“Optimising the use of materials-extraction machines worldwide offers high potential when it comes to tackling climate change”
An eye on growth indicators
05 NEWS
HeidelbergCement rebrands as Heidelberg Materials; Holcim closes Cantillana acquisition; FLSmidth leads consortium to accelerate cement-carbonation tech
UEPG on the road again
Commercial common sense – the importance of contract interpretation
Global quarrying equipment manufacturers’ new model launches and applications
58 EVENTS
All the key events in the quarrying & aggregates world
Crushing and screening plant versatility and innovation can generate impressive operating cost reductions 22 LOADING
A top loading-model manufacturer has gone bigger than ever before in its hybrid excavator range 24 HAULING
The hauling sector has seen several eyecatching recent announcements including a new machine made from fossil-free steel
26 TYRES – 2
Top quarrying-machine tyre makers were due to exhibit their new and latest tyres at bauma 2022
30 DRILL RIGS, HAMMERS & BREAKERS
Testing the ‘world’s first’ battery-electric tophammer drill rig
34 WATER RECYCLING, FILTRATION & MANAGEMENT– 2
Showcasing greener and more efficient washing solutions
37 BLASTING & ALTERNATIVES
Eye-catching new options for securing an optimised quarry blast
Specials
COVER STORY: At bauma 2022, Rubble Master was highlighting how machines can give customers up to 25% operating savings
Melker Jernberg discusses how Volvo Construction Equipment is driving the future of quarrying technology
Analysing why global aggregates demand is up despite strong headwinds 44 MARKET REPORT
Effects of the Ukraine conflict cloud the picture for German aggregates
A major Bavarian building materials supplier has fully embraced Cat Productivity technology with eyecatching results
Mapping out the future for European aggregates
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An eye on growth indicators
like to see growth indicators within the aggregates industry and was delighted to read an excellent piece in the Leicester Mercury newspaper about Tarmac taking the first steps towards extending the giant Mountsorrel quarry in Quorn, Leicestershire, central England. The major British regional daily title also reports that official documents show that the quarry’s lifespan could also be increased by 18 years.
The 221-hectare quarry has been worked since 1895 and currently supplies the construction industry with large volumes of extracted stone used for projects across the region and throughout the UK. Granite from the quarry was used in the original construction of the M25, and it provides 70% of the stone used to maintain Network Rail’s tracks.
In late August, Tarmac submitted a request for a scoping report to Leicestershire County Council’s planning department. The major UK building materials supplier wants to extend both the north and the southeast edges of Mountsorrel’s existing granite extraction zone, according to the documents. Tarmac says the current granite reserves are set to run out in 2037. The site is already permitted to operate until the end of 2040.
A wider European aggregates market growth indicator can be found in this issue’s new GAIN (Global Aggregates Information Network) market update, penned by GAIN convener Jim O’Brien. GAIN European country members estimate a 2.2% rise in their aggregates production this year, from 3.14 billion tonnes in 2021 to 3.21 billion tonnes. They also estimate a further 1.6% rise in their aggregates production to 3.26 billion tonnes in 2023.
Despite the upbeat aggregates production estimates, O’Brien highlights significant headwinds, saying: “The outlook is somewhat challenged by the wider impacts of the war in Ukraine. Strong inflation in energy and
other costs is now compounded by securityof-supply concerns about natural gas in the coming winter. The geopolitical situation had had a positive effect in putting a strong new focus on independence in the supply of all resources, as well as on upgrades in infrastructural spend from both security and climate adaptation perspectives. Consequently, the overall outlook, despite these headwinds, remains positive in Europe.”
Further encouraging signs for the European aggregates industry, including its firm commitment to sustainability, and lowering the sector’s carbon footprint, can be found in this edition’s feature on the UEPG’s (European Aggregates Association’s) annual conference in Larnaca, Cyprus. Aggregates Business deputy editor Liam McLoughlin was among the key European industry movers and shakers and has filed a must-read five-page piece.
Remaining with UEPG, I am writing this column while preparing to travel to Brussels to again take part in judging the Association’s new annual Sustainability Development Awards. I enjoyed my previous judging stint at the 2019 Awards and will join my fellow judges in assessing a record 67 entries from 15 countries. The award winners will be revealed at a big showpiece event in Brussels in November.
Following on from my Brussels trip, I was due to be flying out to Portugal with Caterpillar to see some of the off-highway equipment giant’s yellow iron in action in a major marble quarry.
As I write, further Aggregates Business trips are scheduled to Holland, Belgium, Spain and Northern Ireland, all before Liam and I fly out to Munich, Germany, as part of the Route One Publishing team covering bauma 2022 (24-30 October), the world’s biggest construction, quarrying and mining machine exhibition. It promises to be a hectic autumn. Bring it on! GW
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HeidelbergCement rebrands as Heidelberg Materials
HeidelbergCement has rebranded as Heidelberg Materials. The Heidelberg, Germany-based company says the new brand identity underlines its pioneering role on the path to carbon neutrality and digitalisation in the building materials industry.
The company says that ‘Heidelberg’ remains as a synonym for continuity and market leadership, while ‘Materials’ replaces ‘Cement’ and stands for an innovative portfolio of sustainable and intelligent building materials as well as digital solutions.
Dominik von Achten, chairman of the company’s managing board, commented: “Our future is sustainable. Our future is digital. Customer demands, markets, and competitors are changing rapidly. Opportunities and
challenges go beyond country borders, communication is becoming increasingly global. Differentiation opportunities arise. We will be the first company in the world to offer carbon-free cement at large scale as early as 2024.”
In the first step, the rebranding will start at group level, where Heidelberg Materials will be introduced immediately as a brand. From 2023 onwards, domestic and international subsidiaries will gradually be renamed to Heidelberg Materials.
Jon Morrish, member of the managing board and responsible for the brand development, said: “Heidelberg Materials is a powerful brand that stands for our global quality and sustainability standards and combines the strengths of our countries with those of the entire group.”
Jon Morrish and Dominik von Achten (right) revealed the company’s new brand
Four-billion-tonne aggregates demand must be met, says MPA
The continuing decline in permitted reserves for essential primary aggregates will need to be addressed urgently to support the British economy over the next 15 years.
That is the view of the Mineral Products Association (MPA) in a new report showing that around four billion tonnes of aggregates – crushed rock and sand & gravel – will be needed to meet the country’s construction needs. The MPA says that demand projections for Great Britain suggest that, by 2035,
some 277 to 323 million tonnes of aggregates will need to be supplied each year. Cumulatively, this means that between 3.8 and 4.1 billion tonnes of aggregates will be required between 2022 and 2035, compared to a total of 3.2 billion tonnes of aggregates supplied in the previous period, between 2008 and 2021.
The report - Aggregates demand and supply in Great Britain: Scenarios for 2035highlights pressure points that may come
to bear on some traditional sources of aggregates, through restricted availability and limited access to particular mineral resources.
The MPA says this will require the wider portfolio of domestic aggregates supply to re-balance in order to ensure a steady and adequate supply of essential minerals to support the economy is maintained.
A continuing decline in permissions for land-based sand and gravel in particular is likely to place increasing pressures on the supply of local aggregates over the next 15 years. It could mean greater dependence on larger crushed rock quarries, with more materials travelling greater distances, and increased reliance on marine sand and gravel.
The MPA also expresses caution over the contribution from recycled and secondary aggregates to construction activity. While these sources will continue to provide a valuable supply of aggregates, the limited availability of secondary and recycled resources suggests the potential for these to significantly increase will be limited. Primary aggregates are therefore expected to continue to meet over two-thirds of overall demand for the next 15 years.
‘EUROPE’S FIRST’ 3D PRINTED OFFICE EXTENSION IN AUSTRIA
What is claimed to be Europe’s first 3D printed office extension has opened in Hausleiten in Austria.
The project is a result of a collaboration between construction technology group STRABAG and scaffolding and formwork manufacturer and 3D concrete printing company PERI. The building is a 125m2 office extension to an existing building in Hausleiten.
“The building in Hausleiten is a milestone for STRABAG, for PERI, for all involved. And a milestone for the Austrian construction industry as a whole,” said Thomas Imbacher, member of the board for innovation & marketing at PERI.
“We are convinced that 3D printing of buildings will be part of the future of construction as this technology offers solutions for challenges that are currently occupying our industry: digitalisation, efficiency, shortage of skilled workers and much more.”
The extension building was printed with a BOD2, the bestselling 3D construction printer globally from COBOD. The maximum printing speed of the BOD2 3D construction printer at one metre per second is claimed to be the fastest in the world, and consequently the shell construction in Hausleiten was completed in around 45 hours of pure printing time.
Holcim closes acquisition
Holcim has acquired Cantillana, a Belgium-founded supplier of a broad range of façade construction and external thermal insulation systems. Holcim has completed the acquisition of Cantillana, a specialty building solutions market leader in Belgium, with 2022-estimated net sales of €80m.
Cantillana offers a broad range of façade construction and external thermal insulation systems. This further strengthens Holcim’s position in building renovation and energy-efficiency solutions, building on the recent acquisitions of PRB Group in France, PTB-Compaktuna in Belgium and Izolbet in Poland.
With more than 200 employees and nine production facilities across Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, Cantillana’s footprint and product portfolio will generate additional synergies across the business and accelerate the growth of Solutions & Products in Europe.
Africa, said: “I warmly welcome all Cantillana employees to the Holcim family as another step in our expansion of Solutions & Products, advancing Strategy 2025Accelerating Green Growth
This addition strengthens our presence in Europe even further, especially in building renovation and energy efficiency solutions. We
Holcim says the acquisition will accelerate its green-growth strategy
Cantillana was founded in 1875 in Sint-Niklaas (Belgium) as a branch of a construction company. In 1982 the company was acquired by the Stadsbader Group.
