Search

Cost-effective maintenance and efficient parts replacement have become even more important in achieving greater efficiency in challenging times. Lisa Russell reports. Budget reductions arising from the economic downturn have led to changes in attitude to servicing and repairs as operators examine every aspect of their spending.

Portuguese construction company Teixeira Duarte (TD) may exercise the call option to buy back the 22.45% stake held in the Portuguese cement company Cimpor if this company sells assets worth €1.5billion to Camargo Correa up to March 2012, according to reports.

Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK says that energy efficiency is reaching new heights at its head office in county Leicesterhsire, England.

Choice of primary loading equipment depends on the quarry layout as well as geographical preferences. Claire Symes looks at the options. When it comes to loading at the quarry face, operators have a choice of wheeled loaders or excavators but it is not a simple choice.

Installation of an automated monitoring system at Marmor Sezana's Lipica II Quarry in Slovenia has helped improve safety. Ensuring the safety of access routes to quarries is essential to protect not just employees and equipment but also ongoing productivity. Monitoring equipment can play a key role in tracking rock stability and remotely operated systems are allowing round the clock checks to be carried out. With a steep-sided 60m deep quarry providing the only access to the underground mine at Marmor Sezan

With construction levels at a 20 year low following the global recession, the Danish aggregates business looks set to return to growth. Construction is one of the largest industries in Denmark, with one in four workers in the private sector being employed in it at some level. But in common with countries around the world, business and employment took a sharp tumble from its peak in 2007/2008 and is now at its lowest since the early 1990s..

Wearing protective equipment cannot prevent accidents but it plays a key role in reducing the severity of injuries. The ultimate aim of almost every quarry operator is to achieve a zero accident rate but unfortunately not every site manages this aim and this is where personal protective equipment becomes essential.

Investment in crushing and screening equipment is helping to progress work on a new highway development in Oman. Road improvements currently underway in Oman promise to strengthen the road network and reduce journey times significantly when completed later this year. The new 32km Salalah Bypass will divert traffic away from the city centre to meet existing and future traffic growth.

The mineral products industry is well placed to help halt biodiversity decline.
That was the message from the chief executive of Natural England, Dr Helen Phillips

Finnish marina developer Marinetek has opened a concrete pontoon plant in Olaine, Latvia.
The company says Latvia's location is good from the perspective of logistics, and the country has a skilled workforce and low production costs.

Investment in new equipment is taken very seriously at the UK's moons hills quarry but safety has the top priority when it comes to specification. John Wainwright's Moons Hill Quarry, in Somerset, UK, produces around 750,000tonnes of material each year, including 500,000tonnes of roadstone and surface dressing chippings.

Cemex says that as a result of a prepayment it has made, it has now reduced the initial
exposure under its Financing Agreement by more than half (50.97%), or about US$7.66 billion.

Cemex UK is the first ever winner of the new Natural England Biodiversity Award for its restoration at Rugeley quarry in County Staffordshire, England, where 80 hectares of high-quality wildlife habitat has been created and restored to lowland dry heathland

Powerscreen has appointed Iain Laidler as the new dealer manager for the Powerscreen brand in Latin America, based in southern Brazil.

Competition concerns have put the brakes on the proposed Anglo American and Lafarge merger. Robert Camp looks at the issues. The decision by the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to refer the proposed construction materials joint venture between Anglo American and Lafarge to the competition authorities will not have come as a surprise to industry watchers.

Issues with blasting forced Portugal’s Maceira Quarry to find a new primary extraction solution and now use one of the most powerful hydraulic breakers in the world. Claire Symes reports. Operating close to residential and commercial properties is becoming a reality for many European quarries, which poses significant issues for conventional drilling and blasting. Some are forced to limit production and blasting to specific hours but others are looking for alternative means of maintaining production.

More action is needed when it comes to recycling of building materials in Europe, according to the European Quality Association for recycling. Achieving true sustainability and meeting regional targets means there is a need for higher levels of recycling when it comes to building materials in Europe. That was the main message delivered by a recent conference - Recycling of Building Materials in Europe - organised by the European Quality Association for Recycling (EQAR).

Nature After Minerals (NAM) has appointed Dr Carolyn Jewell as its planning adviser following the departure of Charlotte Kinnear, who has now taken on the role of RSPB conservation officer for the counties of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England.

Cemex of France is said to be counting on the future A65 motorway and the future LGV high-speed rail line as outlets for its brand new ready-mix concrete factory in Saint-Pierre-du-Mont in the Landes department, south-west France.

Heidelberg cement's Bernard Mathieu talks to ABE about the need for construction materials businesses to calculate carbon footprints. Mitigation actions for reducing the human contribution to the observed global climate change are in the focus today,"