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Cemex, in partnership with contractor Copisa Group, has completed the first stretch of a bridge that will connect the Port of Barcelona with Barcelona airport in Spain.
The bridge, which crosses Llobregat River, is expected to be completed later this year, and Cemex provided over 30,000m³ of different types of specialty ready-mix concrete. The three pillars needed high-strength concrete to support a road 300m long and 30m wide, and the material also had to flow through the intricate framework, be auto-comp

GSM has had permission to operate an open-air quarry in south-west France withdrawn due to an impact study's perceived failure to sufficiently consider animals of protected status.

The global market for construction aggregates is expected to increase 5.2% per year through to 2015 to 48.3 billion tonnes.
The represents a slower rate of growth than during 2005-2010 and reflects a moderation in aggregates-intensive non-building construction activity.
Nevertheless, demand for construction aggregates will still post solid gains from 2010-2015. The Asia/Pacific region will register the largest increases in product sales, as construction activity will rise rapidly, particularly in China an

A Finnish concrete element company has developed a new concrete slab for intermediate floors.

World demand for cement and concrete additives is projected to increase 8.35% annually to US$15.8 billion in 2015, a significant improvement over the performance of the 2005-2010 period.

An H&S issue at a UK quarry has been overcome using a Finnish-made system to move an excavator around the site. A special piece of equipment has been used by Lafarge Cement UK to overcome a tricky health and safety issue at one of its quarries. The 328 hectare Lafarge cement manufacturing site at Hope, County Derbyshire in England’s Peak District, was presented with the H&S challenge, for which a solution was supplied using an innovative, Finnish-built transportation system.

Cement demand in Germany will not grow in 2012, according to national cement industry association Verein Deutscher Zementwerke (VDZ).

According to reports the cement contract for the new £1.5billion (€1.79billion) Forth bridge in Scotland could be awarded to Hochtief from Germany.Lafarge in Dunbar, Scotland, has bid for the contract, and the speculation follows the recent announcement that steel for the bridge will come from Spain, Poland and China.

An innovative automated system with production control and maintenance management for an aggregates processing plant has been completed by Italian company Ma-estro. Carried out for the Calcestruzzi plant, which is part of the Italcementi Group, the production unit is near Cagliari, capital of the island of Sardinia.
It is mainly used in several ready-mix concrete plants, both for use within the group and for other customers.
All study, design and management phases have been followed by Raffaele Piludu,

On 31 January it was 150 years to the day since Göran Fredrik Göransson's new company was formed in Sandviken, Sweden. At that time, Sandvik was first in the world to use the Bessemer process, which would revolutionise steel manufacturing. The company quickly became among the world's leaders in its industry.

The building materials sector in France did fairly well at the end of 2011 and Unicem forecasts growth for between 7-8% for the full year 2011. Ready-mixed concrete saw a 10.3% increase year-on-year in the fourth quarter, and was up 10.7% over the whole year.

Hydraulic excavators are the subject of a new book which looks in detail at the machines and how they are used. Hydraulic excavators are now the most widely used of all off-highway machines but that the hydraulic excavator has become, effectively, ubiquitous is of note. This was how Aggregates Business Europe described the hydraulic excavator in a 2008 Quarry Classics.
It went on to say: “The current generation of hydraulic excavators are descended from machines developed 60 or so years ago, which is a

Following the acquisition of Hartl mobile crushers in 2010, Atlas Copco Construction & Mining "intensified its focus on the mobile crushing industry." Now Steve McDonough has been appointed regional sales manager for Power Crushers & Hydraulic Attachments, responsible for the north of England region.

Terex Minerals Processing Systems (MPS) has launched a new Modular Product line with the new MC1000, the first module built in the line is being highlighted at Intermat. The line consists of several pre-designed static and semi-static crushing and screening “plug and play” modules, which can be chosen to create the plant required to suit many applications such as aggregates and mining.
“This simple but effective product gives flexibility to our customers to choose ‘ready-to-work’ modules to create the pla

Weir Minerals has launched two new sales and support centres in Spain and The Netherlands as part of its strategy to get closer to its customers across the Iberian Peninsula and Benelux regions. The company supplies mineral processing equipment including pumps, valves and filtration systems to the mining, aggregates and general industrial sectors.

BedRock Software has released Version 276 for its AggFlow aggregate plant simulation program.
The new program represents more than three years of extensive programming and design work and incorporates the latest features, capabilities and equipment available in what is claimed to be the world’s most widely used plant optimisation software.
Version 276 allows program users to simulate aggregate plant operations more realistically than ever before, and in addition to the modelling capabilities and blending

The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has referred the aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete markets in Great Britain to the Competition Commission.

The decision to make a market investigation reference follows the publication of the OFT's market study and its announcement of a provisional decision to refer these markets in the UK in August 2011.

A new MDS-2000 drilling system from Moba Mobile Automation AG is being used for the first time in a quarry in South America.
To monitor and control drilled blast holes in a granite quarry in Vacamonte, Panama, the company has equipped an HCR-1200 EDII-type drilling device from FRD Furukawa Rock Drill with the drilling system in collaboration with B-B-S Bohrsysteme.
Since installation and training of the machine operators, the machine is now operating in two shifts.
“The system allows for efficient machin

A number of changes have been made to Caterpillar’s D9T bulldozer, said to be popular in small mines and in aggregates operations. The D9T, known as a track-type tractor in the Cat product line, now offers the new features that include enhanced operator safety, comfort and convenience, refined performance and increased productivity.
Powered by a Cat C18 engine with ACERT Technology, rated at 306kW, and with an operating weight of more than 49,900kg, the D9T “takes on the toughest dozing and ripping jobs.

Building materials company, Cemex has compiled its Sustainable Development Update,an interim report updating its environmental, economic and social performance during 2010.

The company says the report indicates great strides in areas of major importance to the company's stakeholders including a 49% reduction in waste to landfill, 35% improvement in environmental incidents, use of alternative fuels up 7% and a reduction from 19 to 6 in lost time injuries (LTIs).