September 2025

UK: Quinn has announced that it will proceed with the exclusive supply of its Master Grade cement to the UK-based wholesale builders’ merchant National Buying Group (NBG) until the end of 2021, extending the term of the companies’ 2018 agreement. “Our partnership with NGB has made a significant contribution to the success of our bagged cement range, so we’re delighted to agree an extension to our exclusivity deal with NBG for supply to their merchant members,” said Lee Gillman, Quinn’s Great Britain Sales and Marketing Director. Quinn’s bagged range also consists of Premium Grade and General Purpose cement.

Spain: Asociacón Española de Pavimentos Continuos (AEPC), the body which represents manufacturers and maintainers of cement-based and other related flooring, has welcomed LafargeHolcim Spain as a new member. AEPC states its aims as ‘promoting and demanding the highest levels of safety, quality and integrity in all paving sector activities.’

LafargeHolcim Spain operates an installed capacity of over 7.0Mt/yr across five integrated plants. In 2019 it announced an investment of Euro20m in upgrades aimed at reducing its net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 90,000t/yr by the end of 2022.

Germany: Gebr. Pfeiffer has appointed the current head of its Malaysia office Timothy Burden as president of its US subsidiary Gebr. Pfeiffer Inc., effective 1 January 2020. Burden brings 15 years’ materials handling and crushing engineering and sales experience to the role. He studied at Queen’s University Belfast and attained his Masters in engineering from the University of Southhampton in 2004.

Gebr. Pfeiffer will replace Burden in the Malaysian office with Vesa Peurakari, an experienced project and service manager and sales professional with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Gothenburg.

Switzerland: Maerz has reported the successful installation of two Maerz PFR lime kilns with a capacity of 200t/day and 300t/day at Daesung MDI in South Korea, which was commissioned on 19 October 2019. The company also installed a 150t/day E2 two-shaft lime kiln at Easternbulk Lime Products Private Ltd in July 2019. Three further new plants with Maerz kilns are scheduled to enter operation in 2020 in China, Mexico and Russia and a second kiln will increase production of petcoke at Caleras’ San Juan plant in Argentina beginning in mid-2020.

Africa: German-based lubricants supplier Fuchs has taken over direct ownership of 50% of three distribution subsidiaries of its regional subsidiary Fuchs Southern Africa. The companies are based in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The acquisitions will support Fuchs’ aim of increasing its supply to African markets, according to Fuchs executive board chairman Stefan Fuchs. "Investment in a state of the art, fully automated grease manufacturing plant which opened in Isando, Johannesburg, in 2018” signifies the company’s commitment to sustainable social development of the continent, said Fuchs, adding, “Further plant expansions are already being planned.”

Germany: Frankfurt-based fashion designer Concrete Jungle has won the Inhorgenta Fashion Jewellery Award 2019 and the German Design Award for Excellent Product Design 2019 for its Grey Rosé range of jewellery. The collection includes earrings, pendants and wedding rings, which showcase the beauty of concrete. The concrete is inlaid with metallic shards. “The particular challenges of mixing these elements necessitated particular techniques. We were able to work extremely delicately while achieving the enormous stability that characterises our jewellery,” said Concrete Jungle partner Madlen Thorwarth.

Hungary: Lafarge Cement Hungary has announced plans to upgrade clinker production at its 1.0Mt/yr Kiralyagyháza integrated plant with a Euro1.79m investment in chlorine bypass technology, which uses powdered limestone to remove chlorine and one tenth of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) from gases released in clinker production, which will then be used in clinker cooling. There will be a concomitant increase in the rate of alternative fuel (AF) substitution in the plant’s kilns, with an AF fuel store expansion in early 2020 set to raise AF usage to 80% from 60%.

India: Deccan Cements has shared plans to expand its Suryapet waste heat recovery (WHR) power plant in Telangana to 33MW from 18MW. Domex Power Genration Projects has reported that the cost of the development will be US$84.5m and it will take 24 months to complete once statutory clearance is received.

Pakistan: The end of 2019 has seen a flurry of 13 proposals for the construction of new plants and one proposed upgrade submitted to different government departments across Pakistan’s five Punjabi districts. The Balochistan Times has reported that Punjab Minister for Trade and Industries Mian Aslam Iqbal stressed the need for cement companies to provide plans for minimal water use in order to receive clearance.

UK/Ireland: Sean Quinn has bought ‘substantial’ tracts of limestone-rich land in Cavan and Fermanagh on 99-year leases, giving him sole extraction rights, over the past three and half years since his final severance with Quinn Industrial Holdings in mid-2016, according to the Sunday Times. The purchases may have been aimed at strengthening his position in his campaign to re-attain control over the company. It has stated that it has succeeded in supplementing its on-site limestone supply with material from further afield. “These materials are of a higher quality,” said a Quinn Industrial Holding spokesperson.