheeled loaders for quarry operations. A quarry operation in north-west England has taken delivery of two new Doosan DL420 wheeled loaders. Thomas Armstrong (Aggregates) received the loaders from Carlisle-based Lloyd, the Doosan dealer for County Cumbria, north-west England and the southern part of Scotland. Operating at the Thomas Armstrong quarries at Overby and Newcowper in Cumbria, the new machines represent the third generation of Doosan whe

The UEPG Sustainable Development Awards 2013 are a showcase of excellence of the European Aggregates Industry. he European Aggregates Industry supports the principles of sustainable development and is committed to operate with care and concern for the environment, for its neighbours and for society as a whole. The UEPG Sustainable Development Awards (SDA), launched as the European Restoration Award for the first time in 1997, illustrate this commitment by promoting the dissemination of good practice and by

The US move to implement financial regulation on the activities of mining and extractive industries in poor and war-torn countries has prompted calls for similar legislation in the EU. The US Securities and Exchange Commission passed two regulations on 22 August, 2012, implementing sections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Dodd-Frank regulation has been described as the most important piece of financial legislation introduced in the US since the great depression.

Recipes from British Olympic Games competitors and Euro football stars are contained in the Big Sports Recipe Book, the creation of a group of employees from Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK. The book costs £10 with all net proceeds going to The Prince’s Trust charity. It is available from Bene Factum Publishing (www.bene-factum.co.uk/site/publication-details/the_big_sports_recipe_book) or www.amazon.co.uk/The-Big-Sports-Recipe-Book.

A lack of construction projects in Spain has led to cement usage levels being as low as they were in the 1930s, the Spanish cement production company Cementos Portland Valderrivas says. The year 2007 is cited as a record year for cement consumption with 57 million tonnes being produced. In the current year the figure has reduced to some 14 million tonnes.

In the first half of 2012, Titan Cement of Greece posted a 2% drop in its revenues to €548 million, a 21% decrease in its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) to €112 million, and a 65% decrease in its profits to €8 million, compared with the corresponding period in 2011. Meanwhile, in the second quarter of 2012, Titan’s revenues increased by 6% to €322 million while its EBITDA fell by 17% to €78 million in comparison with the same period last year.

Cemex in Israel is supplying 20,000m³ of ready-mix concrete for a new, 800+ megawatt, electric power station south of the city of Ashkelon. It will produce approximately 8% of Israel’s total electric power production capacity at prices competitive with Israel Electric Corporation, the country’s state-owned power system. Cemex has modified the concrete supplied for the project to satisfy regional climatic conditions, work practices and local cement characteristics. The plant’s proximity to the sea means the

Italian cement and construction material group Cementir has applied to the regional authorities in Puglia for permission to invest €140 million in the development of a new production line at its plant in Taranto. Of this total, €20million would come from the public purse. Work on the new cement milling line is scheduled to start by the end of 2012 and be completed by 2014. It will use the latest technology to ensure that its emissions and energy usage are as low as possible. It is reported that Cementir has

Italian cement and construction material group Cementir has applied to the regional authorities in Puglia for permission to invest €140 million in the development of a new production line at its plant in Taranto. Of this total, €20million would come from the public purse. Work on the new cement milling line is scheduled to start by the end of 2012 and be completed by 2014. It will use the latest technology to ensure that its emissions and energy usage are as low as possible. It is reported that Cementir has

Italian cement and construction material group Cementir has applied to the regional authorities in Puglia for permission to invest €140 million in the development of a new production line at its plant in Taranto. Of this total, €20million would come from the public purse. Work on the new cement milling line is scheduled to start by the end of 2012 and be completed by 2014. It will use the latest technology to ensure that its emissions and energy usage are as low as possible. It is reported that Cementir has

Komatsu UK, described as one of the major production facilities for construction and mining equipment in the Komatsu group, has celebrated its 25th anniversary. Established in 1985, Komatsu UK became official in 1987 and is located in Birtley, Gateshead, near Newcastle, north-east England. Over the last 25 years, the company has produced more than 59,000 machines and achieved a cumulative turnover of over €4.8 billion. Komatsu UK, part of the global Komatsu organisation with its head office in Tokyo, employ

Lafarge has sold cement, concrete and aggregates assets in the US states of Missouri and Oklahoma to Eagle Materials for US$446 million (€345 million). The assets sold include cement plants in Kansas City (Missouri), and Tulsa (Oklahoma) having a total cement capacity of 1.6 million tons (1.45 million tonnes), along with associated cement terminals. Lafarge is also selling its ready-mix concrete and aggregates operations in Kansas City. Lafarge says it is one of the leading suppliers of the US market where

A critical milestone was reached in July 2012, when the US Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation reauthorising the nation's surface transportation programs, breaking a nearly three-year log-jam which had blocked critical transportation reforms and delayed much-needed infrastructure projects. In a town where compromise is sometimes considered an endangered species, Republicans and Democrats came together during a months-long series of negotiations and hashed out a bipartisan agreement that