Cantillana’s geographical footprint is highly complementary to PRB Group, as is its product portfolio with PTB-Compaktuna.
The consortium aims to mature carbonation technologies in the cement industry
TFLSmidth consortium to accelerate tech
o further eliminate CO2 emissions from the production of cement, FLSmidth is leading the new CO2 Valorize consortium to mature and deploy carbonation technologies in the industry.
Funded by the EU Commission, world-class specialists will work alongside FLSmidth R&D engineers and experts from leading universities, technology providers and research institutions to solve one of the cement industry’s biggest challenges.
Cement remains the foundation of modern civilisation, creating affordable housing for billions of
people and providing an essential element for constructing our infrastructure.
However, conventional cement production accounts for approximately 7-8% of the world’s CO2 emissions, which makes significant reductions in emissions a number one priority for the industry.
Introducing carbonation technologies for cement will allow producers to recycle CO2, particularly that originating from the traditional calcination of limestone, and to produce supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) in which CO2 can be permanently
stored. The successful development and implementation of carbonation technologies are expected to eliminate up to 30% of CO2 emissions.
“We have been granted a unique opportunity to revolutionise the cement industry at a time of extreme urgency,” says Burcin Temel McKenna, head of green cement solutions development, FLSmidth. “No stone is left unturned as the industry transitions into more environmentally friendly practices, which include alternative raw materials such as clay, electrification and carbon capture and utilisation.
The 125m2 office extension building printed. Image: PERI
Torque of the town
Machinery operating in the hostile conditions of mining, quarrying and construction requires an engine that enables the highest uptime and lowest TCO. That’s why Volvo Penta’s Stage V-compliant diesel engines and gensets have been designed to maximize passive regeneration of the aftertreatment system, eliminating unplanned stops during operation. It’s just one of the many advantages that puts Volvo Penta ahead of the pack when it comes to selecting the best-possible driveline for your equipment.
Visit us at bauma at Hall A4, Booth 526
Driving the future of quarrying technology
Volvo CE president Melker Jernberg is dedicated to putting the off-road equipment manufacturer at the centre of the major changes that are coming to the sector in using new technologies to provide sustainable solutions for customers. He spoke to Liam McLoughlin about the company’s plans
Volvo is a manufacturer that has put itself at the centre of efforts to advance quarrying and construction equipment technology in areas such as electric and autonomous vehicle deployments.
Melker Jernberg became president of the Volvo CE (Construction Equipment) business in January 2018, and his academic and professional background in mechanical engineering makes him well-equipped to spearhead the company’s efforts in these areas.
The manufacturer recently unveiled the world’s first pilot of a hydrogen fuel cellpowered articulated hauler, addressing the issue of how electric power could be used for large quarrying machinery. Volvo CE is also an early mover in autonomous electric quarrying vehicles with its joint project at the Skanska ‘electric quarry’ in Gothenburg and through its TARA autonomous vehicle solution.
A graduate of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with an MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Jernberg started his career at commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania in 1989, where he worked for 22 years, ultimately becoming senior VP with responsibility for Scania’s bus and coach business area.
He then joined Swedish steel maker SSAB in 2011 where he ran the company’s European, Middle Eastern and African businesses.
Speaking to Aggregates Business Europe during the press day at the start of June’s Volvo Days showcase for Volvo CE’s latest equipment and technology, Jernberg expressed his happiness that it could be held face to face for the first time since 2018.
The three-week event is held at Volvo CE’s Customer Center in Eskilstuna, central Sweden, and Jernberg said the last few years have been a tough period for all, with the off-road equipment sector being no exception.
“We normally talk to partners, suppliers, customers, dealers, [at Volvo Days] and we haven’t been doing that for a number of years.
That is bad and sad, and also a bit strange.
“We were a little bit surprised about the extreme increase in demand that came quite quickly [after the lockdown], and at the same time there were very big challenges on the supply side. We have been living with that for a long time now, there has been a constant kind of crisis management for the last two-and-a-half years.”
In number terms Volvo CE sold 99,871 machines in 2021 (321 of which were electricpowered) in a global market that totalled just under one million units for the year. Sales of services represented 14% of the company’s total sales, and its operating income margin was 13.3%.
Jernberg says that the post-COVID situation has been exacerbated this year by the lengthy renewed lockdowns in Shanghai, where Volvo CE’s Chinese business is headquartered, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Normally, if you have one or two of these
kinds of crises you can manage them, but now we have a long list,” he states, adding that suppliers themselves have been hit by COVID, both on the people and the materials side.
“When it started, a lot of the debate was around the shortage of semiconductors and inability to meet global demand, and of course that hit us as well. But it’s wider than just semiconductors, it’s also the hydraulics and electronics in machines, the raw materials. You can take almost anything. On top of that there are the logistic challenges. It’s not one crisis, one supplier or transport system, it’s all over the system, and that is something that we’ve never experienced before. Our suppliers have done fantastic things trying to solve this.”
In terms of whether the situation is getting better, he says: “So many times over the last two and a half years one has said ‘Yes, it’s improving’, and then you wake up with another hit. In some areas there are no improvements, but in some of our critical flows we are starting to see things becoming better.”
Despite the current challenges, Jernberg highlights a number of key drivers for Volvo CE’s business going forward: sustainability, new technologies, solutions/services, and partnerships.
Commenting on how sustainability and new technologies can drive Volvo CE’s business, he says that discussions with its customers have shown a need for electric machinery is coming from the bigger applications, including quarries.
In addition to its electric battery-powered machines, the company has also made major recent announcements about equipment in the hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell areas.
“It’s important to look at the whole spectrum of solutions,” he adds. “One option is fully electric, but quarries are often also very suited to grid-connected machines, which we already have available today.
“Another concept we have come up with for mining is a kind of transport system, which is electric but also fully autonomous [TARA]. It’s important to take a holistic view
“We learn every day, and if we lock ourselves into a plan now until 2030 it will be dangerous to do that”
Jernberg addresses the audience at this year’s Volvo Days event
Flexibility and Mobility
BUILT TO CONNECT
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of the site. The main use [for electric and autonomous deployments] will be hauling, but then you can complement that with excavators and wheeled loaders to have a full system. You can recharge quite often during each cycle and don’t need to have heavy batteries.”
For electric excavators in quarries at the moment, Jernberg says he would recommend them being fully connected to the grid to enable the deployment of bigger machines including 50-tonne models. Currently the largest battery-powered excavator that Volvo CE produces is the 22-tonne EC230 Electric, but he says it will be possible to make bigger battery-electric machines than the ones currently on the market.
In terms of the adoption of alternative power technologies in sectors such as quarrying, he stresses the need for a flexible approach among manufacturers to be able to produce solutions for the whole range of vehicle-powering technologies - whether it be lithium battery, hydrogen, other alternative fuels, cable-connected power from the grid, or existing diesel engines.
“This will change and this is why I am pushing on the other fuel solutions such as hydrogen, which will be fully electric but through the fuel cells,” says Jernberg. “On the bigger machines we will have CO2-free solutions, but maybe not through battery electric only. I think that is how we should see it.
“We learn every day, and if we lock ourselves into a plan now until 2030 it will be
dangerous to do that. We are working hard to be sensitive and to adjust on the timescale. Time to market, technology development –all of these things give a lot of opportunities short-term. You need to be quick out, but with good products.”
In June, Volvo CE announced that it has started testing the world’s first fuel cell articulated hauler prototype, the Volvo HX04. The fuelling process for hydrogen vehicles is fast and the Volvo HX04 can be charged with 12kg hydrogen in around 7.5 minutes, enabling it to operate for approximately four hours.
“We are testing hydrogen solutions for use in applications such as quarrying,” says Jernberg. “To be able to fully launch it we need some more testing and maturity, and fuel cells are still quite expensive. To be fully up and running from a commercial point of view I think it will take a few more years until it’s matured.”
He says that there is a lot of interest among Volvo CE customers for electric and autonomous solutions. Many of the company’s big customers and strategic accounts have made similar pledges to its own to fulfil the Paris Agreement requirements on reducing emissions, and to achieve this through the pathway provided by science-based targets.
Volvo CE says it is fully committed to the Science-Based Targets initiative, and reaching net-zero value-chain emissions by 2040.
“I’m surprised at the speed with which things are progressing for electric solutions even in big, more mature regions and
countries, and this is important,” says Jernberg.
In terms of potential barriers to the rollout of electric solutions, he identifies the levels of power generation that are available for operating vehicles as an issue that needs to be solved, in addition to the capabilities of manufacturers to put good-enough products on the market.
He points out that, in addition to equipment operators’ own desire to improve their sustainability efforts, pressure is also increasingly coming from the bodies awarding supply contracts who require evidence of a low CO2 footprint.
Advances in vehicle-charging technology are another way of driving uptake. “If you take a big quarry with eight large machines, then if you can cut the current kilowatt-hourcost of vehicle charging by 50% this would put it on the same cost level as diesel,” Jernberg says. “Are operators willing to pay let’s say an extra 2% to deploy a CO2 -free solution?”
He says that total cost of ownership is very important and this will influence the customer in terms of whether they switch to electric now, or if they wait for another year.
“Today we still believe in the future of the combustion engine, because that technology is proven. But there will be different types of fuels and even hydrogen and other alternative fuels [including biofuels such as HVO] in the combustion engine. We have a deadline of 2040 to be a net-zero company, and by then we know we will not have diesel in the combustion engine anymore.”
Volvo CE has a target for at least 30% of the machines it produces to be electric by 2030. “To be able to contribute to the Paris Agreement we have said that we have committed to make absolute reductions in CO2 emissions in the use of our products by 30%. When you actually calculate that it means that 35% rather than 30% of our machines will be fully electric.
