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UK-based Mineral Products Association joined forces with a local aggregates producer to promote the dangers of undertaking lorries to cyclists in Oxford in a pilot event. The organisation hopes to promote its Cycle Safe awareness scheme more widely following the first session which was held in cooperation with Smith and Sons.

Rising sales in the second quarter failed to offset declines recorded by Ciments Français in the first three months of the year, leading to an overall drop in sales and profits for the first half of 2010, compared to 2009. Sales for the second quarter reached €1.2billion, up 4.8% from 2009 levels, while EBITDA rose to €296million, up 7.9% from the same period last year. Nonetheless, this was not enough to compensate for the 26.3% fall in sales recorded in the first three months of 2010. For the first half,

Holcim is reported to be planning the merger of its Indian subsidiaries in order to reduce costs and strengthen its presences in the country. Under the plan ACC and Ambuja would be united under one company name.

A Bronze Age ‘logboat’ coffin and two swords found during aggregate extraction on Cemex UK sites almost 30 years ago have been donated to Reading Museum in Berkshire, UK.The ‘logboat’ coffin, which still held the remains of a Roman woman, dates back to between 50 and 150AD and was found in 1982. It is formed by a hollow tree trunk made into a canoe shape with the hollow extended to accommodate the body of a woman in her fifties. The lid had collapsed into the coffin, resulting in the skeleton and lid being

UK-based recycling specialist J O’Doherty Haulage is managing to work more efficicently following delivery of a new screen to its North London site. Finlay Plant South East has recently supplied the contactor with a second Terex Finlay 883 Reclaimer which is helping to save space and increase its recycled aggregate output. The new 883 is producing three sizes of material and is supported by two Terex Finlay 694 mobile inclined screens which are used to produce single sized aggregates.

Ukraine’s Donetsk region governor Anatoly Bliznyuk has said that he is to grant Heidelberg Cement consent to develop a chalk quarry in Balka Shirokaya. Under the plan, Heidelberg is expected to invest €250million in developing its production in the Amvrosievka region over the next five years.

Ireland-based Euro Auctions has announced that it is planning a quarry specific equipment sale later this month – the first the company has organised in the UK. The event in Durham on 31 August will be used to dispose of heavy quarry plant for Ward Brothers Plant Hire. Equipment up for auction includes various mobile crushing and screening equipment as well as loading and hauling machinery and site maintenance plant.

Following the acquisition of Béton Saône in Mâcon, France last year, Cemex has announced that it is to invest €300,000 to improve the aggregate storage facilities at the Burgundy plant. The company has already upgraded the site with an €560,000 investment in the ready mixed concrete plant which has increased capacity from 35 to 60m3 per hour.

Italy is working to try and overcome a legacy of fragmentation in its aggregates industry to find a more efficient future. Adrian Greeman reports. Like many of the European countries Italy's aggregates industry began on a localised basis with many small firms and local demand satisfied by small quarries and gravel pits. As in many countries the industry has continued this way in the decades since the end of the Second World War.

Cemex France has announced that it has sponsored 12 beekeepers’ hives in a bid to protect this important industry and promote biodiversity. The company is working with three beekeepers in the region of Aquitaine and will work with them to provide tours to the public and promote the important role bees play in biodiversity. The scheme - Un toit pour les abeilles, which translates as ‘a roof for bees’ - helps to give the beekeepers a guaranteed income in a bid to maintain bee colonies.

UK-based Caterpillar dealer Finning International has been appointed as the new dealer for the Northern Ireland region after the previous dealer McCormack McNaughton went into receivership. Under the deal Finning will acquire the assets of the former dealer in Northern Ireland for £3.1million and discussions to buyout the assets in the Republic of Ireland are also underway. The new business will be part of a Finning UK and Ireland operation and the Northern Ireland division will be headed up by former McCor

Efforts to improve sustainability and encourage ecological preservation have secured one of Cemex’s quarries in Israel an award to celebrate its beauty. Modi'im aggregates quarry has been awarded with the Five Stars of Beauty designation by the Council for a Beautiful Israel. The non-profit public organisation’s aim is to improve the quality of life in Israel through preservation of the environment and by promoting the values of nature and environmental aesthetics, focusing on the beauty of urban centres.

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust is now benefitting from lower overheads and closer links with Lafarge now the aggregates company has opened up office space to the organisation. Lafarge Cement's Cauldon Works in the Moorlands is offering rent-free space in one of its office buildings on site so that the trust now has a second home to use as a base for outreach work in the community. Youth projects officer Martin Evans and community horticulture officer Zanetta Jackson are able to extend their work by basing the

Poland-based Dolnoslaskie Surowce Skalne has announced plans to build a new artificial stone factory following approval of a CCCC$13.6million EU subsidy. The crushed aggregate producer will use the new facility to manufacture kitchen worktops, building façades and floor and wall tiles using waste stone from its quarries.

Sales of building materials in Austria during 2010 generated a turnover of €3.2billion, just 0.05% down on the 2009 level indicating a stabilisation in demand. Officials have said that a lack on investment in infrastructure during the last 12 months has impacted on demand. Turnover during 2011 is expected to rise by 4% due to an increase in thermal rehabilitation projects.

Cemex UK is opening the gates to its Yately fishing lakes in Hampshire, UK this weekend in a bid to raise some money for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. The event between 6 and 8 August is being held during the Angling Trust’s National Fishing Month and is being organised by Cemex area head bailiff Allan Stone. Cemex Angling donates use of the site for three days for the event and tickets are sold by Stoney and Friends – a group set up by Stone following the death of his mother from cancer in 1996.

France-based Vicat has reported that growth in the second quarter has helped to boost its first half result to give gains in both. Sales in the period from April to June were up 9.2% on the same period last year, taking sales for the first half to €985million – up 2.4% from 2009 levels – and EBITDA was up 0.9% to €232million. In a statement, the company said, “The Vicat Group reports solid first half results, marked by resilient margins which stem from the strategic developments of the Performance 2010 plan

Cemex hosted a visit to one of its French quarries to a group of young volunteers who are participating in the Concordia programme. Cemex France welcomed the group of 16 young people into its quarry in Oytier-Saint-Oblas last week as part of the company’s participation in the Fondation Renaud, which is supported by the French Ministries of the Interior and of Culture. The group included young people from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Russia and France who are all participating in a Concordia project clo

Sales of aggregates, cement, ready mixed concrete and asphalt in the UK were all up in the second quarter of this year, compared to 2009. Despite the growth, the Mineral Products Association has said that these gains do not signal the start of a sustained recovery in the quarry industry. The MPA has said that the 10% rise in asphalt sales was mainly due to emergency repairs as well as the progress of some major road contracts.

The Spanish aggregates association ANEFA has announced that it is taking Ferrovial to the trade court over late payment of debts to its member companies. ANEFA has said that Ferrovial takes longer than 120 days legally allowed for payment and said that the company is “systematically breaching the law and forcing companies to accept its payment conditions instead”.