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The UK's Health and Safety Executive is adding focus for quarries with the formation of a new Quarries National Inspection Team. Claire Symes met with Colin Mew to talk about the new approach. Efforts from the aggregates industry and regulator the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have seen accident rates in UK quarries driven down dramatically in recent years.

With consented reserves at Vicat’s Fétaise quarry at Bouvesse-Quirieu, France reaching exhaustion, the company has started the process of gaining authorisation for a new site to supply material to the Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant.

UK-based quarry operator Smiths Bletchingdon officially opened the new nature reserve that has been created by the restoration of Gill Mill Quarry last week. But while the event gave the public its first chance to look around the Rushey Common Reserve, the wildlife had already settled in to the new wetland area.

More than 700 guests assembled at Cemex’s Castillejo cement plant in Toledo, Spain earlier this week to celebrate the site’s 100th anniversary. Guests included employees, retirees, children, grandparents, Cemex management, local government representatives and people from the local community.

Safer by Design is a campaign to improve the design of equipment used in quarries to improve health and safety. ABE reports on progress

While acceptance of secondary aggregates is growing, there is also a need for legislation to ensure these materials are viewed as a resource not waste. Secondary aggregates were once viewed as second best but now the benefits to the environment and the bottom line are becoming better known and opinions are changing.

Construction of an irrigation canal in Turkey has given Eren Inşaat the opportunity to add aggregates production to its construction capabilities. Claire Symes visited the site to find out more. Over the last decade there has been a growing trend for construction companies to move into aggregate production in a bid to reduce costs and increase supply chain control. Turkey is no different and contractor Eren Inşaat is the latest business to join this step change. Eren Inşaat is the main contractor on constru

Natural sand is a limited resource but one Norwegian quarry operator is offering an alternative with industrial sand, which it claims is better than the real thing. Claire Symes visited Velde Pukk to find out more. If you arrive at Norway's Stavanger Airport right now, you may think you are on a building site, rather than an airport but the work marks a step change in the approach to concrete in Norway. Part of the work includes construction of a 27,000m2 car park by precast manufacturer and contractor Spen

The final preparations for Bauma are now underway and ABE takes a look at some of the new equipment that will be launched at the show. With more floor space than ever before, the 2010 edition of Bauma looks set to be the biggest yet in terms of the number of new products on display. Work on placing the new equipment from the 3002 exhibitors on the 555,000m2 showground is now reaching the final stages.

Lafarge is to focus on two key areas in order to deliver its new CO2 reduction targets, the company has announced.

With celebrations planned for the company's centenary, the Marocca Group's Alberto Marocca talks to Claire Symes about plans for the Anagni Quarry's next 100 years. Italy's aggregates business is well known for its family-owned business with produce around 70% of the country's quarried material. But Anagni, 50km east of Rome, is home to one thriving privately-owned quarrying business - the Marocca Group.

Use of a hydraulic breaker on the site of a Hyderabad road project is helping to cut aggregate transportation costs with material produced on site. Improving traffic flow is the main aim of the new 158km Hyderabad Outer Ring Road Project in India and material processing is also playing a part in reducing traffic to the construction site. Indian contractor Ramky Infrastructure is relying on an Atlas Copco MB 1700 hydraulic breaker to break granite at a quarry site adjacent to the 22km stretch of the highway

In 2011 the European commission has developed three key documents, which will have strong implications for the aggregates industry and that UEPG will closely monitor. On raw materials, the communication, Tackling the Challenges in Commodity Markets and on Raw Materials, published in February, was followed by a European Parliament report adopted in September.

According to the latest figures from Norway's Geological Survey and the Directorate for Mineral Management, turnover in the extractive industries grew.

Spanish construction materials business Benito Arnó e Hijos has secured a €126million contract to supply material to Spain’s rail infrastructure operator ADIF.

Holcim has announced that Virna Viskovic Agusaj has been appointed as the new technical director for the company’s operation in Croatia.

Quarries offer huge potential to increase the biodiversity of an area. Claire Symes looks at a project implemented by Heidelberg Cement to protect the sand martin.

After securing access to limestone and clay deposits in the region, LSR has announced that it plans to build a new cement plant close to the new quarries.

Restoration of Cemex UK’s sand and gravel quarries in Yateley has taken a step forward with opening of the Copse Lake as a new angling venue.

Investment at Holcim's Chepintsi Quarry in Bulgaria is not only increasing production, it is also adding new products to the offering. Claire Symes reports. Countries that have recently joined the European Union are in real need of investment in infrastructure to bring them in line with standards common in more established member nations. Bulgaria is no different and to deliver the materials necessary for this infrastructure upgrade, the local quarries also need to undergo a step change to meet demand.