Blue Circle to expand Alabama plant Blue Circle Cement plans to expand its Roberta Plant in Calera, Ala., with a state-of-the-art cement manufacturing operation. The $230 million investment will increase the annual capacity of the plant to 1.4 million tons, nearly double its current capacity. Expansion of the facility is expected to take about 24 months to complete.

Laurence Reid, the Calera facility's plant manager, said, "We have an excellent working relationship with the city of Calera and a strong commitment to the state of Alabama. The new plant is a substantial investment and long-term commitment to the area. When completed, the new kiln will allow us to increase capacity to 4,800 tpd."

An application has been submitted to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. Construction is expected to begin this spring, once the review and permitting process is completed. The new facility will use low-nitrous-oxide, precalciner production technology with manufacturing that allows for greater environmental protection.

The existing facility will continue to operate during the expansion. When completed, the Calera facility will be Blue Circle's largest in the Southeast.

Continued growth predicted for equipment makers The construction equipment manufacturing industry continued to expand in 1998, with machinery shipments increasing 15.4% over the previous year, according to a quarterly business report from the Construction Industry Manufacturers Association (CIMA).

Quarterly shipments all registered in the index plus column for 1998, with the largest gains seen in the first and third quarters. Shipments for fourth quarter 1998 were up 1.4% from the previous quarter, the CIMA report shows. Although the overall industry has been affected by declines in certain overseas markets, CIMA predicts that more robust domestic markets will mitigate slower export activity. In addition, the passage of the TEA-21 transportation legislation in 1998 is expected to continue having a positive effect on equipment manufacturer sales.

Lafarge to build wallboard production facility Lafarge Corp. announced that its Lafarge Gypsum division will build an $85 million gypsum wallboard manufacturing facility in northern Florida.

The state-of-the-art plant will be similar to the one currently being built near Cincinnati, with a projected annual capacity of 900 million sq ft of wallboard. The facility will be built adjacent to two large electrical generating units operated by Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc. near the town of Palatka in Putnam C0unty, Fla., 50 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

The plant will satisfy raw material requirements by using synthetic gypsum, a byproduct from the scrubbers of the two generating units. This preserves natural gypsum rock while avoiding the need to landfill scrubber waste material. Recycled paper will be used to manufacture the wallboard.

U.S. Lime and Minerals awards new Ark. contract United States Lime and Minerals awarded Svedala Industries, Inc., Pyro Systems, an equipment and engineering contract for its lime facility in Batesville, Ark.

The project will include the supply of a Svedala eight-plunger rectangular low-pressure-drop preheater, Niems-type contact cooler, air pollution control equipment, kiln fuel firing system, instrumentation and control system, and modifications to a used rotary kiln. The control system includes Allen-Bradley PLCs and Wonderware MMI software. When completed, the new production line will produce 600 tpd of lime and enable Arkansas Lime to shut down all of its existing vertical kilns. The project is scheduled for startup and commissioning in the third quarter of 2000.

ASTM wants brownfield papers ASTM Committees D-34 on Waste Management and E-50 on Environmental Assessment are asking for papers for a Symposium on Productive Reuse of Brownfields and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) of Military Installations. The symposium will be held Oct. 22-23, 2000, in Orlando, Fla.

Lafarge Whitehall celebrates 100th anniversary Lafarge's Whitehall Plant, Cementon, Pa., celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999 with a variety of events. Among the events was a June 4 picnic for more than 100 area schoolchildren and plant staff.

Whitehall Cement began operations in 1899 after a fire destroyed the Hercules Cement Co. on the same site. Lafarge purchased the plant in 1982. The plant introduced a tire-derived fuel program in 1993, replacing 30% of the coke and bituminous coal used to fire its kiln with scrap tires. Since its inception, the program has used more than 8 million scrap tires. After a 2,200 day streak without a lost-time accident ended in 1997, the plant began a new one that has reached nearly 1,000 days.

RMC makes offer for Rugby; Tarmac sold After months of speculation, UK-based Rugby Group has accepted a US$1.5 billion offer from RMC, Britain's largest cement consumer. RMC also is being named as a potential buyer of Blue Circle Industries, which has long been rumored to be seeking a buyer.

Another British building materials giant, Tarmac, was recently acquired by the South African division of the UK-based Minorco (formerly Anglo American) for US$1.95 billion.

