Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association; Staff reports In a move that will provide the opportunity for the cement and concrete industries to reduce products’ carbon footprint, a proposal was approved to permit up to 15 percent ground limestone in blended cements under ASTM C595 (Blended Hydraulic Cements), with the resulting product characterized as limestone blended cements. Similar revisions are…
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Ash Grove becomes first U.S. cement maker ISO certify all plants
Source: Ash Grove Cement Co., Overland Park, Kan. Ash Grove Vice President of Environmental Affairs, Curtis Lesslie, PE, announced that the company is currently the only domestic cement manufacturer to have its entire fleet of eight operating clinker manufacturing facilities earn the prestigious ISO 14001 certification. In 2010, seven of the company’s facilities earned the designation; its reconstructed Foreman, Ark.,…
Read MoreCemex finalizes Davenport Redwood Forest property to conservation group
Source: Cemex USA, Houston Cemex USA recently finalized the $30 million sale of its approximately 8,500-acre Redwood Forest property near the Cemex Davenport cement plant to a consortium of local land trusts. The land trusts comprise the Living Landscape Initiative, a major conservation project in the Silicon Valley area. The deal follows the plant’s closure in January 2010 and guarantees…
Read MoreRetirements push Ash Grove to reorganize manufacturing department
Source: Ash Grove Cement Co., Overland Park, Kan. With the impending retirement of two key leaders in Ash Grove’s manufacturing organization during the first half of 2012, the company is beginning the transition to its new reporting structure, explained Michael J. Hrizuk, senior vice president–manufacturing. The changes became effective Jan. 1, 2012.
Read MoreScott named PCA senior VP of Government Affairs
Source: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill. PCA appointed Gregory M. Scott senior vice president of government affairs on Jan. 1, 2012. He will head the association’s Washington office and represent PCA and its members before Congress, the Administration and the White House.
Read MoreCement Totals—October 2011
Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va. Total shipments of portland and blended cement in the United States and Puerto Rico were about 7.3 million mt in October 2011, according to the USGS. This was 4.0 perfect higher compared with shipments for October 2010. Total shipments for the year through October were approximately 61.1 million mt, slightly higher compared to the…
Read MoreHorizontal integration drives Martin Marietta’s pitch for Vulcan Materials
Sources: Martin Marietta Materials, Raleigh, N.C.; Staff reports A stock-for-stock takeover Martin Marietta launched December 12 for Vulcan Materials Co. would create a heavy building materials powerhouse with aggregate shipments (2010 combined: 278 million tons) more than double those of its closest peers, Oldcastle Materials (118 million tons) and Lehigh Hanson Inc. (116 million tons), but limited additional scale in…
Read MoreStronger 2011 construction equipment sales expected, but slower growth through 2014
Source: Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Milwaukee Construction equipment manufacturers anticipate overall business to close out 2011 with double-digit increases over 2010 in the U.S., Canada and worldwide. Growth is expected to continue, but at a slower pace, for 2012 through 2014, according to the annual business outlook survey of AEM, the North American-based international trade group representing the off-road equipment…
Read MoreHolcim to invest nearly $400 million in Ecuador
Source: Holcim Group, Zurich, Switzerland In an effort to continue its commitment to the development of the construction industry in Ecuador, in late 2012, Holcim Equador will initiate an investment of nearly US$400 million to start building the second phase of its main cement plant expansion project in Guayaquil, an effort that will allow the South American country to sustain…
Read MoreCemex receives $600 million compensation for Venuzuela nationalization
Source: Cemex S.A.B. de C.V., Monterrey, Mexico Cemex announced recently that it has received payment of US$600 million from the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its public entity Corporación Socialista del Cemento, S.A. as compensation for the nationalization of Cemex Venezuela, S.A.C.A.. In addition, US$154 million of accounts payable by Cemex subsidiaries to Cemex Venezuela have been…
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