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Barr Group's south Ayrshire (Scotland) concrete plant has been sold to a consortium headed by Andrew Gillon and David Murdoch, former managers of the facility. Plans to shut the Solway Precast site were announced in March 2012 by Barr Construction, although production has now resumed.

Vale Malaysia Minerals (VMM), a subsidiary of Brazilian mining group Vale, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, has awarded the Beumer Group an order to supply 16 overland conveyors. For the German specialist intra-logistics company, the around US$100 million (€80 million) order is the largest order in the conveying and loading systems’ product segment in the company’s history.

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.

The Ukrainian market for construction materials and technologies grew by 26% to UAH49.8 billion (€4.91 billion) in terms of wholesale prices in 2011, compared to 2010. Contracting construction works increased by 11% to UAH60.5 billion (€5.94 billion), which contributed to the market growth. Improvements were observed in 78% of construction materials market segments. According to the Personal Analytical Unit (PAU) industrial information analytical agency, investments in construction materials production went

In the first half of 2012, Holcim (Deutschland) recorded a decline of turnover to €176 million although sales in terms of volume were "good". Operating result declined from a loss of €10.2 million to a loss of €16.7 million. Holcim blames price pressure on cement and ready-mixed concrete, and it expects price pressure to continue and will try to increase prices.

Powerscreen has made a series of improvements to the plant controls used in its crushing and screening equipment.
The company’s latest advancement is in the automation and control systems, simplifying the interaction between operator and machine. Initially launched in 2011, Powerscreen began implementing a wide-ranging upgrade to its plant control system to coincide with the redesign

Rubble Master’s new RM100 GO, the latest addition to company’s GO line, has been proving itself on a project in Austria, where the company is based. The machine features fully removable main discharge belt; material separating ridge in a single-piece vibro chute; the crusher’s quick-release system and the new MS100 GO finishing screen.

The new JCB 457 wheeled loader is powered by an 8.9 litre Cummins diesel rated at 186kW that meets the Stage IIIB/Tier 4 Interim emissions legislation. JCB says it is also more economical on fuel and also delivers an 18% increase in power over the earlier 456 model. It has been joined by the 427 and 437 wheeled loaders, powered by 6.7litre Cummins engines rated at 118kW and 129kW respectively.

The IUCN and UEPG are planning to work together to foster biodiversity in European pits and quarries EPG, the European Aggregates Association, has signed a Letter of Intent with the Regional Office for Europe of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) towards the goal of working together to further foster biodiversity in quarries and pits across Europe. The Letter of Intent, signed at the UEPG Delegates Assembly on 25 May,

A real-time, ‘human in the loop’ system to simulate future technology and understand operator behavior is being developed in Korea As technology gets ever more complex, it is becoming more expensive to build prototype machines, which takes a long time and commits a lot of resources. If the prototype is not effective work has to start all over again, and because of this it is becoming increasingly important to shorten the development cycle and use computers to carry out as much virtual testing and simulation

Ramora UK, a leading explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) company, has launched the National Explosive Safety Scheme (NESS). It has already helped to develop and implement official explosive-related procedures which are accepted as best practice throughout the industry, and now Ramora UK is offering its expertise 24-hours-a-day through NESS.

Metso is expanding its rubber mill lining production capacity by investing in new presses to meet the growing demand in the global mining market. After completing the investment in 2015, the company’s global rubber mill linings production capacity at the existing wear part manufacturing plants will increase by 30%. The investment, totalling approximately €10 million, will be completed in two phases. The first set of presses is scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2013, and includes the installation of

A charitable partnership between County Leicestershire, UK-based Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK and The Prince’s Trust has now raised over £100,000 (€125,000). As long term supporters of the youth charity, which supports disadvantaged young people in the UK in finding work, employees at Lafarge have taken part in activities including trek challenges, car washes, cake sales, bag packing, race nights, and dress down days in order to raise the money.

Astec Industries Inc. founder J. Don Brock has stepped down as president of the Chattanooga, US-based company, and Norman Smith, who co-founded the company with Brock, will replace the 73-year-old CEO as president and chief operating officer. The new "decentralised company structure facilitates the development of a strong internal management team," Brock said.

The new president of the European Aggregates Association talks to Patrick Smith about his priorities and aims for his term in office Arnaud Colson, a 59-years-old Frenchman, is public affairs and sustainable development director at Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete, France. In difficult times for many aggregates companies throughout Europe, he was elected as new president of the European Aggregates Association (UEPG) with a three-year mandate.

Cemex, the largest cement maker in the Americas, has won more than 90% acceptance of an offer to extend maturities on US$ 7.25 billion of loans by three years. Support for the proposal, whose acceptance deadline was extended to 7th September, is said to have bolstered Cemex’s efforts to prevent a financing crunch in 2014 by pushing maturities to 2017.

CDE has expanded its growing international partner network for the washing equipment it produces with the signing of Borusan Makina in Turkey. Borusan Makina, a Borusan Group company, has been operating in the construction and mining equipment sector since 1994. The partnership agreement with CDE was signed during a recent visit to CDE Global headquarters in Northern Ireland and marks the conclusion of a carefully considered consultation period.

Sandra Brannan, who has worked in the quarrying industry for over 25 years, has just published her third murder-mystery book featuring crime-solver Liv Bergen. Her family have been in the mining game for four generations quarrying iron ore, gypsum and lime in South Dakota, USA, and in 2010 readers she went from limestone manager to amateur sleuth in the first instalment of her critically acclaimed murder-mystery series.

FLSmidth has signed an agreement to acquire the privately-owned company Decanter Machine, a United States-based manufacturer and supplier of centrifugal technology to the global minerals industries. The transaction is subject to changing the terms of property use for a piece of land, which is expected to occur in September. The parties have agreed not to disclose the value of the transaction.

The next few months could well be an interesting one for the UK quarrying industry and one that could see big changes. Rumour, as ever in these instances, is rife, but now that the final undertakings for the Anglo American (Tarmac)/Lafarge construction materials joint venture plan have been published, the sales process is active. Announcing this, the Competition Commission, which looked into the joint venture, says that the sales will introduce a new competitor (or competitors) into the sector as the duo se