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HeidelbergCement increased revenue and profit in the second quarter of 2012 and has said it intends to increase operating margins while unveiling two new initiatives. The company said there was strong operative development compared to previous year, based on growth in sales volumes in North America and Asia as well as successful price increases.

Spanish cement company, Cementos Molins, has reported profits of €19.80 million in the first half of 2012, which was 70.6% up on a year earlier. Sales increased from €400.2 million in the first half of 2011 to €454.9 million in its latest results. The company is expected to end the year with net profits (without extraordinary adjustments) of around €40 million if its factories abroad, such as those in Tunisia and Argentina, continue to perform well.

LSR group sold 204,000m³ of reinforced concrete items in the first half of 2012, 14% up year on year, including 167,000m³ in St Petersburg; 5,000m³ in the Moscow region and 33,000m³ in Yekaterinburg. During the period, concrete sales totalled 659,000m³, 16% up, including 444,000m³ in St Petersburg and 216,000m³ in the Moscow region. Brick sales totalled 84 million items, 1% up, including 76 million in St Petersburg and 8 million in the Moscow region. Aerated concrete sales totalled 522,000m³, 24% up, includ

Cemex UK has put 350 of its quarry plant operators and management from across the UK through the Finning Eco-Drive programme. The scale of the programme represents the largest number of operators to date to take part in the training programme. Having collected data from its operations, pre and post training, Eco-Drive project manager and Cemex UK’s national operations project manager, Craig Hooper says he has seen the benefits Eco-Drive has delivered for the business first hand.

Italian cement and construction material group Cementir has posted a net profit of €1.8 million for the first half of 2012, up from a loss of €8.7 million in 2011. The company’s turnover rose 2.6% to €462.5 million, while its pre-tax profit went up from €1.9 million to €4.9 million and its EBITDA increased 17.5% to €55.9 million.

Carbolite has introduced a new asphalt binder analyser, the ABA 7/35B for the automatic calculation of the asphalt binder content of hot mix asphalts (HMAs) used for in road surfacing. The system is optimised for standard compliant tests to BS EN 12697-39-2004; ASTM 6307-10 and AASHTO T308-10 standard test methods for determining the asphalt content of HMA, applying the ignition method.

Despite the slow down in the US market, this year's ConExpo looks set to be one of the biggest yet. ABE previews the new quarrying machines that will be on display he international construction equipment industry's triannual visit to the US will roll into the desert state of Nevada next month for ConExpo 2008. Taking turns in alternate years to France's Intermat and Germany's Bauma exhibitions, the Las Vegas show is the main event for new machine launches this year. Between 11 and 15 March, the Las Vegas Co

The tri-annual Samoter construction exhibition is to be held in Verona, Italy in March. ABE takes a look at the latest launches that will be on display his year sees Italy's tri-annual Samoter construction exhibition, held in the city of Verona, move to a new date in March and looks set to be larger than ever before. According to the show's organiser, Veronafiere, exhibits at Samoter 2008 (5 to 9 March) will fill 30% more space and visitors are expected to exceed the 95,000 recorded in 2005. With dates for

When it comes to hauling and loading options for quarries, Caterpillar is a market leader and Vincent Migeotte is the man charged with maintaining the company's position in the European market. Claire Symes reports Quarries and the aggregate production process represent an important market for equipment manufacturers, not only because of the volume of machines sold but also the physical size of them. Caterpillar is no different and has a whole team dedicated to working with the quarrying sector to ensure n

In November last year more than 130 senior executives from Europe's aggregates industry and European Commission gathered in Brussels for the European Minerals Forum 2007 Engaging with stakeholders - the way ahead was the theme of last year's European Minerals Forum, which was held in Brussels on 28 November 2007. The annual event bought together more than 130 senior executives from Europe's aggregates industry and European Commission for a day of seminars and discussion. After five years the European Minera

