Spanish family matters Ciments Francais has agreed to sell its stake in Spanish cement maker Cementos Molins to France's Lafarge. Ciments Francais said that Lafarge would buy its 39.1% stake in the Catalonian producer, majority owned by the Molins family for US$128 million.

In July 1996, Ciments Francais' Spanish unit, Financiera y Minera, proposed a merger with the Molins group, but the Molins family declined the offer.

Holderbank offloads operations Holderbank Financiere Glaris Ltd. is selling the render and mortar business of Gipsunion AG to Fixit AG, Baar of Switzerland, in response to what the company calls the "growing internationalization of the world's building materials markets."

A buy-back offer will be submitted to current minority shareholders, who hold some 5% of share capital. Gipsunion AG is part of Societe Suisse de Ciment Portland SA, in which Holderbank holds a 91.3% interest.

At the end of 1997, Gipsunion will sell its operations in plaster, cement/lime renders, masonry mortar, and plaster floor tiling, including the brand name Lentolit, to Fixit AG.

Holderbank also is about to sell Gipsunion's plasterboard and gypsum product activities and a letter of intent has been signed with BPB Plc based in the UK. Under the agreement, BPB will take over the Heimberg and Leissigen production sites as well as the operations of Superisol AG, Niederwil, in the Canton of St. Gallen.

Czech firms to merge The boards of directors of Heidelberger Zement and CBR, a subsidiary of Heidelberger Zement, have approved the merger of their Czech cement companies, Cement Bohemia and CVM Mokra. The next step in the project will be to submit it to shareholders in the two companies.

Cement Bohemia, a subsidiary of Heidelberger Zement, operates two cement plants, Radotin and Kraluv Dvur, and CVM Mokra, also operates two plants, Mokra and Malomerice.

Based on figures for 1996, total annual cement sales volumes of the merged entity, which will be named Ceskomoravsky Cement a.s., represent 2.2 million mt.

Private money ups output Serbia's Kosjeric cement factory is hoping to secure fresh funds for upgrading production and increasing annual output to 1 million mt through privatization, according to a report in the Tanjug news agency. The existing annual capacity stands at around 450,000 mt."We consider it to our advantag e that we are on a list of 75 Serbian companies that will be privatized under the special government program," company director Ratomir Munitlak said.

The Serbian government had warned earlier that a cement shortage could hamper infrastructure projects planned for the end of 1997.

Biggest in Europe The largest semi-mobile crushing plant ever supplied by Krupp Fordertechnik GmbH to the European market was recently inaugurated at the Rohdenhaus limestone quarry in Germany.

The plant comprises two semi-mobile crusher stations of identical design with a planned total output of 4,000 mtph, and in total weighs 2,810 mt and has an overall volume of 48,000 meter cubed.

These two identical crusher stations are arranged in parallel about 30 meters apart and each features a feed bin, crusher and tower, plus two belt conveyors of 61.5- and 81.5-meter length.

Belts and buckets Aumund Fordertechnik GmbH is supplying conveyors and bucket elevators to cement plants in Tunisia and Korea.

The German company will supply one 2,800-mm-wide, 9-meter-long, heavy-duty arched-plate conveyor, type BPB-S, with a limestone conveying capacity of 1,200 mtph to Cimenterie Societe de Cimenterie d'Oum El Kelil. To cope with the cement company's particular requirements, a special design with inner support rollers (fixed) and lubricated impact beams was provided.

Daegyo Construction (Korea) has ordered a large bucket elevator with a cement conveying capacity of 1,100 mt and a center distance of 50.5 meters. It will be incorporated into a cement plant near Seoul for silo feeding.

Cement production resumes According to Tajik radio, the Tajik Cement Production Association, construction materials enterprise, recently resumed work after being forced to stop production for six months.

The report said that all the problems of raw material and gas supplies that forced the shutdown were resolved, and, since resuming operations, the plant has produced more than 2,000 mt of high-quality cement.

Poland's financial aide Poland's Ministry of Economy has said that it will increase its financial assistance to cement companies in Poland to prepare for their integration into the European market, according to the PAP news agency. The Ministry also indicated that some funding will be forthcoming for environmentally friendly projects.