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In Kostanay, Kazakhstan, MBI has launched a paving stone plant having a design capacity of 33,500m³ or 400,000m² of products a year. Automated German equipment as well as Iranian and local raw materials will allow the plant to manufacture high-quality damage-proof slabs. Kostanay MBI intends to reach the full capacity this month. Some 60% of products are planned to be exported. Investment in the project totalled €3.93 million.

With just four months to go until Bauma 2010 opens its doors, the show promises to be the biggest yet in terms of space and exhibitor numbers. Next year's Bauma exhibition promises to be the biggest ever, with record numbers of exhibitors signed up for the event. Covering the entire site at Reim, Munich's former airport, this is not just the largest construction exhibition, but also the largest exhibition in the world.

Global demand for hydraulic cement is forecast to rise 5.3% a year to 4.3billion tonnes, valued at US$335 (€250billion), by 2015, according to industry research firm The Freedonia Group. Gains will be fuelled by rising investments in infrastructure among the developing countries of the world, driven by economic growth and increasing per capita income levels. Additionally, US-based Freedonia claim that a rebound in cement demand in industrialized markets such as the US and Western Europe will further spur ce

With a history already spanning 10 decades, one UK sand quarry is on the verge of securing its future for another 20 years. Claire Symes reports. Drive through the outskirts of the Kent town of Sevenoaks in the UK and your eye is caught by the distant North Downs, but the town is also home to one of the south east's largest sand quarries. Nestled out of sight is Tarmac's Sevenoaks Quarry which quietly produces 300,000tonnes of high quality sand for the London construction market each year.

The quarry has

At the end of 2011, revenues of the Portuguese cement company Cimpor in Brazil should account for 25% of the company’s total. The total operating revenues should amount to €733 to the end of 2011, and consolidated operating revenues should account for €2.305 billion, according to a report conducted by bank Millennium Investment Bank. This represents an increase of 2.9% on 2010. In Brazil, Cinpor's operating revenues increased by 20% in 2011.

In partnership with waste specialists Ikos and Etares, French cement producer Lafarge started up a production unit for secondary recovered fuel in Le Havre in July, 2011. The unit is capable of producing 15tonnes of secondary recovered fuel per hour and produces 20% of the energy needs of the cement works in Le Havre, France.

Lithuanian cement manufacturer Akmenes Cementas has reported revenues of €24.8 million in the first half of 2011, up 29% from the same period of 2010. Arturas Zaremba, CEO of Akmenes Cementas, said the company's exports increased by nearly 50% over a year in the first half of 2011. Akmenes Cementas produced a total of 385,000tonnes of cement in the six-month period, up 5% from the first half of 2010. Cement sales in Lithuania accounted for 208,000tonnes (53%); in Russia's Kaliningrad for 76,000tonnes (19%);

Whitwell Quarry has been described as a two-in-one quarry because its products are put to very different uses, Patrick Smith reports

Shane Tompkin has a simple but effective approach to running Lafarge's Whitwell Quarry and to date it is working well.

"We will try anything to gain materials from this quarry, but if it is not working out then it has to go pretty quickly," said the manager who has been at the quarry for seven years.

Indeed, he sees the dolomite limestone quarry, near the town of Work

Verband der Industriellen Energie- und Kraftwirtschaft (VIK) says its member firms have experienced power failures lasting several seconds, and a rise in frequency fluctuations caused by network overloads due to an increase in wind power generation and the shutdown of nuclear power plants. VIK fear industrial control units will be damaged by outages, and says it is alarmed that the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) only detects power interruptions of at least three minutes.

Aggregate prices seem to be stable in Europe despite the financial crisis of the last year. Claire Symes talks to Metso Minerals' Luis Santos about the impact. Previous recessions and lower volume demand has triggered close competition on aggregates prices but the most recent economic slowdown does not appear to have followed this pattern.

The state of our planet’s marine ecosystems and their importance for human survival is analysed in a new book published by Cemex. Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet, published in partnership with the International League of Conservation Photographers and Conservation International, includes a foreword written by Prince Albert of Monaco, a special tribute to legendary oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle, a comprehensive introduction by a distinguished group of scientists, and creative ways of combating threats to ma

Sisak Court in Croatia agreed to the liquidation after hearing how the firm, which also produces herb protection chemicals, owed a total of HRK 160million (€21.22million) to its trustees. The sum included HRK 40million (€5.3million) owed to the Croatian government.

Not all water protection schemes involve protecting the environment from quarrying activity - at Cemex's Attenborough Lakes it was the other way around. Much of the focus on water protection in quarries is rightly on minimising water use and preventing sediment-rich water flowing untreated into watercourses. But for some sites restoration efforts mean that water within quarry operations needs to be sheltered from the outside environment.

Cemex UK understands this concept well and has been working to prot

The Valbiom cluster, which brings together 57 companies, universities, institutions and research laboratories in the central region of France, is currently working on a number of agro-energy, biomolecules, and agro-materials projects. Among them is Saint-Lubin-des-Joncherêts-based Akustike’s work on the use of plant fibres for acoustic insulation. Meanwhile, René Toy in Montoire-sur-Loir is looking to produce condensed straw granules to heat pools.

The plant, approved five months ago, will replace the firm's current factory in neighbouring Mont-Saint-Martin. Due for commissioning this spring, the site is expected to have an annual production rate of over 70,000tonnes.

Rope Access has won a contract for inspection and scanning of Stockholm’s Norra Länken's concrete tunnel, part of a major road project. Norra Länken (North Link) in the Swedish capital is one of the largest road projects in the country.

The supplier of cement and aggregates is understood to have met with UGT and CCOO labour unions to discuss its ‘workforce adjustment plan’, set to affect 151 out of 352 workers.

The landmark production figure was a rise of 18% on the previous year, and, according to Gorazdze, will be followed by similar levels in 2012. The company says its production forecast for the coming year is based on optimistic trade predictions for the construction sector, despite expectations of a wider economic slowdown.

The predicted rise is below the rise of 26.1% in production in 2011, but will push output notably beyond the 5.5million m3 achieved in 2011. According to RBC and other economic experts, the demand among building companies for cellular concrete wall blocks, especially in the housing construction sector, will fuel the continued rise in production levels.

The debt due to undergo refinance, which is 60% of the company’s gross debt, is associated with repayments linked to the purchase of WRG, Uniland and Alpine. FCC has already sold its car parking and MOT businesses, and is looking to raise €450million from the sale of its US cement firms.