“The efficiency of the whole system is also important. For every customer we discuss this with – whether it’s autonomous or not, electric or not – a holistic view of the site can enable large percentage savings in CO2 for the
“It’s very easy to talk about torque, horsepower and four-litre V8, 16-litre, fuel consumption and all of that, but this is a shift for all of us going into the electrical world”
Volvo CE recently unveiled the prototype hydrogen-powered HX04 hauler
quarry of the future. The whole solution and what we can do in terms of connectivity is very important in this context now.”
Volvo has started a separate business within the group – Volvo Autonomous Solutions (VAS ) – that is specifically dedicated to the technology. Jernberg says that the first full deployments of Volvo CE’s autonomous transport solution – tagged TARA – should take place either late this year or early in 2023.
He adds that an autonomous system will not be a perfect solution for 100% of all quarry sites, but it can be suitable for many of them. “It’s more the maturity of us together with our customers, rather than depending on a specific market,” he says.
Moving onto the topic of Volvo Groupowned articulated hauler manufacturer Rokbak (which rebranded from Terex Trucks in September 2021), Jernberg says the intention is to keep the Rokbak operation as separate from its parent company as possible.
“We cooperate because we are in the same company, and Paul [Douglas, Rokbak MD] and the whole team are good colleagues to us. Of course, it’s a family party when we meet, but business-wise it’s separate. It’s a separate brand, produced at the plant in Motherwell, Scotland, with separate distribution and values coming from those machines compared with Volvo.”
Looking to how Volvo CE’s business performance will progress over the next 12 months, Jernberg says that the complicating
factor in making projections is China, where the company is very strong and where a large part of its 2021 volumes came through its SDLG brand.
“China plays a major role in the construction industry when you look at global order intakes, volumes and sales, so that has altered the mathematics and changed the whole dynamic,” he says.
China, which represents around a half of the global construction equipment market, has seen sales fall by 50% this year.
“If you take a company that is not strong in China, the last three years will be completely different to one that is very strong in that market,” Jernberg says. “My view is that we at Volvo CE are strong both in China and outside China, which is good because we have many legs to stand on.”
He adds that, quite quickly after the initial outbreak of COVID in late 2019/early 2020, there was a dramatic increase in global construction equipment demand, generated to a great extent by major government investments in infrastructure projects.
This increase came during the autumn of 2020 and Jernberg admits that Volvo was taken a little bit by surprise, with demand being much higher than anticipated in countries apart from China. He adds that demand since then has been extremely high and will be more stable going forward. “We have had extremely high order intake in all regions outside China over the last 12 months, and that is part of the reason why we have the supply chain issues,” he says.
“I think what is good for our business is that there are a lot of initiatives and investment being made around infrastructure and building in many different countries.”
He adds that this is also good news for quarry operators, with high levels of demand being likely for many of their mineral products going forward. “If nothing very strange happens, I think demand will continue to be quite strong for a while,” he adds. “That is what we see and hear from customers at the moment.”
Regarding his achievements since taking over as head of Volvo CE at the start of 2018, Jernberg says he is particularly pleased about his role in making the company one that is capable of taking the lead in the major change to the industry that is coming in using new technology solutions to make sustainable solutions for customers.
“That change was not very clear when I started,” he adds. “We are a company now that is resilient over different cycles and challenges, and you also need to be a good company when it comes to profit. Now we are a good company in those terms, and we have the muscle to be able to take the lead in the construction equipment sector. We are a company that believes in the future, and we will also drive the future. I spend a lot of time and effort personally on the whole management in this journey.”
Outside of his busy schedule at Volvo CE, Jernberg - who is married with three sonstries to make time for hobbies, in particular golf and skiing.
“I used to say a number of years ago that I played golf. Now I realise when I do that, my friends and my sons say that that is not golf any longer. Then you start to realise you are getting older!” he laughs. “But I try to be quite active.”
Beyond the golf course and ski slopes, his major interest is in cars, and along with one of his sons and a couple of friends he is currently engaged in some hobby car racing. “We re-build touring cars and take part in six-hour endurance races,” he explains. “For me it’s a nice way of being able to spend time with one of my sons, because he is the only one still living at home.”
He says this also links nicely to his interest in engineering and is useful in heightening awareness of the technology changes taking place in his day job.
“It’s very easy to talk about torque, horsepower and four-litre V8, 16-litre, fuel consumption and all of that, but this is a shift for all of us going into the electrical world,” he says. “How many kilowatt hours do you need? What is the consumption on a 20-tonne excavator. What size class do you need on the battery to make it autonomous?
“This is a new area and talking about my interest there it is very much connected and you need to translate this. If you go to a customer and the first question is something you cannot answer, then you need to be in the lead on that as well. In this kind of life, it’s not easy to define what is private and what is work! It’s more or less the same.” AB
Jernberg on-site with one of Volvo CE’s electric machines
We have made a difference to our customers’ businesses over the past 50 years and will continue to help build a better future as their first-choice solutions provider.
UEPG on the road again
Reaching out to members, establishing, re-establishing, and maintaining contacts is part of the daily business of associations like UEPG (the European Aggregates Association). The pandemic is not over, but in-person meetings are again crucial in the ‘new normal’.
UEPG president Antonis Antoniou Latouros was elected in the middle of the pandemic in June 2021 and committed to visit every single association member. Call that brave or entrepreneurial risk-taking. He is serious about it and created a formula: five countries in five days.
Antonis is not based in Brussels, Paris or Berlin, where travelling from would be relatively easy and fast, but in Cyprus. No journey is too long, and no corner anywhere in Europe is too far away not to be visited as part of his commitment to connecting with members and potential future members.
In April, we tested the new 5/5-format: Berlin, Athens, Paris, London and Dublin. Short nights and travelling early morning or late evening to keep the day for meetings and site visits. The time is short but allows for dinners, working breakfasts and lunches, short 1–2-hour meetings with members and stakeholders and forces everyone to focus on the essential points. It is amazing to see how much one can tackle in one single day.
At the end of September, we travelled to Scandinavia and the Baltic countries by plane, ship and car: Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. The challenges are very common, while the priority ranking of members can be slightly different depending on policy conditions, geology, and to what
degree the industry is organised within a strong national association. Smaller countries tend to combine different sectors in one association, while this is not a general rule either: Cyprus has a strong aggregates association, the UK has aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, mortar and other sectors united within the Mineral Products Association (MPA).
The commonly known argument that small countries or associations have little to say in Brussels can be proven wrong easily by UEPG President Latouros. An industry predominantly driven by SMEs needs the involvement of small- and medium-sized companies. UEPG opens the doors to
EU policymakers and offers the stage for everyone in the industry. You are more than welcome to try it out.
The journey continues with a few UEPG members left on the list to visit. Thank you to our members and colleagues for the perfect organisation and preparation of the visits and meetings. We took a lot back to Brussels and will report internally to adapt our campaigns based on what we learnt from you. AB
UEPG president Antonis Antoniou Latouros (centre) with colleagues from the Lithuanian Aggregates Association during a visit to a sand and gravel site
Antonis Antoniou Latouros with Svante Axelsson of Fossil Free Sweden in Stockholm
If you share our ambition to lower carbon emissions, our CO2 Reduction Program is good news. Let’s work together, set goals and keep you on target. Read more at volvoce.com/changestartshere
COMMERCIAL COMMON SENSE – THE IMPORTANCE IN CONTRACT
What is commercial common sense?
Commercial common sense is one of the tests used by the courts when interpreting a contract. Essentially, the court asks whether the contract is consistent with the purposes and intentions of both contracting parties.
What happened in the case of Nord Naphtha Limited v New Stream Trading AG?
Nord Naphtha agreed to buy 30,000 metric tonnes of ultra-low sulphur diesel from New Stream. The contract provided that Nord Naphtha would make an advance payment of 90% of the purchase price, which equated to $16,059,600.
On 17 April 2019, New Stream notified Nord Naphtha that delivery of the diesel would be delayed due to ‘operational and production issues at the refinery’. New Stream considered this to be a force majeure event. Despite various promises, the delivery never materialised.
On 30 June 2020, Nord Naphtha terminated the contract and sought repayment of the advance. New Stream denied it was under any contractual obligation to repay it and relied on a force majeure clause in the contract which said that neither party should be “deemed in breach of contract or liable to the other to the extent that any failure, omission, delay or hindrance arose from any force majeure event resulting from circumstances reasonably beyond the control of either party”.
This clause went on to list various events which would be viewed as force majeure events, including those “related to hindrances
When negotiating a contract, a business must pay particular attention to whether the clauses setting out the obligations of the parties make commercial common sense. Jeremy Crook, a senior associate at Stephens Scown LLP, uses the case of Nord Naphtha Limited v New Stream Trading AG [2021] EWCA Civ 1829 to illustrate why
or delays in delivery” and “interference with supplies”. Unluckily for New Stream, the contract also contained a rather contradictory clause which essentially said, “nothing herein shall impair the obligations by the Seller to repay to the Buyer the amount of the advance payment or any Outstanding Advance Amount under this Contract in the event that the delivery of the Product is not made or only partially made due to Force Majeure Event.”
Nord Naphtha issued a claim demanding repayment of the advance on the following basis:
1. There was a right of repayment of the advance pursuant to the contract; and/or 2. There was a right of repayment of the advance on the basis of unjust enrichment.
New Stream argued that there was no unjust enrichment as they had already paid the advance to the refinery (less commission).
The commercial court held that it would be a “surprising” outcome if Nord Naphtha were unable to recover the advance in any circumstances under the contract. The court held that the contract contained an express obligation for New Stream to repay Nord Naphtha. Even if this were not the case, a repayment obligation was “so obvious” that it would be an implied term of the contract.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal rejected New Stream’s argument that the words of the contract were open to interpretation. When looking at the wider commercial context of a sale of goods contract, the court found it would “offend business common sense and
ordinary common sense” for any buyer to enter into a contract where they would not be entitled to repayment of an advance payment in force majeure circumstances.
