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Hydraulic breakers are proving more popular for primary winning in quarries than ever before. Mike Woof visited Lopardo quarry in Italy to find out why. Nestling among the steep tree-covered hills close to the small town of Brienza near Potenza in Southern Italy lies the Lopardo quarry. The site covers a comparatively small area but the quarry has high walls because of the surrounding hills and this is a far more modern and efficient operation than its dimensions might suggest.

Cemex’s sales fell by 10% in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same period last year, to US$3billion, while EBITDA was also down 23% at US$515million. The company has said that the decline was mainly due to lower sales in the US, Mexico and Europe but these were partly offset by higher prices in several markets. Consolidated cement sales volumes decreased 6% versus the same period in 2009, while ready-mix and aggregates sales volumes decreased 16% and 13%, respectively.

Lafarge has started an extensive consultation in the UK in a bid to expand its use of alternative fuels at its Hope Works site in Derbyshire. Under the scheme the company is hoping to us Processed Sewage Pellets (PSP) to improve environmental performance and control rising energy costs. PSP is made from the sludge that remains after sewage treatment. (Almost a million tonnes of this sludge is generated in the UK each year.) The sludge is then further heat-treated, making it as harmless as garden soil. In so

Cemex Espana has announced plans to install a new €4million bag filter at its Alcanar plant in Tarragona, Spain in a bid to further reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The new filters, which will start to be installed this summer and take a year to complete, are expected to reduce emission produced by traditional filters by half. The company also plans to install similar filters on its other two furnaces at the site before 2015.

Sicily based Calcestruzzi’s business practices have been placed under the spotlight again after some of its staff were arrested in connection with an investigation into the supply of concrete. The employees are accused of working with the local mafia to control the supply of concrete in Sicily and for criminal offences and fraud in public supply contracts. The Italcementi’s subsidiary has been previously linked to mafia control and in December 2007 Italcementi temporarily suspended the operation of the comp

Croatia-based cement producer Nasicement has said that it plans to invest around HRK28million (€3.86million) in environmental protection projects at its plants during the next three years.

Spanish cement consumption in the first three months of the year totalled 5.4million tonnes – a 19.4% decrease from the same period in 2009. Cement production was also down for the period compared to the previous year at 5.3million tonnes, while clinker production was 10.7% lower than in 2009. Nonetheless, imports and exports of cement and clinker were both up by around 11%.

Investing in new equipment and using western quarrying techniques is helping one Chinese quarry to boost productivity. Second hand machinery, combined with high demand, means that some Chinese quarries are struggling to produce continuous supplies of aggregates for the construction market. Hong Kong owned Wah Tong Machinery Trading is working to overcome the supply problems in its Guangzhou quarry by investing in new equipment. The company is one of a new breed of contractors in the country, which are going

The major shareholders in Cimescaut – including the company’s founders the Bertrand family – have said they will oppose the planned takeover of Carrières d'Antoing in Belgium by CBR. Cimescaut owns a 60% share of Carrières d'Antoing, while CBR holds a 40% stake but has offered €5.33million to buy out Cimescaut’s interest in the quarry. CBR has taken the acquisition plan to court and a ruling from Commercial Court of Tournai is expected by late June 2010.

Despite a 25% fall in demand, approval of new aggregate reserves in the UK is still not keeping pace with consumption, according to a new report from BDS marketing. The report suggests that consents for new reserves in 2009 fell by 40% following on from just 115million tonnes of new reserves granted in 2008, compared to production of 135million tonnes. BDS estimates that in the past 10 years only once have new reserve consents matched production.

Lafarge has celebrated the opening of a new quarry in Var, France this week. The new installation at the sand and gravel site represents an investment of €30million and replaces an exhausted quarry in the same region. Around 70% of the production is expected to be used by the concrete market with the remainder produced for road construction.

Spain’s cement producers association Oficemen has announced the appointment of Cemex Espana director general Joaquin Estrada as its new chairman. Estrada replaces Lafarge chairman Jean Martin-Saint-León who held the post for three years. The organisation has also appointed Holcim’s Vincenty Lefebvre, Cementos Portland’s Dieter Kiefer, Lafarge’s José Antonio Primo and Corporación Noroeste’s Angel Longarela as deputy chairman.

Local authorities in La Rochelle, France have granted approval of plans from Holcim to develop a new cement unit in the region. Under the scheme, the company plans to build a production unit at La Pallice with a crushing capacity of 3500tonnes per day. The approved plan is a modification of one that was previously rejected by the authority and the revised development features the plant located further away from nearby homes.

Grupo Maresa has officially opened its new €5million concrete plant in Hortaleza in Spain. The company claims that the new facility is the most hi-tech of its kind in Spain in terms of its environmental and technical performance. The new plant has a capacity to produce up to 220m3 of concrete per hour.

France’s national union of quarry and construction materials industries (Unicem) is to join forces with the French aggregates association (UNPG) to launch a new biodiversity training programme. The new initiative will aim to provide 5000 staff in 1000 French quarries with a better understanding of how biodiversity and quarrying activity fit together.

Quarrying can be a dangerous business but the Atlantic Alliance believes that sharing best practice can help reduce the risk. Claire Symes reports

The European aggregates industry employs more than 350,000 people but each year these workers are placed at a higher risk of death or injury than those working in other sectors in Europe. This level of risk is unacceptable and improving health and safety is usually central to the operation of almost every quarrying company.

Unfortunately the problem is not

Holcim has reported higher net sales and better operating results for the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same period last year with March show significant improvements. The company has reported a 4.8% rise in net sales to CHF4.7billion and 19.1% increase in EBITDA to CHF909million in the first three months of year, compared to 2009. Sales volumes for cement, aggregates and ready mixed concrete were all up on 2009 levels with aggregate showing the strongest gain of 17.5% to take it to 29.5million ton

AR Aggregates has said it is aiming for quality rather than quality with it latest equipment purchase for its newest UK operation. The newly formed aggregates arm of AR demolition has recently acquired new Sandvik QA450 and QE340 screens and a QJ340 crusher. “We could have just bought a second-hand crusher and screen and been content with producing a 6F2 product, but there are plenty of other companies doing that. We wanted to be unique in this area,” explained AR co-director Andrew Thompson. “We have, th

The drill and blast method is used in many quarries to win stone for crushing, but there are alternatives. Patrick Smith reports. European restrictions on blasting operations are now so rigorous that some quarry operators have abandoned the practice in favour of other methods. One of the major reasons for the regulations is that people living or working near, or even in quarries, could be affected by flying rock, the shock waves from a blast or the noise. Dust could also be problem, and concerns have been e

Cimpor has announced that it has appointed Castro Guera as its new chairman and former board member Francisco Lacerda as its new CEO. António Carlos Varela, Luís Miguel Ribeiro Vaz and Álvaro Luís Veloso will remain on the executive committee.