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Use of slurry surfacing on Spanish runways is helping to speed up airport maintenance, while reducing use of virgin aggregates. Air traffic volumes are rising - global passenger numbers grew 7.6% last year, while cargo increased 4.5% during the same period - placing ever greater pressure on airport infrastructure. Higher traffic volumes may be good for profit margins but this rapid rise in demand creates other difficulties for the airport operators.

Spain's airports are no exception and are experiencin

Cemex Spain has expanded its fruit plantation in the restored areas of its El Clotet quarry near Alicante in Spain with the planting of 13,000 naranjo orange trees. Children from the local La Canyada del Fenollar y del centro El Verdegás school helped the company with some of the work and they also learnt more about the restoration project.

Amber found at the Font-de-Benon quarry at Archingeay-Les Nouillers in Charente-Maritime, southwest France has been revealed to contain the oldest 3D hair specimens. While older 2D fossilised specimens have been found, the 100million year old amber contains 3D hairs from two mammals. The hairs, found alongside a fly pupa in amber are remarkably similar to hair found on modern mammals, which indicates that the shape and structure of mammal hair has remained unchanged over a vast period of time. The identity

An investigation has been launched to find the cause of an explosion that injured two people at Tarmac’s Stancombe Quarry near Bristol, UK on Monday this week. Local media reports suggest that a lorry carrying gas cylinders was at the centre of the incident, which caused first degree burns to one man and third degree burns to another.

Restoration of the Lafarge’s Whitlingham Quarry has entered the final stage after 20 years of mineral extraction at the site. The company opened the sand and gravel quarry in 1990 and has produced around 200,000tonnes of material each year for the local market since then.

France-based construction company has announced that has opened a new quarry near Béziers in France to meet the demands of its construction operations in southeastern and central France. The new 500,000tonne per year plant will produce aggregates for the road and construction market.

The Rapid rise in concrete construction in the United Arab Emirates sultanate of Oman is driving investment in quarrying equipment as operators step up aggregate production to meet demand

Oman's network of wadis (dry channels that only flood with water during heavy rain) provide near perfect quarrying conditions. The floodwater travelling at up to 30km/h often deposits similarly sized, unconsolidated silt, sand or rock in the channels that can be quarried easily using wheeled loaders.

Local quarry ope

Cemex Deutschland has announced that its head office is to be relocated from Ratingen to Düsseldorf on 1 November this year. The change will affect 250 of Cemex’s 3200 employees in Germany.

French aggregates association Unicem has reported that aggregates output in France fell by 12.7% to 376million tonnes in 2009, taking the market back to demand levels last seen in 1998.

Around 1500 quarries in Ireland could be forced to reapply for planning permission if proposed amendments to the Planning Bill by the Irish Government are brought into force.It is thought that the changes could lead to closure of around 100 quarries which could fail to meet new standards set by An Bord Pleanala under the new Bill.

Strabag is the only foreign investor to have made a bid for the 85% stake in Kieleckie Kopalnie Surowcow Mineralnych offered by the Polish government. The quarry, which produced crushed aggregates from the dolomitic limestone deposit has also attracted bid from four Poland-based companies including Dolnoslaskie Surowce Skalne, Colas Kruszywa, Gorazdze Kruszywa and Poldim. The government has not indicated when the winning bidder will be revealed.

France-based Société des Carrières Vauclusiennes (SCV) has announced the opening of a new recycling platform at a site near Avignon. The company has invested in a new Kleeman crusher for the site which is expected to process up to 100,000tonnes of material per year.

Iceland-based engineering company Mannvit has revealed that ash from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano could be used to improve concrete design. According to the company, the ash contains silicates and glass similar to ash from coal sources that is frequently used as reinforcement in concrete mixes. Mannvit has said that addition of 5% volcanic ash improves the quality of the concrete but only 60% of the ash from the eruption is of sufficient quality for the application.

Reportable injuries in UK quarries are down 76% from 10 years ago, according to the Health and Safety Executive. The organisation has said that the achievement has been delivered by the Hard Target initiative that was launched in 2000 in a bid to tackle the industry’s safety issues. HSE chair Judith Hackitt commended the companies, trade bodies and trade unions that have helped to deliver this target in a special address at the Hillhead exhibition in Buxton, UK. Hackitt also underlined the industry’s aim of

At the end of his two year stint as president of the European Aggregates Association, Didier Audibert tells Paul Howard about what's been achieved and what remains to be done. Even after two years as European Aggregates Association (UEPG) president there's a palpable sense of disbelief in Didier Audibert's voice as he sets out one of its key roles - to inform European legislators and policy makers about this often maligned and misunderstood industry.

Dust can be a big problem for quarries but careful monitoring is essential to find the right solution, according to SLR Consulting's Rachel Cutler. Noise, dust and vibration are all issues that can cause friction between quarry operations and the surrounding local communities and are all problems the quarrying industry is working to mitigate. Sources of noise and vibration can be fairly easily identified and isolated but preventing dust is more of a challenge as there can be multiple sources and deposition

UK-based Earthline has expanded its aggregate production capabilities with investment in new processing equipment from Terex Finlay. The Oxfordshire quarry has recently taken delivery of a Terex Finlay C1540 Cone Crusher and two new Terex Finlay 683s from Finlay Plant SW. The C1540 takes clean limestone over 40mm from an existing Terex Finlay 883 screener on site – which is in turn fed by a Terex Finlay J-1175 jaw crusher - and shapes the material to produce a high value product. Once processed through the

Leading submersible pump group ITT has announced that it has agreed a deal for US$585million to acquire automatic self-priming pump specialist Godwin Pumps. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year. "This acquisition is another example of ITT's strategy to expand our core businesses and build on our strong global positions in water, wastewater and industrial process," said ITT's Fluid and Motion Control group president Gretchen McClain.

Heidelberg Cement has announced that it has successfully issued €650million of Eurobonds under its EMTN programme. The bonds have a maturity date of 15 December 2015 and a fixed coupon of 6.75% per year.

UK-based Yorkshire Aggregates has reported productivity increases and reduced maintenance following delivery of three new Case 821E wheeled loader to its quarries. The company has said that since arriving on site the machines have helped to improve uptime by around 20 hours a week. Working across the company’s three main business areas at their two quarries, located in Wroot and Armthorpe, the machines join two existing 821E’s in handling a variety of material which includes everything from heavy recycled a