Applying commercial common sense
Nord Naphtha serves as a helpful reminder that businesses should properly review and, if necessary, negotiate the terms of any contract before entering into it. If a dispute arises over the interpretation of any conflicting clauses, the party whose interpretation makes commercial common sense is likely to come out smiling. Makes sense, right? AB
CONTACT
Jeremy Crook is a senior associate in the Commercial Disputes Resolution team at Stephens Scown, advising businesses, public bodies and individuals in relation to commercial disputes. He is also able to advise on disputes that straddle both civil litigation and employment law. The firm has more than 70 years’ experience representing mining and minerals clients and its specialist team is recognised by independent guides to the law The Legal 500 and Chambers.
If you have any questions about this article, please contact Jeremy Crook via email: J.Crook@stephens-scown.co.uk, by calling 01726 627309 or alternatively visit https://www.stephens-scown. co.uk/business/disputes/commercialdisputes/
Strong. On their own or together.
THE MOBICAT MC 110 EVO2 AND MOBICONE MCO 90 EVO2
TEAM PLAYERS THAT WORK TOGETHER INTELLIGENTLY AND STRENGTHEN EACH OTHER. In linked plant combinations, the MOBICAT MC 110 EVO2 jaw crusher and the MOBICONE MCO 90 EVO2 cone crusher really fl ex their muscles. SPECTIVE makes both plants easy and intuitive to operate. Also, an advanced drive concept ensures greater effi ciency with lower consumption. Maximum throughput is achieved thanks to the material flow concept coordinated via line coupling across both crushing stages. Go for the perfect team!
www.wirtgen-group.com/evo2-line-kleemann
MC 110 EVO2
MCO 90 EVO2
Due to Rubble Master’s efficient drive solutions, the company’s mobile crushers and screens are increasingly used globally for large infrastructure projects
Plant versatility & innovation
Crushing and screening plant versatility and innovation can generate impressive operating cost reductions. Guy Woodford reports
Electrified quarry mobile processing plant manufacturer Rubble Master is highlighting at bauma 2022 Munich (24-30 October) how its innovative machines can ensure customers up to 25% operating savings.
The Austrian company has been powering its mobile processing plants with electricity for decades. Using this expertise, Rubble Master says it is continuously setting standards in the energy efficiency and costeffectiveness of its machines.
With the claimed revolutionary new development of the bauma-showcased RM H50X hybrid screen and the RM J110x jaw crusher, customers are said to be saving even more fuel costs. In addition, the RM XSMART software solution and other new digital innovations demonstrate how operators and machines can network intelligently to get even higher output. As a result, mobile RM crushers and screens can be combined in a versatile, flexible and efficient way.
Even at a time before steadily rising fuel prices, the electrification of Rubble Master machines was said by the company to be a "key economic as well as ecological argument". As part of the RM NEXT philosophy, the RM Group says it is consistently supporting electrification and offers all its crushers and screens as hybrid versions as a matter of principle. These machines can also be operated fully electrically. A special focus is on combining machines to form crushing and screening trains so they can be operated together. This
means, for example, that the crusher can also power the screen. That is how customers can save time and money because they only need to refuel and service one engine.
Rubble Master hybrid machines are said by the manufacturer to consume up to 25% less fuel than diesel-direct systems. If a crusher equipped with a hybrid drive system also powers an electric screen - a standard set-up with RM - even greater savings are said to be achievable. With this technology, the savings are said to be much higher than with conventional diesel-hydraulic systems. Another advantage, in addition to lower operating costs, is that the machines can be used in emissions-sensitive areas.
Digital solutions and networked machines increase efficiency in addition to electrification, and Rubble Master is focusing intensively on digitalisation to give customers a full overview of their machines while operating even more efficiently. Using the RM XSMART app, machine operators can network with their machines either using an app on their mobile devices or by using the browser app. Fleet management, condition monitoring, end-to-end reporting, and troubleshooting support make everyday life much easier and, at the same time, increase productivity. Rubble Master, however, says it goes one step further by networking the machines with each other.
In a networked crushing and screening train, the machines can communicate with each other to adjust their output to optimise the utilisation of the upstream and downstream units or react to an event
such as one of the machines in the train switching off. This means that machines are not overloaded, nor do they run idle. Rubble Master says autonomous crushing and screening is the next logical step the group will be presenting soon.
Astec Industries has launched its newest mobile high-frequency screening plant, the GT2612V. The plant features a 2612V VariVibe high-frequency screen. The two-deck, 6’x 12’ (1.8m x 3.7m) screen uses a unique rotary tensioning system that allows for some of the quickest screen media changes on the market, giving producers more uptime. The 2612V also has deck-mounted, variablespeed hydraulic vibrators, a hydraulic mechanism for varying operating angles, a fines-collecting hopper, top- and bottom-deck discharge chutes and an aggregates spreader. The high-frequency screen can quickly and efficiently size crushed stone, recycled asphalt pavement, sand, gravel, coal and a variety of other materials.
The mobile GT2612V is manufactured on a heavy-duty, welded-steel mainframe with a channel cross-section. A walkway around the screen and remote grease lubrication for ground-level access make maintenance simple.
The plant includes a large hopper with a capacity of eight cubic yards that is equipped with six-inch (15.2cm) sloped grizzly openings and a remote tipping grid. The hopper also includes foldable wings and hydraulic support legs. The variable-speed, 48-inch (122 cm) wide belt feeder features a high-torque hydraulic drive, full-length
impact bed, rubber lagged head pulley and self-cleaning wing tail pulley.
The screen plant is equipped with four conveyors: a delivery conveyor, two side conveyors and a fines conveyor. All conveyors feature a variable-speed hydraulic drive and easily fold for transport.
The GT2612V is powered by a Caterpillar Tier 4 Final, 136 hp (101.4 kW) engine, while engine-mounted hydraulic pumps operate all plant functions. The plant includes a PLC control system with pendant remote controls for the tracks.
Additional options for the GT2612V mobile plant include engine alternatives (Caterpillar Tier 3 and Stage V) 15-foot (4.6m) hopper/feeder in lieu of standard for additional capacity, heavier-duty grizzly section with replaceable grouser bar cartridge, vibrating grid, bridge breaker,
vinyl dust cover, standard steel screen cloth, engine-enclosure filter kit, engine block heater, immersion heater, wireless track remote, and telematics and auto-grease systems.
Kleemann’s mobile cone crusher MOBICONE MCO 90(i) EVO2 and its mobile impact crusher MOBIREX MR 110(i) EVO2 can now be fitted with a double-deck post screening unit as an option. Cone crushers are mainly used in hard stone, impact crushers in soft to medium-hard stone and in recycling. A very high product quality is expected from both plant types. Thanks to the new optional double-deck post screening unit, it is now also possible, with a single machine – without the use of an additional screening plant – to produce two classified final grain sizes.
The large screening surface makes effective screening possible even for grain
sizes below 20mm. The discharge height of the fine grain conveyor is designed for a maximum stockpile volume. Oversize grain can be processed in a closed material circuit via a return conveyor. As an option, the conveyor can be swivelled hydraulically by up to 100°, which also makes side discharge possible. A kidney-shaped stockpile can thus be created manually.
If an application is only to produce one classified final grain size, the post screening unit can simply be used as a single-deck version.
As the MOBIREX MR 110(i) EVO2 is frequently used in recycling applications, wind sifters are used here as an option. They are said by the German manufacturer to guarantee increased material quality because potential light-material contaminants like wood and plastic are removed. The air flow can then be controlled precisely depending on the material. This is also said to reduce manual and sorting work. The wind sifter can only be used in conjunction with the post screening unit. With the double-deck post screening unit, a second wind sifter can be used as an option for cleaning the medium grain. AB
The GT2612V is Astec Industries’ newest mobile high-frequency screening plant
Kleemann’s MOBICONE MCO 90(i) EVO2 and MOBIREX MR 110(i) EVO2 can now be equipped with an optional double-deck post screening unit
POUNDS LIKE A HAMMER, FLOATS LIKE A FEATHER
STEER-BY-WIRE MACHINE CONTROL
Question: How can an operator easily control a multi-tonne asphalt roller? The answer: With innovative steer-by-wire machine control. This highly advanced system makes machine operation smooth and comfortable.
Advanced steer-by-wire is the hallmark of the Ammann ARP 75 Pivot-Steer Roller. The machine also sets a new market standard with an advanced driver lever with intelligent functions and a 10-inch multifunctional touchable display.
Soil and Asphalt Compactors
Bigger & better loading
A top loading model manufacturer has gone bigger than ever before in its hybrid excavator range while another major brand was due to unveil eye-catching quarrying-suited machines and linked technology at bauma 2022 Munich. Guy Woodford reports
Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) is introducing the EC380E Hybrid - the largest model so far in the Swedish quarrying, construction and mining machine manufacturer’s hybrid excavator range.
In addition to helping enable increased fuel efficiency of up to 17%, Volvo CE says the new 38-tonne class EC380E Hybrid also offers a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 15%.
The new machine utilises Volvo's hydraulic hybrid technology and builds on the EC300E Hybrid excavator that the company launched in 2019. Since its launch, Volvo CE says the EC300E Hybrid has proven itself as a reliable partner on the jobsite and has been recently upgraded with an all-new powertrain. Two new hybrid machines have recently joined the family – the 25-tonne class EC250E Hybrid and 35-tonne class EC350E Hybrid.
Kangwook Kim, Volvo CE global product manager, said: “We knew when we launched the EC300E Hybrid two years ago that we were only at the beginning of our hybrid journey. Our unique hybrid hydraulic technology has proved it has the potential to work across a range of excavators, no matter the size, and we will continue to build on our offering to provide the most efficient, flexible and environmentally responsible solutions for our customers.”
