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Bernardi Impianti is to create asphalt batching plants in India. The Italian company has signed a licence agreement with India-based manufacturer Speedcrafts in order to build the plants, which will be manufactured to Bernardi design.

A producer of bulk material handling technology has completed its Conveyor Safety and Productivity Symposium in Antalya, Turkey, introducing strategies and innovations for improving safety practices while enhancing profitability. More than 40 management and supervisory personnel attended the event, representing a wide range of industries, including aggregates/cement, mining, coal/power, steel production and dry bulk handlers.

The latest Global Cement Volume Forecast Report (GCVFR) from the CW Group shows global cement consumption growth will trend around 6% in 2012, reaching 3.78 billion ton [3.42 billion tonnes]. This is a decline from the 9% consumption volume growth in 2011 when worldwide cement demand reached 3.56 billion ton [3.23 billion tonnes]. The chief driver of global consumption growth will continue to be China, which will consume 2.22 billion tons [2 billion tonnes] of cement by 2012, says the global cement industry

JCB has unveiled plans for a new £31million [€36million] engine development project in the UK that will create around 350 jobs across its Midlands and Wales’ plants. The programme is set to get underway after the company was awarded £4.5million [€5.25million] towards the cost from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF). Design and research into the new engine project will take place at JCB Power Systems in Foston, County Derbyshire where the company’s JCB Dieselmax engine is manufactured. The developme

Lafarge Cementos plans to set up a Sustainability Commission in 2012 in its HQ town of Sagunto in Spain. The Commission will look to be a meeting point and channel for dialogue between Lafarge Cementos and representatives from the local population on sustainable environmental development.

Gravel output in France went up 3% over the January-September 2011 period, according to the Unicem professional body. However, the pace is slowing down dramatically as the year is drawing to a close. Output dropped by 0.8% in the second quarter and by 0.7% in the third quarter, following the 12.8% increase reported in the first three months of the year.

Lafarge has awarded Babcock International Group a £100million (€118.6 million) ten-year contract to provide a fleet managed service for its heavy mobile equipment (HME) located across its aggregate and cement sites in North America. The programme follows the £50million (€59.3 million) fleet management contract awarded to Babcock in July 2011, which covers Lafarge's aggregate and cement sites in the UK.

Case Construction Equipment has appointed three dealers in the Netherlands. Schmidt Bouwmachines Almelo, based in Almelo, will cover the North of the country; Numansdorp-based Troost Machinehandel will take responsibility for the west of the territory and Handelsonderneming Van der Vrande, from Beek en Donk, will handle the south-east.

Nine years on from privatisation Poland's Kopalnie Porfiru i Diabazu attributes it success to continual investment. Claire Symes visited the site to find out more. Quarry companies with shareholders numbering in the hundreds are not unusual in Europe, but ones where the majority of the shareholders are also employees are less common. But in Poland many previously state-owned operations have been privatised in this way and have been turned from non-profit making organisations into lucrative and investment-

Up to 10,000 Belgian construction jobs could be lost after tax deductions for roof insulations are abolished, according to Confédération Construction (CC). Roof insulation tax deductions are this year set to fall from 40% to 30%, before being abolished completely in 2013.

UK unemployment continued to climb to 2.67million in the last quarter of 2011, hitting a 16-year high. According to new government figures, the jobless rate among 16 to 24-year-olds rose 22,000 to 1.04million taking the unemployment rate to 22.2% in this group. Despite some signs that the rate of rise is easing, there is growing concern that rising unemployment will deliver lasting structural damage to the UK economy.

Chinese construction equipment manufacturer, LiuGong Machinery Corporation, will launch a four-month service tour for European key accounts and customers starting on 28 February. This is the first time LiuGong has planned an after sale service tour in the market.

Covanta Energy, one of the world’s leading energy-from-waste (EfW) providers, has been awarded planning permission from Cheshire West and Chester Council to build an incinerator bottom ash aggregate (IBAA) facility at Ince Park, in County Cheshire north-west England. The IBAA facility will have the capacity to process up to 250,000tonnes of incinerator bottom ash (IBA), a by-product of the incineration of residual waste, every year.

Italy's Italcementi, a multinational company which produces cement, ready-mix concrete and construction aggregates, has reached an agreement, through Ciments Francais, to sell 51% of its Afyon Turkish unit to Cimsa Cimento Sanayi ve Ticaret. The agreed price for the sale of its stake has been finalized at 57.5 million Turkish lira (€24.9 million).

With ever-rising costs in running plant and vehicles, quarry operators are looking at ways of making their sites more energy efficient. Energy and its use within the quarrying sector is one of the major costs in the production of aggregate or finished products, and a reduction in energy consumption will assist in reducing the business’ operating cost per tonne of material produced. Billions have already been spent by major equipment manufacturers developing and introducing new vehicles with increased produc

Despite the higher initial cost, rigid dump trucks still offer lower costs and higher productivity in the long term
Articulated dump trucks and conveyors may be grabbing the headlines when it comes to lower investment costs and lower emissions, respectively, but rigid dump trucks (RDTs) still deliver best value. That is according to Caterpillar quarry industry sales representative Phil Walker, who told ABE, "The RDT is the first choice for hard rock quarry customers in Europe.

"When you add up all of th

It has often been said that Poland is ‘one huge construction site’ though in reality the accuracy of that particular sobriquet fluctuates with the state of the economy as much as it might for any country. Julie-Anne Ryan reports. The aggregates industry in Poland was at its height in 2007, when the construction industry was going full tilt, accounting for more than 70% of the consumption of aggregates. When the global financial crisis took hold the following year, demand went down there as it did everywhere

Lafarge’s latest results show “positive trends” in fourth quarter after successfully achieving a net debt reduction target of €2billion with a €500million cost savings programme underway. In the fourth quarter of 2011 sales were up 5% to €3,813million (+7% like for like) and the current operating income was up 3%to €538m (+1% like for like).

The UK aggregates industry continues to be unable to replenish its output with new reserves, despite markets continuing to remain at historically low levels during 2011. The industry marketing consultancy, BDS Marketing Research, estimates that last year, sand and gravel companies obtained consents which only replaced 70% of production during the year.

Operating or walking close to moving machines presents quarry workers with a greater risk of accidents. ABE looks at technology aimed to protect the workforce. Quarrying equipment is by nature large and heavy but this presents some major risks to people working in the quarry. For machine operators, just accessing and exiting the cab can be dangerous, plus there is the risk of overturning while manoeuvring around the site. There is also the issue of visibility and ensuring the safety of quarry workers when t