Search

"Not only is this great for people working for the20company, but it also placed the quarrying industry as an example of good practice in terms of safety ahead of many other industries in Europe"

If the outside world does not perceive the efforts made by the quarrying industry to improve biodiversity and use resources sustainably - is that the industry's fault or down to preconceptions in society? Whatever the answer, the problem will not be resolved without the aggregates sector being proactive and actively engaging with stakeholders, policy makers and local communities

Shareholders in listed company Readymix have voted to sell the 38% slice of the company not owned by Cemex to the Mexican construction giant. Some 96.9% of eligible shareholders who voted, which excluded the Cemex shareholding, voted in favour of the sale which will see shareholders receive €0.25 for each share held.
Readymix is expected to delist from the Irish Stock Exchange on 9 May. The company was founded in 1965, with Cemex taking a majority shareholding in the Irish company in 2005 following its pur

French cement specialist Lafarge has opened a Construction Development Laboratory (CDL) in Mumbai, India. Lafarge says that it strengthens the group's product development capabilities and will design building solutions and systems adapted to the needs of the ever moving Indian market. India showcases considerable housing and infrastructure needs, and could become the world's third largest construction market by 2018. The CDL should allow Lafarge to seize even better such opportunities.

UK brick maker Michelmersh recorded an operating profit of £1.5 million (€1.8 million) in the year to 31 December, 2011 after a £500,000 (€598,000) loss last time. Turnover was up 4% to £24.3 million as the company sold 70 million bricks at an improved average price of £345/1,000 compared to £330 in 2010. Chairman Eric Gadsden said: “The market is not only divided geographically, but also between ‘stock’ bricks required for appearance, (often driven by planning conditions), and ‘wire-cut’ bricks which are i

The new Cat 777G off-highway truck replaces the 777F and is said to deliver greater levels of production and fuel efficiency as well as enhanced safety, operator comfort and service convenience in the 91tonne class. The 777, first introduced by Caterpillar in 1977, has proven to be a workhorse for mining and large earthmoving customers, says the company.

Gravel output in France reached 349.2 million tonnes in 2011, a 3.7% increase on 336.7 million tonnes in the previous year, according to figures recently disclosed by the French quarry and construction materials industrial union, Unicem.

The UK’s new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a key part of the government’s reforms to make the planning system less complex and more accessible; to protect the environment and to promote sustainable growth.
The planning system helps to ensure that development takes place in the public interest, in economically, socially and environmentally sustainable ways, and has a major impact on how local neighbourhoods look, feel and function. It also has a role to play in helping to cut carbon emissions

Xylem has launched a light-hearted marketing campaign to promote its new range of Flygt Ready, on-the-spot dewatering pumps. According to Xylem, the Great Pumping Moments marketing campaign “celebrates the fact that the Flygt Ready pumps are robust, compact and very easily serviced resulting in a long lasting, durable pump.”

HeidelbergCement completed the capacity expansion project at its cement plant in Górazdze, Poland, with the commissioning of a new cement mill. The new mill, which is the largest ball mill in Europe, has a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes/year and ideally complements last year’s increased kiln capacity. In 2012, total cement capacity in Poland will rise to 5.6 million tonnes. “With the new mill we successfully complete another important project of our investment programme in attractive growth markets," says

Powerscreen presented top awards to dealers at its World Dealer Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Damian Power, global product line director, said “The Powerscreen Dealer Network is the core strength of the Powerscreen brand. Now with over 120 dealers worldwide, Powerscreen delivers superior customer support; from customers the right parts the first time, to experienced field engineers should customers need them.”
Powerscreen employs a dynamic balanced scorecard approach to monitoring dealer perform

Holcim posted sales of €106 million in Slovakia in 2011. The revenues were similar to the year 2010. The company is currently involved in ten projects worth € 47 million which gives it a long-term perspective. Holcim's investments amounted to €15 million, mostly in improving efficiency and reliability of its production. In 2012, the company plans to invest €7 million in the production of sulphate resistant cement and wants to relaunch two cement mills. It also wants to increase use of alternative fuels in

Mining specialist Hargreaves has invested in a totally new fleet of Caterpillar equipment in a UK-first, £60 million (€72 million), seven-year deal with Finning, Equipment Solutions. This is the first time in Europe Africa and the Middle East (EAME) that a mining project has chosen a total solution from the newly-extended Caterpillar mining range. The deal includes four new Cat 6030 hydraulic excavators and 19 777 off highway trucks, delivered during 2012 to the new Hargreaves’ Surface Mining Division for u

A global leader in dust suppression technology has introduced a new low-turbulence design for applications in which a fan-driven mist would be undesirable. Developed in response to extensive customer input, the DustBoss DB-M from Dust Control Technology is said to be well suited to operating conditions involving very fine dust particles, including slag dust or fly ash. The unit generates an umbrella-shaped cloud of atomised droplets averaging 50-200 microns in size, projecting the mist about 9.14m under cal

Bernard Fontana, Holcim's new chief executive officer, will have to restructure the cement maker’s business in Europe where additional plants will have to be closed, cut costs, and expand the company’s business in emerging markets, SonntagsZeitung said, citing criteria set for him by the board of directors. Details of Fontana’s plans will be presented on April 17 at the company’s shareholder meeting, the newspaper said.

On a turnover that advanced by 5.2% to €2,787.4 million, Buzzi Unicem’s underlying EBITDA improved by 6% to €422.3 million. With the non-recurrence of the exceptional charges seen in 2010, the trading profit (EBIT) jumped from €0.3 million to €185.9 million. After a net interest charge 3.7% lower at €99.8 million a pre-tax profit of €84.3 million emerged, an improvement on the previous year’s loss but still well below the €235.2 million profit achieved in 2009. Net attributable profit was €26.4 million. Net

KARE Prague, part of the Nezvestice-based APB Plzen group, has taken delivery of two new Doosan DL350 wheel loaders. They were supplied by Bobcat CZ, the authorised dealer for both the Doosan and Bobcat brands in the Czech Republic. Petr Brezina, owner of APB Plzen, said: "We started the company in 1991 with one Avia vehicle and have grown over the last two decades through continuous improvement in services and customer satisfaction, into an economically strong and stable company with 500 employees and an a

The first two Italian designed dump trucks have been delivered to the Candiota Mine in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. With a payload capacity of up to 65tonnes, the Perlini Randon trucks rely on Allison 6000 Series automatic transmission. The trucks were delivered by Randon Veículos to Companhia Riograndense de Mineração (CRM), a mixed-capital company controlled by the state government of Rio Grande do Sul, to haul coal at the state’s Candiota Mine. The RDP 470 is the result of a joint venture between Perlini E

Indian cement company ACC, in which Holcim holds a majority stake, sold 2.34 million tonnes of cement in March this year, an increase of 7.3% over the same month last year. The company had sold 2.18 million tonnes cement in March 2011. ACC produced 2.3 million tonnes cement in March against 2.19 million tonnes a year ago. In the first quarter of this year, ACC posted sales of 6.72 million tonnes compared to 6.22 million tonnes in the same period last year. The production during this period stood at 6.7 mill

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) has welcomed the newly published UK National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), a key part of reforms to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, to protect the environment and to promote sustainable growth. NPPF which if implemented as intended could help drive development and growth in the economy whilst taking full account of the need to protect the environment. The combination of the new presumption in favour of sustainable development and the need