Volvo’s hydraulic-hybrid technology is
designed to harvest ‘free’ energy generated by the down motion of the excavator’s boom. The powerful and regular boom-down motions charge a hydraulic accumulator, which then stores and delivers energy, when needed, to drive the hydraulic-assist motor that helps power the engine system. Volvo CE says the Hybrid models involve no compromise in ability, with these excavators offering the same levels of controllability and performance as non-hybrid machines.
The manufacturer says that the biggest difference between its own hybrid concept and those of its competitors is that it uses the up and down motion of the boom to capture free energy.
"Other systems typically use the swing motion and capture energy that way," the manufacturer states. "With Volvo CE, customers are able to capture the energy of a typical loading cycle, which is really how the system is able to optimise workflow."
It adds that the hybrid solution is easy to maintain and consists of just a handful of add-on components, meaning no disruption or complication to how the 38-tonne class excavator works.
With this latest machine added to the hybrid range, Volvo CE is committed to a more sustainable operation and a reduced environmental footprint.
Doosan was due to present a claimed industry-leading display of new state-of-theart machine and digital technologies on the
company’s stand at bauma 2022 Munich (24-30 October 2022), the world’s largest exhibition for the construction, quarrying and recycling machine industries. The Doosan stand is centred around a dedicated Innovation Centre and, under the theme of Powered by Innovation, will present the latest developments in the company’s leading-edge Concept-X, Xitecloud and DoosanCONNECT systems, together with other unique products such as the world’s first Transparent Bucket and the new DX225LC-7X, Doosan’s first ‘Smart’ Crawler Excavator.
As well as the new DX225LC-7X, the array of products on the Doosan stand will show the increasing expansion at both ends of the product range for the first time at bauma. At the top of the range, these will include the new DX1000LC-7 100-tonne crawler excavator and the award-winning DL580-7 wheeled loader.
Being shown for the first time in the world at bauma, the new DX225LC-7X - Doosan’s first ‘Smart’ crawler excavator - is designed to help operators work faster and more efficiently. To facilitate this, the DX225LC-7X offers several exciting new features as standard, including full electric hydraulic (FEH) technology. As well as the FEH system, other standard features of the DX225LC-7X include integrated 2D machine guidance and machine control systems, as well as an E-Fence Virtual Wall.
Volvo CE’s new 38-tonne class EC380E Hybrid at work on a quarry site
At bauma, Doosan is premiering the new DX1000LC-7 Stage V-compliant 100-tonne crawler excavator, the largest excavator model ever manufactured by the company.
Driven by the most powerful engine in the 100-tonne class, the DX1000LC-7 also has the highest hydraulic flow for this size of machine, providing claimed best-in-class performance, with higher productivity, lower fuel consumption and smoother controls.
ZF has started prototype assembly of its new eTRAC eCD160 electric drive system for wheeled loaders.
The Germany-headquartered automotive manufacturer produced the prototypes at its facility in Patriching, Passau.
While the eTRAC eCD20-40 for compact vehicles is already being produced in volume production and the fi are underway for the next larger eCD 50-90 series, the newly developed system supplements the existing range with
construction machinery
and power management completes the system. With a 650 V operating voltage, the system can be scaled up to 120kW continuous power. The ePTO ranges from 30-to-70kW continuous power.
All components are thoroughly matched to a comprehensive system consisting of an electro-mechanical powershift transmission and one e-motor for traction and ePTO each. An electric drive control unit for overall system performance
Based on the established ERGOPOWER powershift technology, the eTRAC system is not intended to replace the conventional driveline technology. Rather, it is precisely this modular design that allows many drive concepts to be covered and thus to react even more flexibly to customer requirements in the future.
The newly developed solution can therefore be integrated into battery-electric vehicles as well as vehicles with fuel cells. At the same time, conventional drives with powershift and power-split transmissions will remain the backbone of the vehicle´s system architecture; even for alternative fuels such as hydrogen, eFuels, or biodiesel.
After a successful prototype phase, series production is intended to start in 2025. AB
READY FOR ACTION: THE NEW IMPROVED HEAVY-DUTY VOLVO L350H
Built to tackle the toughest of jobs, the upgraded L350H wheeled loader from Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) is ready to address a range of applications, from mining and quarrying to heavy infrastructure - with greater productivity and fuel efficiency and lower service costs.
Stronger and smarter, the new Volvo L350H comes with a few notable improvements to boost productivity, increase fuel efficiency and reduce costs, whilst ensuring operator comfort and safety.
Upgraded with the latest innovative technology, including a more responsive
hydraulics system featuring new lift and tilt cylinders, upgraded driveline and all-new Volvo transmission, as well as telematics connectivity and features such as LoadAssist and OnBoard Weighing, the L350H is ready to tackle a range of heavy-duty applications.
And with extended service intervals and durable design, the Volvo L350H can keep working for longer – increasing productivity and reducing downtime.
• This article was produced in association with Volvo CE
Doosan’s DX1000LC-7 Stage V crawler excavator was due to premiere at bauma 2022 Munich
The ZF eTRAC drive system enables emission-free operation of medium-sized wheeled loaders
Hauling with fossil-free steel
The hauling sector has seen a number of eye-catching recent announcements including a new machine made from fossil-free steel, details of upcoming bauma launches, and the inside story on Rokbak’s rebrand. Liam McLoughlin reports
Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has become the first manufacturer to deliver a construction machine built using fossil-free steel to a customer. The Sweden-based manufacturer says the move demonstrates the fast-tracking of innovation to real-world solutions as companies across the value chain come together to drive change.
The A30G articulated hauler built using fossil-free steel was handed over by president of Volvo CE Melker Jernberg to long-standing customer NCC on June 1, at a ceremony hosted by LeadIt – the Leadership Group for Industry Transition – in conjunction with the United Nations environmental meeting Stockholm +50. It was attended by John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (pictured third from left) and Annika Strandhäll, Swedish Minister for Climate.
The move comes just nine months after the company unveiled the world’s first vehicle concept using fossil-free steel, as part of the testing of the implementation in an ordinary production setup. While commercial introduction is expected to be gradual with selected customers, this speedy first handover is an important milestone in the group’s ambition to drive industry transformation towards global climate goals. The A30G is produced at Volvo CE’s Braås facility in Sweden, using the existing manufacturing process, with fossil-free steel from Swedish steel company SSAB.
“We are sure that to succeed in decarbonising the construction industry, actors in the value chain will need to collaborate and act,” Jernberg commented. “Thanks to our strong partnerships with other driven and forward-thinking companies, we are now able to lead the change towards
fossil-free construction and be the first to deliver a machine built using fossil-free steel to a customer. Turning commitments into actions is key to building the world we want to live in.”
Tomas Carlsson, CEO and president of NCC, said: "NCC has a firm commitment to contribute to sustainable development. We are working determinedly and systematically to reach that target, which includes selecting machines that live up to our high demands. As demonstrated in this great example, it takes strong and proactive partnerships between several players to make the sustainable shift possible."
As part of its Science-Based Targets commitment, Volvo CE is set to achieve
raw materials used in its products, of which steel is a major component. The production using fossil-free steel in Volvo CE’s machines and components will be gradual and depend on aspects such as steel availability.
Employees at Motherwell, Scotland-based Rokbak have been celebrating the articulated haul truck brand’s one-year anniversary. Marking the occasion, managing director Paul Douglas has revealed the full story behind the rebrand. Keeping one of the biggest construction equipment stories of 2021 under wraps was not an easy task, so how did Douglas and his team keep the rebranding of Terex Trucks a surprise for so long? The answer lies in good old-fashioned hard work from a dedicated and highly skilled team.
Volvo CE’s A30G is made from fossil-free steel provided by partner SSAB
The Rokbak brand was finally revealed on September 1st 2021 – gratifyingly taking the media, customers, and the competition by surprise – and the public reaction was music to Douglas’ ears.
“The momentum built quickly, with customers and dealers alike eager to get their hands on Rokbak-branded products, whether that was haulers, work wear or coffee mugs,” he said. “Seeing the news bouncing around social media was great, too, perhaps the best feedback you can get.
“When people see the new Sand paint job in real life, they are blown away – it looks incredible on the iron. We’ve been out at a few trade shows and open days this year – including Hillhead, Balmoral Show and ScotPlant – and the feedback has been that our haulers were the best-looking pieces of equipment on site!”
function in the business that didn’t have to get involved.
“For instance, we had to try the new colour scheme out in the paint shop, and we said it was a customer-specific colour – which is something we’ve done for our customers before. Then, before the launch, we had to take the RA30 and RA40 to a quarry to take photos for the marketing materials. It was incredible how everyone in our team, the dealers and our external partners worked together to ensure it remained confidential.”
The COVID-19 pandemic and the essential lockdowns that came with it caused difficulty but ironically the pandemic actually helped to keep the news under wraps. With no events or exhibitions to attend, and no customers or journalists visiting the Motherwell factory, the risk of anyone finding out was greatly diminished.
“We didn’t have to drop the Terex Trucks name, but we had overrun on the initial agreement,” Douglas explained. “For the first few years changing our name wasn’t a high priority, as we focused on stabilising the business and investing in the product, manufacturing and our people. But after we’d made such significant performance improvements to our articulated haulers, it was a natural progression to rebrand – the Terex Trucks name was holding us back. Our customers and dealers also expected and supported a name change to reflect the new machines, so the rebrand was set in motion about four years ago.
