St. Lawrence seeks approval for meteorological tower St. Lawrence Cement appeared before the Town of Greenport Planning Board to request approval to construct a meteorological tower on the company's property in Greenport, N.Y. Meteorological towers gather data on weather conditions and dynamics-wind currents, barometric pressure, wind velocity, and air temperature. The data collection is part of the permitting process for the company's proposed cement manufacturing facility at the site. Information gathered will support New York state air permitting requirements. Specialized electronics will transmit data to St. Lawrence and state computers on a regular basis for analysis and monitoring.

Permission to construct the tower is needed from two agencies: the planning board and the Federal Aviation Administration. Construction of the tower will begin two months after final permission is granted and should take about two weeks to complete. The tower will remain in operation for as long as two years and then be dismantled.

New terminals for Southdown Southdown acquired an import terminal in Brunswick, Ga. As part of this transaction, Southdown also acquired exclusive marketing rights to an import terminal in Mobile, Ala.

These facilities-together with existing operations in Wilmington, N.C.; Tampa, Fla.; and West Palm Beach, Fla.-provide Southdown with five import terminals in the southeastern United States.

Tarmac to sell all products under one name The names Lone Star, Blue Bond, and Pennsuco, which are commonly seen on cement bags and related products, will now solely bear the name Tarmac America, Inc. This move also signifies that the Tarmac-owned Pennsuco plant in Medley, Fla., which is currently planning a $124 million upgrade and renovation project, will be under the Tarmac name as well.

CD-ROM offers two decades of PCA concrete information All 67 back issues of Concrete Technology Today (CTT), a quarterly newsletter published by the Portland Cement Association, are now available on one CD-ROM. Since 1980, CTT has provided its readers with results of new research, new products, maintenance tips, and improvements in concrete construction techniques. Now all of this information, including accompanying photographs, charts, and diagrams, is compiled in one tool.

The CTT CD-ROM (PL980) costs $50 plus shipping and handling. To order, contact PCA at (+1) 800-868-6733, (+1) 847-966-6200, ext. 564, or go to the PCA web site at www.portcement.org

Gamma-Metrics parent acquires Amdel Gamma-Metrics announced the purchase of Amdel Instrumentation by its parent company, Australia-based Metrika Systems Corp., manufactures a range of analyzers for the mineral-processing industry using the XRF technique. Amdel recently developed a raw meal analyser using the same technology.

ABB purchases Comdale's technology ABB Canada announced that it has reached an agreement to purchase the technology assets of Comdale Technologies. The purchase is part of the company's drive to expand its expert systems in the materials and minerals industries.

According to ABB, Comdale's technology will help its business unit, Building Material and Mineral Industries of Baden, Switzerland, to further in the development of its LINKman process optimization system for the cement industry.

Comdale and LINKman's activities will merge into one central location in Baden under the Building Material and Mineral Industries name. All global customers will be serviced from this location.

Ingersoll-Rand to acquire Harrow Industries The Ingersoll-Rand Co. announced that it signed a letter of intent to acquire Harrow Industries, a leading manufacturer of access controls technologies, and architectural hardware, among other things. Ingersoll-Rand will acquire Harrow for $160 million, which includes the assumption of Harrow debt. Harrow's businesses will be integrated into Ingersoll-Rand's Architectural Hardware Group. The transaction is subject to corporate and regulatory approvals.

Ash Grove to build clinker line Ash Grove Cement Co. has contracted Fuller to supply a new 4,200-tpd clinker production line for its plant at Chanute, Kan. The project will increase the production of Ash Grove's existing wet-process plant at Chanute to 1.35 million tpy, which is three times current output. Ground breaking will take place later this year, and start-up is scheduled for the spring of 2001.

SCC Industries & Molinos Azteca end venture SCC Industries, a manufacturer of bulk material handling equipment, has mutually agreed with Molinis Azteca y Juper S.A. de C.V. to terminate their venture agreement that formed Screw Conveyor de Mexico five years ago.

Increasing sales, production, and market opportunities have caused Molinos Azteca y Juper to re-evaluate its growth strategies. Capital resources are needed to fund the Molinos expansion. Market and economics are drawing the business interests in a direction other than that which SCC wishes to proceed.

The sale of its share of the Screw Conveyor de Mexico stock will give Molinos the opportunity to redirect its internal capital resources. Nonetheless, Molinos Azteca y Juper and SCC Industries will continue to have a close working relationship.

Brazil, Peru plants install new fan technology Cement plants in Brazil and Peru installed medium-voltage AC drive systems and motors to power kiln clinker induced-draft fans.

A 1,600-kW, 2.3-kV drive system was supplied to Cimento Planalto S.A. (Ciplan), Sobradinho, Goias State/Brazil. A 1,600-kW induction motor, Limitamp switchgear and transformer were also included. Cementos Norte Pacasmayo, Pacasmayo, Peru received a 2,250-hp, 2.3-kV innovation system and 2,250-hp, 2.3-kV induction motor for a new kiln line. Switchgear and an isolation transformer were also included. The companies said they installed the systems, the first of their kind to appear in South America, to save energy and improve process control.