With the intention of improving the housing conditions of certain vulnerable groups, the Colombian Department for Social Prosperity (Departamento para la Prosperidad Social or DPS) and Argos have signed an agreement for a strategic partnership aimed at replacing the earthen floors of the homes of those in the DPS program in the departments of Atlántico, Magdalena and Chocó.  

Essroc Canada Inc. was fined $350,000 for discharging dust into the natural environment and for failing to ensure that noise emissions complied with its Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) contrary to the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), according to Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.  

Brazilian industrial conglomerate Camargo Correa is looking to sell between 10 percent and 18 percent of InterCement for up to $1.2 billion in order to make new overseas investments, reported Folha de S.Paulo.  

Total shipments of portland and blended cement in the United States and Puerto Rico in March 2015 were about 6.3 million metric tons (Mt), up by 3.5 percent from the level in March 2014, according to the most recent USGS Mineral Industry Survey. Shipments for the year through March totaled 16.4 Mt, up by 5.7 percent from the same period…

Lehigh Hanson’s Cupertino cement plant will pay $7.5 million as part of an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to settle charges it dumped millions of gallons of toxic wastewater into a nearby creek, reported the San Jose Mercury News.  

Global cement consumption is expected to record sustained growth during 2015-2018, but at a less robust pace than previously expected, according to a recent report released by the Portland Cement Association (PCA).