“The Volvo Group is extremely brand aware. Originally, we investigated whether there would be any mileage in resurrecting one of the group’s sleeping legacy brands, until the practicalities and legalities outweighed the benefits. This was the first time Volvo had created a new global brand
from scratch, so they were heavily invested in its development and success. We got a lot of help and support from the Volvo Group and Volvo Construction Equipment in particular. On top of the significant investment they made in the Rokbak brand, we also benefitted from shared resources and support when it came to things like design, branding, marketing and legal work – they really helped us bring the brand to life.”
With a small focus group put together from marketing, branding, commercial, sales, and dealer-development backgrounds, the task of selecting a new name could begin. “Some of our original shortlist names turned out to be similar to those used elsewhere, but the team came up with one that we all loved and was truly unique and impactful,” explains Paul. “We were told by Legal that they had never seen anything as clean as it, and that we should grab it with both hands!”
The team then consulted a handful of select dealers across Asia, Europe, the Americas and Oceania in an attempt to understand how different cultures would perceive the most critical aspects of the new brand.
“One piece of dealer feedback was that it was important to ensure our eight decades of hauling heritage was embedded in the new brand, which was essential for us too,” explains Paul. “One way we incorporated this is through a ‘Made in Britain’ element within our machine branding for certain markets.
“Of all the dealers we initially tested the Rokbak name and new colour on, the majority were immediately enthusiastic, leaving just a couple of individuals who needed to see a little bit more to be convinced. I wasn’t remotely surprised at how quickly they changed their minds at the launch.”
The success of the entire rebranding project was also recognised by a wider audience when the company walked away from the Star Awards 2022 with five accolades from the Marketing Society, as well as a CeeD Industry Award at the start of the year.
One of several world premieres from Doosan at bauma 2022 is the launch of the company’s new 4x4 articulated dump truck (ADT).
Complementing the company’s standard range of 6x6 ADT models, the new 4x4 version of the DA45-7 ADT is intended to compete with rigid dump trucks (RDTs) in the 40-tonne class.
The new 4x4 DA45-7 ADT complements the manufacturer’s current range of Stage V-compliant 6x6 ADTs, which includes the DA30-7 and DA45-7 models with payloads of 28 and 41 tonnes, respectively.
In the new 4x4 ADT, the front truck and cab unit is the same as in the original 6x6 model, with modifications being made on the rear dumper unit only. Featuring a ZF EP8-420 transmission, the 4x4 DA45-7 is a two-axle ADT with twin wheels at the rear, and with a dumper section similar to that on RDTs in the 40-tonne class.
“With superior operation on poorer roads, smoother surfaces and steeper terrain, the aim of our new 4x4 machine is to challenge RDTs in the 40-tonne class, by providing a dumper product that delivers much more than RDTs,” said Beka Nemstsveridze, ADT product manager at Doosan.
As well as performing better in conditions that are tough for RDTs, the new 4x4 DA45-7 ADT has a width of less than 4m to avoid the need for special transportation and offers a better turning radius than a comparable RDT. The shorter turning radius and the design of the rear dumper unit, which is more suited to carrying flat and heavy rocks, provide particular advantages in the mining and tunnelling industries.
The latter are growing markets for ADTs, and include pioneering, short-term mining projects, quarrying and contract mining industries, especially those in southern Africa, the UK and Australia. AB
Rokbak MD Paul Douglas with a hauler in the new ‘Sand’ livery
Continental’s new LD-Master L5
Traction radial tyre is well suited to rigid dump trucks in quarries
Impressive tyre tracks
Two major quarrying- and construction machine tyre makers were due to exhibit their new and latest tyres and linked technology at bauma 2022. Guy Woodford reports
Three Giant BKT tyres with a host of standout features were set to be eye-catching sights for visitors to the bauma 2022 construction, quarrying and recycling equipment industries exhibition in Munich, Germany (24-30 October 2022).
Launched last year, the EARTHMAX SR 468 is the largest tyre ever made by BKT. It is designed for rigid dump trucks (RDTs) and exhibited in size 40.00 R 57 corresponding to a height of 3.5 metres, a width of 1.13 metres and a weight of 3,800kg.
The second Giant tyre is the EARTHMAX SR 46, displayed in the sizes 27.00 R 49 and 33.00 R 51, also designed for RDTs. The 33.00 R 51 size is equivalent to a diameter of over three metres or precisely 3,061mm, a width of 905mm and a weight of 2,400kg, while the 27.00 R 49 has a diameter of exactly 2,688mm and a width of 746mm.
Suitable for operations on rocky and harsh terrains, both these tyres are particularly resistant to impacts and punctures thanks to their all-steel structure that provides resistance to the casing. In addition, the E-4 tread depth offers extreme resistance in severe conditions. Finally, the tyres’ specially designed tread pattern and the tread compound have been developed to reduce the heat generation during extreme applications.
The tyre duo is part of EARTHMAX, the BKT range designed for a better weight distribution on the ground for dumpers, wheeled loaders, dozers, graders and some multi-purpose vehicles. Today, the EARTHMAX range includes 40 different tyres for the earthmoving, construction, quarry and mining sectors and is available in many sizes and different compounds.
BKT says it is working on many fronts in
BKT’s largest off-the-road tyre to date, the EARTHMAX SR 468, was due to be showcased at bauma 2022
the off-the-road (OTR) tyre sector, with a particular focus on new compounds that are highly cut-and-chip resistant, as well as on ultra-heat-resistant compounds that are able to carry heavy loads maintaining, at the same time, an excellent TKPH (the average ratio between the transported weight by the equipment and the speed in km/h).
Continental was also due to play a prominent role at bauma 2022 with the German OTR maker launching its innovative LD-Master L5 Traction radial tyre.
Expanding the ContiEarth range and initially in size 35/65 R33, the new LD-Master L5 Traction radial tyre is said to be ideal for demanding conditions and is also fitted with tyre sensors ex-factory.
Construction and quarrying machines usually operate with heavy payloads and are exposed to a variety of harsh ground conditions, such as rock, gravel or rubble. The LD-Master L5 Traction is specifically designed for loaders operating on abrasive surfaces and in-face working jobs where high productivity and assured vehicle uptime are of the upmost importance.
The reinforced 3* carcass is said by Continental to satisfy the highest loadcarrying capacity requirements, even under extensive production cycles. The L5 traction-tread pattern protects the carcass and ensures smooth and safe operation on the construction or quarry site. The solid tread block design always provides secure traction. The extra deep tread and sidewall protection also make the tyre more robust and ensure long-term productivity.
To minimise idle time and ensure serviceability even under harsh conditions, the special tyres fitted to construction machinery should be controlled as precisely
Tyre-retread manufacturer Marangoni has issued a message of condolence after the sudden death of former group CEO Massimo De Alessandri.
The Italian company said its board of directors, the management, and all employees and collaborators of Marangoni participate in the mourning for Mr De Alessandri's untimely death on 19th July 2022 and extend their condolences to his family.
De Alessandri joined the Marangoni Group in 1987 and was the long-time CEO of the parent company, ending a 30-year career in 2017.
During this time, he was also chairman of Marangoni Group subsidiaries such as Eurorubber (20112016), Pneusmarket (2001-2016) and Marangoni Tread (2003-2009), managing director of Marangoni Tyre (2004-2017) and director of Marangoni Meccanica (2008-2017).
In addition to holding top roles
as possible. The LD-Master L5 Traction is fitted with an integrated tyre sensor ex-factory, making monitoring possible in real time. The sensor monitors temperature and tyre pressure, always assuring the most efficient operation mode for a long tyre life.
At bauma 2022, Continental was also presenting a new generation of its ContiConnect tyre-management system. Version 2.0 is said to put in place the necessary infrastructure for the all-encompassing, digital tyre management
of the future. To this end, the company has refined its system environment to keep it “perfectly in line with the specific requirements of fleet customers around the world.”
PSH Environmental is said to have eliminated all instances of punctures across its fleet of Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo) wheeled loaders by utilising Michelin’s ultra-durable X Mine D2 Pro tyres. The Norwich, England-based skip hire, recycling and aggregates business specifies
FORMER MARANGONI GROUP CEO PASSES AWAY
within the group, he has held positions in other industry bodies such as the Plastic Rubber Federation, ETRMA (European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association) and Ecopneus Scpa (of which he was also President in 2014).
His contribution has deeply marked the history of the Marangoni Group and will remain rooted in the company's memory.
Vittorio Marangoni, chairman of the Marangoni Group, said: "The news has shocked the company as well as the family. There are no words for such a circumstance; we all join in the grief."
In a statement, Marangoni said that the entire company expresses its deepest and most heartfelt condolences for the passing of a competent, conscientious person always committed to his work with great seriousness and passion.
At bauma 2022, Continental was also presenting Version 2.0 of its ContiConnect tyre-management system
Massimo De Alessandri (left)
all new machines with the Michelin fitments, having found them to be more durable than any other rubber tyre on the market, while offering a much-improved level of comfort and performance over a solid waste tyre.
Nigel Parker, who runs PSH Environmental alongside his brother Martyn, says: “We fit the Michelin product because it is by far the best option for our wheeled loaders. The Volvos are fantastic machines, working in a very tough environment and we use a premium tyre to ensure we get the best out of them and avoid costly downtime.
“Unless you are very, very careless you really cannot puncture these tyres. The only other option for us would be to run solid tyres, but we have avoided that as the ride quality is so poor and, working on concrete, you can end up damaging the machine.”
PSH Environmental runs three Volvo loading shovels – one older L60H and two new L90H machines, all supplied by SMT GB. The L90H is the latest addition to Volvo’s H-Series, offering a higher load capacity and greater lifting height than any of its predecessors.
The business uses the loaders to move materials onto walking floor trailers, shifting waste into shredders and loading plant machinery at its depot in Norwich.
“The older L60H we have had for more than four years now, and it has the same set of tyres on as when we got it. It’s done in excess of 7,500 hours,” says Parker. “With the
two new L90s I think they’ll last even longer –they’re fantastic machines. We can put about 26 tonnes of black bag waste on a walking floor trailer in around eight minutes.”