Canada's west coast is home to one of the newest super quarries in North America, which is helping to meet aggregates demand in the US. Claire Symes reports on the rapid development of the Orca Quarry Aggregate demand on the US west coast is fast outstripping regional supply capabilities and importing material from neighbouring countries is becoming essential. This trend has led to development of new port facilities in the US and prospecting for potential new quarry sites on Canada's British Columbia (BC) c

Metso Minerals has extended its range of Lokotrack mobile crushing units with the launch of the LT116 jaw plant. According to the company, the 50tonne unit, which is the smallest in the 30-strong Lokotrack range, is both compact and easily transportable. Central to the design of the 400tonne per hour capacity LT116 is the C116 jaw which features a new cavity design for better grip and maximum inter-cavity crushing. The jaw unit also has an automatically adjustable feeder speed to give the plant efficient an

Noise pollution has become an issue for both construction and quarry sites across Europe. Many equipment manufacturers are looking for ways to minimise the audible impact of their machines and Sandvik is the latest to equip its rigs to tackle the problem. Sandvik's NoiseGuard muffler system has been developed for surface top hammer drilling applications and the company claims that it significantly reduces the level of drilling noise. The system reduces noise emissions by up to 10dB(A) through use of a speci

Caterpillar's new 938H wheeled loader is said to offer considerably higher performance than the 938G II model it replaces. Mike Woof reports With features more commonly seen on larger machines only, Caterpillar's 15.5tonne 938H wheeled loader is a high quality machine and is being offered worldwide. The new 938H replaces the 938G II machine and offers considerable performance improvements. Power for the 938H is increased by 8% and comes from Caterpillar's new C6.6 diesel rated at 134kW, which features ACERT

Incineration of refuse in place of landfilling is gaining acceptance in Europe but the process creates waste in the form of slag. ABE takes a look at the French approach to turning slag into aggregates Growing environmental concerns and lack of potential sites means that landfilling is no longer the easy option for disposing of domestic waste in Europe. The alternative is incineration which not only offers the opportunity for power generation but the residues - known as slags - can also be reused. France ha

The UK Concrete Repair Association (CRA) has updated its website to improve navigation and ensure ease of use for visitors. Providing extensive information on this specialist area of construction, the CRA website is said to offer a simple menu structure to ensure that visitors can find exactly what they need within moments of entering the site.

In researching this month's equipment focus on the screening market in Europe, one of the people I spoke to remarked that man's method of processing rock has essentially remained unchanged for thousands of years. "We're still basically hitting rocks against other rocks to break them up into a usable size, it's just our accuracy and efficiency in achieving the end result that has improved," he said. Those remarks made me think about the elements of the aggregates industry that have changed; aggregate demand,

Russian concrete firm LSR-Bazovye, part of LSR group, plans to invest €25.25 million (RUB 1billion) a year in expanding production capacities. By the end of 2012 the company is to open three concrete plants, two in Saint-Petersburg and one in the Leningrad region. The company also plans to bring Petrovsky ballast quarry to its projected capacity of 500,000tonnes. Exploration works are in progress at Vorontsovskoye sand field in the Vyborgsky district of the Leningrad region.

The New Year may not seem so new any more but we are in the season for posting of full year results, so it is difficult not to still think of 2008 as new. From reviewing all the financial figures for last year, 2007 seems to have been another record breaker for most quarry operators with many recording double digit growth in both turnover and profits. The release of financial results always turns talk to where the growth has come from and why, and in 2007 Eastern Europe and Asia seem to have been the stars

French waste treatment company Sita, the higher education entity École des Mines de Douai and Néo-Eco Recycling have partnered to research the use of recycled raw materials for concrete production. One new formula under research could create filler for road construction using fine clinker. Tests for the filler, which is applied in a layer under the asphalt, will be run near Lille in late 2012. Néo-Eco Recycling has created a separation technique to collect clinker of 6mm and less for the filler.