Blue Circle moves into Philippines, Egypt Blue Circle Industries' PLC (BCI) heavy building materials group purchased Iligan Cement Corp. (ICC) in the Philippines for US$52.8 million. ICC owns a 500,000 mtpy clinker capacity, single-line cement plant on the north coast of Mindanao and supplies approximately 2% of the total Philippine demand. The site has a common boundary with BCI's existing Mindano Portland Cement Corp., with common raw materials and adjoining deep water access, allowing for considerable operational and administrative synergies.

Blue Circle also has signed an agreement to purchase 73.64% of Alexandria Portland Cement Co. for US$174 million. For the year ended June 30, 1999, Alexandria Cement reported net sales of US$56 million, pre-tax profits of US$24.4 million, and operating profit of US$12.8 million.

Alexandria Cement is one of two main cement producers in the greater Alexandria region of Egypt with a regional market share of 19%. The plant has four existing kilns with a total clinker capacity of 610,000 million mtpy. An additional kiln will be operational by the end of 2000, making the total capacity 1.52 million mtpy. The Egyptian company also owns a 7.4% stake in Suez Cement with operations near Cairo and in the Suez region. Suez Cement has a total production capacity of about 2.4 million mtpy.

Back in the U.K., the company announced that it opened a new $12 million cement milling operation at its Cauldron Works facility in July. The new mill is the center of a larger investment program carried out at the cement plant at Waterhouses during the past year.

The company also opened a new rail freight distribution depot at Moorswater. The depot will be used to supply cement by rail from the company's Hope Works facility in Derbyshire, to the county.

Lafarge, Heidelberger in talks for stake in Indocement Reuters reports confirm that Salim group is in talks to sell 30% (of its 60% stake) in Indocement, Indonesia's second-largest cement group. Potential buyers include Heidelberger, which reported it was talking to Indocement at a meeting in May, and Lafarge, whose interest in Asian acquisitions is also on record; they bid initially for Semen Gresik and have a small operation in Sumatra.

In addition, Lafarge acquired a 33% stake in South Korean cement producer RH Cement (formerly Halla) for US$100 million. The Korean market is 45 million mtpy.

Gulf Cement completes clinker storage facility Gulf Cement Co. of the United Arab Emirates recently completed the largest clinker cement storage facility in the world. The new concrete silo is a monolithic dome measuring 200 ft diam, with a storage capacity of 115,000 mt. The dome was designed and built by Dome Technology, USA.

Gulf Cement opted for steel-reinforced concrete monolithic dome construction for several reasons: The required investment to build the dome, as well as operating and maintenance costs, was judged to be lower. The company also claims that the dome went up faster, required fewer people to build, and featured simpler foundation requirements. In addition, the dome offered insulation and water-proofing capability and clear-span interior throughout.

Siam Cement drops 1,200 workers According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Thailand's Siam Cement laid off 1,200 workers, or 4% of its work force, through a voluntary retirement program. Reports indicate that this action was taken by Siam Cement and other Asian businesses to facilitate economic recovery in the region.

PUERTO RICAN CEMENT reported second-quarter 1999 sales of $48.1 million, or 22 % more than the same period in 1998. The company posted second-quarter 1999 earnings of $4,132,000, approximately 14% more than the same period in 1998. The company saw sales rise 22% in the first-half of 1999 over first half 1998 results, and net income rise from 20% for the same period.

HOLDERBANK consolidated North America sales volume for cement and clinker increased 10.5% during the first half of 1999 over the same period in 1998. Consolidated Latin American sales volume increased 9.9% during the first half of 1999 over the same period in 1998.

SOUTHDOWN reported net earnings of $67.4 million for third-quarter 1999, compared with third-quarter 1998 earnings from continuing operations of $66.1 million, excluding Medusa merger-related profits. The company pointed to severe weather conditions as the cause for sluggish earnings growth.

GIANT CEMENT HOLDING reported revenues of $44.7 million for third-quarter 1999, a 2.4% decrease from the same period in 1998. Net income for third-quarter 1999 decreased $1.1 million to $5.6 million, compared to $6.7 million, during the same period of 1998. The company blamed sluggish growth on severe weather conditions on the eastern seaboard.