Designed specifically for operation in demanding environments, the X Mine D2 Pro is built with optimised rubber compounds to help withstand hard conditions and slow tyre wear. The range features a reinforced, resilient casing and an innovative, robust tread design to improve resistance to cuts and punctures.
Michelin’s NRF Technology – two extra plies added to the tyre construction, which
contain crossed cords encased in rubber for greater resistance and toughness – helps to reduce downtime and increase load capacity.
“We’re running a busy operation and we can’t afford to have machines that are out of action with a damaged tyre,” adds Parker. “You know you’re not going to get that from Michelin. The tread pattern is bang on for the work we’re doing as well.
“We have tried other tyres in the past, but they are like chalk and cheese really. They just don’t stand up to what the Michelin’s can offer.” AB
PSH Environmental runs three Michelin X Mine D2 Pro-tyre-fitted Volvo loading shovels, all supplied by SMT GB
A LONG WAY TOGETHER
EARTHMAX SR 41
No matter how challenging your needs, EARTHMAX SR 41 is your best ally when it comes to operations that require extraordinary traction. Thanks to its All Steel radial structure and the special block pattern, EARTHMAX SR 41 provides excellent resistance against punctures and an extended service life. In addition to long working hours without downtime, the tyre ensures extraordinary comfort.
EARTHMAX SR 41 is BKT’s response to withstand the toughest operating conditions in haulage, loading and dozing applications.
Epiroc's new SmartROC T35 E battery-electric tophammer drill rig is designed to enhance the environmental standards of quarries and larger construction sites
Testing the ‘world’s first’ battery-electric tophammer drill rig
The drill rigs, hammers and breakers sector has seen some significant product, market and people news as manufacturers gear up for the bauma equipment show in Munich. Liam McLoughlin reports
Epiroc, the Sweden-based drill rig and hydraulic breaker manufacturer operating in the global quarrying and mining industries, has partnered with Skanska Industrial Solutions to trial what is claimed to be the world's fi battery-electric tophammer drill rig.
The Swedish quarry-based trial is said to mark a significant milestone in the journey towards zero- emissions drilling in surface mines and quarries worldwide.
"This is a proud day. For many years we have been leading the development in lowering fuel consumption within tophammer drilling, "says Ulf Gyllander, product manager tophammer drill rigs, Epiroc surface division. “With this new solution, we are taking a giant leap in the low-emissions field – we are practically removing emissions from the actual drilling process.”
The design of the rig is based on the well-proven SmartROC T35 surface drill rig. In combination with invaluable experience gained from the development of Epiroc underground battery rigs, this SmartROC T35 E is designed to enhance the environmental standards of quarries and larger construction sites. Besides the low emissions, this rig comes with a range of smart features, options and enhanced automation solutions for high safety, reliability, and performance.
"With this achievement, we show that the innovations of Epiroc will play a significant role in the shift to low-carbon operations within quarries and large construction applications," says Jose Sanchez, president of Epiroc Surface division. "As our sustainability agenda goes hand in hand with those
of our customers, we are very pleased to be collaborating with Skanska Industrial Solutions AB in the trials of this important solution."
The tests commenced in September 2022 in one of Skanska Industrial Solutions' quarries in the Stockholm area.
Epiroc has also won a large order for surface mining equipment from Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière in Mauritania.
Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière, known as SNIM, is one of Africa’s largest iron ore producers. The mining company has ordered a package of Epiroc Pit Viper 351 drill rigs with advanced automation solutions that will be used at the new F’Derick mining site.
Epiroc will also provide service supervision and spare parts. The equipment order is valued at around SEK150m (US$14.67m) and was booked in the second quarter 2022.
“Epiroc has a long-term relationship with SNIM, and we look forward to continue supporting the customer with optimal productivity and safety at the new mine site,” said Helena Hedblom, Epiroc president and
The Pit Viper 351 rigs are manufactured in Texas, United States. They will be installed with automation features including AutoDrill, which allows for up to 100% of the holedrilling cycle to be in automatic mode with high consistency and reliability of operations, and with AutoLevel, which minimises the time it takes to level and de-level and hence provides more time drilling.
The rigs will also be equipped with Epiroc’s telematics system, which allows for intelligent monitoring of machine performance and productivity in real time .
Epiroc celebrated its best-ever quarter for electrification-linked orders and welcomed rises in operating profit, revenues and overall orders in the second quarter of 2022.
The company's orders increased 21% to SEK13,377m (€1.273m) (SEK11,070m Q2 2021), an organic increase of 6%. Excluding Russia, the organic order growth was 18%.
Epiroc revenues increased 22% to SEK11,868m (SEK9,733m), an organic increase of 9%.
The company's operating profit increased 9% to SEK2,381m (SEK2,182m), corresponding to a margin of 20.1% (22.4% organically).
Skanska's Johan Eliasson (left) and Jonas Albertson, Epiroc CTO, mark the agreement to trial Sweden's first-ever battery-electric tophammer rig
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Commenting on Epiroc's Q2 2022 trading performance, Hedblom said: "Several large equipment orders were won, of which many included battery-electric and automation solutions. Also, the service business performed strongly. We expect that the underlying demand, both for equipment and aftermarket, will remain at a high level in the near term."
Hedblom described the ongoing war in Ukraine as "truly horrifying" and stressed that Epiroc continued to take measures to protect colleagues and manage the complex situation in Ukraine and Russia.
"We also continue to face higher input costs and supply-chain challenges. However, our agile organisation can adapt quickly to changes and challenges, and our large aftermarket business provides resilience."
Hedblom said Epiroc offered "marketleading solutions within automation, digitalisation, and electrification" and noted that the second quarter was the company's best quarter ever for electrification.
"We won several orders for battery-electric equipment, also for greenfield projects, as well as for battery retrofits and electrical infrastructure solutions. And, shortly a customer will be testing our first batteryelectric surface drill rig. We are excited to help our customers reach their sustainability goals."
Hedblom noted that in June Epiroc celebrated four years as a listed company. "It has been an exciting time. We drive the productivity and sustainability transformation in our industry and will continue doing this by investing in innovation, aftermarket, and options for the future. Some examples are the acquisitions of a provider of electrical infrastructure solutions and of a manufacturer of rock drills.”
In August, Epiroc announced that it has completed the acquisition of RNP México, a manufacturer of rock drills and related spare parts.
RNP México is based in San Luis Potosi state, and has branches in Chile and Peru. The company develops, manufactures, and sells rock drills and related components, serving mining and construction customers mainly in Latin America.
The transaction is not subject to a disclosure obligation pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation.
Italy-based hydraulic hammer manufacturer Indeco that serves industries including quarrying, says that the company has invested in a new €7m metal-casing fabrication plant in the Bari area.
Speaking to Aggregates Business at the Hillhead 2022 exhibition near Buxton, in Derbyshire, England, Michele Vitulano, commercial & marketing director at Indeco, said the new Bari facility was required to meet rising global hydraulic hammer demand.
In July Vitulano was elected as the new chairman of the board at UNACEA, the Italian Construction Machinery Union. He will serve a two-year period as chairman from 2022 to 2024.
Vitulano commented on the market situation as he takes up his new industry role: “Although the market results remain positive, the construction Italian machinery and equipment sector is going through a complex period due to the effects of the war in Ukraine, the rising inflation and the outbreak of the Italian government crisis.
“However, I remain optimistic about the future: Italian companies are used to work[ing] in complicated contexts and, on the other hand, post-COVID public investments in infrastructural works should ensure stability to the construction sector .”
UNACEA was founded in 2010 and represents the manufacturing and commercial sector, which has a total turnover of €3.5bn and an employment volume of 50,000 workers, including related activities. The association also represents the Italian industry in the European construction equipment manufacturing association CECE. Sweden-based rock-drilling-equipment company Sandvik has appointed Mats Eriksson as president of business area Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions (SMR) and as a new member of the Sandvik Group Executive Management, effective October 1, 2022. He was previously president of Load and Haul, a division within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.
Helena Hedblom Epiroc CEO and president
“We are excited to help our customers reach their sustainability goal”
“Mats Eriksson is an experienced international leader who has successfully delivered strong results and growth for the Load and Haul division,” says Stefan Widing, president and CEO of Sandvik. “He has also been instrumental in the development of our world-leading offering of battery-electric vehicles.”
Mats Eriksson was born in 1962 and is a Finnish national. He joined Sandvik in 2016, when he assumed the position as president of the Load and Haul division. His previous experience includes being president and CEO of two listed companies, Cencorp Oyj and Salcomp Oyj. Additionally, he has held leading positions for several other companies, building businesses and operations in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, US, Brazil and South Korea.
Sandvik has also appointed Richard Harris as president of its Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions (SRP) business area and as a new member of the Sandvik Group Executive Management, effective 1 October 2022.
He succeeds Anders Svensson, who, as previously announced, is leaving Sandvik to become president and CEO of Konecranes.
Harris is currently president of Walter, a division within the business area Sandvik Manufacturing and Machining Solutions.
“Richard Harris is an experienced international leader with a very strong operational background who has proven great performance management and execution skills during his years at Sandvik,” said Stefan Widing, president and CEO of Sandvik. “In addition, he has successfully driven an active growth and acquisition agenda. I am convinced that he will be a very good fit as business area president for SRP and a great addition to the group executive management.”
Born in 1970 and a British national, Harris has been with the Sandvik Group since 2002 in various senior positions within Sandvik Machining Solutions (SMS). Before becoming president of Walter in 2019, he was president of the Wolfram division. Previous positions also include several different supply and production director roles within SMS.
Svensson leaves Sandvik on 14 October 2022, after completing the report for the third quarter. AB
Michele Vitulano of Indeco, has become chairman of the board at UNACEA
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Showcasing greener and efficient washing solutions
Major wet-processing industry players are highlighting more advanced and sustainable solutions. Manufacturers in the sector are also emphasising the benefits to operators of decanter centrifuges and coarse washers. Liam McLoughlin reports
CDE, the global provider of sand and aggregate wet-processing solutions for the natural processing and waste-recycling sectors, will highlight the role of its technology in supporting the circular economy and zero-waste agenda at this year's bauma exhibition in Munich, Germany (24-30 October).
As the construction sector continues to cope with the availability and cost of raw materials, CDE says it will demonstrate the potential of construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E) waste to address the challenges facing the sector.
On October 26 and 27, it will be joined on stand by a number of its European customers for a series of round table discussions on the future of recycling, and, as part of the bauma exhibitor forum on 24 October, will deliver a lecture on the topic of Creating valuable in-spec products from CD&E waste
CDE's head of business development for North West Europe, Eunan Kelly, comments: "In the current economic and social climate, with materials costs rising, resources depleting, and regulations calling for the adoption of sustainable solutions, we should look to the technology of today to produce the sustainable construction materials of tomorrow; how CDE's waste-recycling solutions in their trademark blue can support the industry to transform CD&E waste into certified, in-spec sand and aggregates."
Earlier this year, a package of European Green Deal proposals was presented with a view to making sustainable products the norm within the EU internal market. The revised Construction Products Regulation (CPR) emphasises the value of construction to the EU as a key employer and economic contributor. However, it also highlights the adverse impacts the sector has on the
environment, as one generating some 30% of the EU's annual waste and contributing significantly to its domestic carbon footprint and emissions.
The construction industry is a major economic driver; in the EU alone, 25 million people are employed across five million companies, according to data from the revised CPR. So, when the COVID-19 crisis gripped economies and construction output fell to some of its lowest-ever levels, it was no surprise that robust recovery plans with a clear focus on investments in infrastructure were announced by nations around the world to rebound and stimulate economic growth.
However, the cost of raw materials and their availability remains a deepening challenge for the sector.
Materials shortages and their rising costs are not entirely symptoms of the pandemic but they have been exacerbated by it and have become more acute,
Sweden-based DA Mattsson diverts almost 100% of its incoming CD&E waste from landfill through a wet-processing operation provided by
CDE's business development manager for the DACH region, Christoph Baier, explains: "Every day we continue to extract our fastdepleting natural resources to support rapid urbanisation and our modern, technological lifestyles. Essential to this is sand, the secondmost consumed natural resource after water and the most-consumed solid material on earth.”
In April, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) published 10 recommendations to avert the impending sand crisis. It referenced how the use of sand, gravel, crushed stone and aggregates has tripled in the last two decades, reaching an estimated 40-50 billion metric tons per year (UNEP 2019).
"This, in the context of projected increases in global populations and urban living," Baier continues, "demonstrates how demand will only rise, while resources will only deplete, unless we adopt long-term attitudinal, regulatory and technological change to ensure not only the sustainability of companies within the construction sector –and with it the livelihoods of those employed within it – but also the sustainability of the very planet.”
While COVID-19 economic recovery packages may help to stimulate growth, they must be conditional on building back greener, more sustainably, Baier adds.
A circular approach is the only answer, Kelly corroborates: "It can be the means to equip us with the resources needed to supply a sector charged with a key role in the economic recovery while addressing our collective environmental footprint by reducing waste-to-landfill volumes and extending the lifespan of precious natural materials.”
He says the technology needed to extract recycled sand and aggregate resources from CD&E waste that are equivalent to their virgin quarried counterparts is already in operation throughout Europe.
To date, CDE solutions have supported companies around the world to divert over 100 million tonnes from landfill.
Kelly says: "Many material processors utilising CDE technology are successfully producing CE- and BSI-certified concrete products, including competitive concrete for non-structural – but still high-value –construction projects, with some applications successfully achieving beyond C45 spec."
DA Mattsson, based near Stockholm in Sweden, diverts almost 100% of its incoming CD&E waste from landfill through its CDE wet-processing operation. The company produces high-quality sand and aggregates that meet EN 12620 specification, and it supplies these concrete materials to the Stockholm construction market.
McLanahan – the US-headquartered dry and wet materials processing solutions manufacturer for quarry and mining customers - says that aggregates producers have several mechanical options to choose from when it comes to dewatering tailings for improved handling, settling pond elimination, water recovery or meeting environmental regulations.
One of these options is a decanter centrifuge, which is used to separate solids from liquid in a variety of applications. In agregates processes, one use for decanter centrifuges is to handle the tailings in the waste stream. With high centrifugal forces to induce sedimentation, decanter centrifuges separate the solid particles from the liquid in a typical waste stream coming from a wet-processing plant.
Decanter centrifuges discharge two products: a liquid that can be reused as process water upstream, and a solids cake that is suitable for mechanical handling. McLanahan says that their main benefit for processing tailings in aggregate applications is that they make handling the waste stream easier and more efficient. Processing the waste stream through a decanter centrifuge has even allowed some sites to eliminate their settling ponds or lagoons, which can be costly and time-consuming to maintain as well as taking up valuable land space.
Decanter centrifuges consist of a feed pipe that goes inside a helical screw conveyor that is surrounded by a bowl assembly. These components are then enclosed in a casing, which helps improve housekeeping and reduce noise. Discharge chutes at the bottom of the casing collect the discharged materials
Decanter centrifuges are supported on a heavy-duty base frame mounted on vibration isolators to minimise vibration and maintain balance. Other main features include the motors and gearbox, which impart the rotation of the conveyor and bowl assembly necessary for liquid-solid separation.
“A decanter centrifuge uses centrifugal forces to separate solids from liquids at high Gs ,” McLanahan comments. “The waste stream in the form of a slurry enters the
inside of the helical conveyor through the feed pipe. The slurry is then released into the space between the rotating conveyor and the bowl, which is rotating at a higher speed than the conveyor. The solids in the slurry are forced to the wall of the bowl, while the liquid moves freely toward the liquiddischarge end of the machine.”
The conveyor moves the solids toward the solids discharge at the opposite end of the machine. The conveyor and bowl are tapered conically at this end to further dewater the solids before they are discharged. The solid cakes are low moisture, and they can be handled with a loader and transported via a truck to a final resting place.
A decanter centrifuge operates in a continuous process, meaning material is continuously being fed into it and material is continuously being discharged from it.
Decanter centrifuges come in a variety of sizes to handle a range of capacities. Like many aggregates- and mineral-processing machines, Decanter centrifuges are sized based on the feed and process requirements. The larger the centrifuge, the higher capacity of feed material it can handle and the more tons per hour it will discharge.
Other factors that affect sizing include the speed of the conveyor, the speed of the bowl, the angle of the tapered beach area and the pitch of the conveyor.
McLanahan states that, because of the range of sizes and capacities they come in, the cost of a decanter centrifuge can vary enormously depending on the type needed to fit the application requirements. Once a duty is determined, the manufacturer will be able to select a suitable model and provide cost and cost-benefit information accordingly.
A McLanahan decanter centrifuge
The operational costs can vary depending on the size of the machine and how much power is necessary to process the material to the desired outcome. Power costs, too, can vary depending on location and energy supplier.
Depending on the material being processed and the goals of the site, chemicals may need to be added to the feed to aid sedimentation.
Decanter centrifuges are fully automated, meaning they require minimal operator intervention, so labour costs will be less with these machines compared to other mechanical dewatering devices such as belt presses. They are relatively low-maintenance machines. For the most efficient operation, McLanahan states that they should be regularly inspected and maintained according to the manual.
Inspections should be carried out before the centrifuge is started up every day, and more in-depth inspections should take place every 2,000, 4,000, 8,000, 16,000 and 40,000 hours of operation (or every three months, six months, year, two years and five years, respectively).
If inspections reveal components need to be repaired or replaced, do so immediately by following the replacement procedures listed in the manual. Be sure to follow all safety guidelines outlined in the manual and to heed all machine warning labels and sitespecific safety measures.
“Also, be sure to keep a stock of spare parts at your facility to minimize downtime when replacement of a component is necessary,” McLanahan comments.
“Decanter centrifuges are a great option for dewatering tailings in aggregate applications to a low-moisture content suitable for mechanical handling. They are fully automated, low-maintenance, compact
saleable product. The design of the Trio TCW coarse material washer allows the deleterious material from the overflow to be floated off and removed, thus improving the quality of the product and efficiency of the process. In addition to supply, Weir Minerals supported in the removal of the old barrel washer and installation and commissioning of the new Trio TCW coarse material washer.
machines that can be adjusted to improve the solids dryness or liquid clarity, depending on the goals of the site.”
Washing plant manufacturer Weir Minerals says that its Trio coarse washer has unlocked a 12% increase in production at the Tudor Griffiths Group, a leading UK independent supplier of construction materials, building supplies and most recently, waste management and recycling services.
Established in 1874, the Tudor Griffiths Group utilised steam engines to increase production and continues to innovate, evolve and grow to enhance its operations for a sustainable future. During a regular site visit, the Tudor Griffiths’ team discussed its need to improve plant reliability, availability and product quality.
Tudor Griffiths’ process included a barrel washer. This ageing technology was inhibiting the plant’s overall production by around 30,000 tonnes (when compared with the production achieved in the previous year). Breakdowns became more frequent, occurring at least once per week over a period of six months, which had a negative impact on the plant’s availability and the costs incurred.
Using the incumbent barrel washer, Tudor Griffiths experienced the equivalent of a months’ downtime over the period of a year. In addition, there was limited access for the Weir Minerals Europe team to install the Trio coarse washer. There was limited space available for the new equipment to fit in and the Trio was a perfect fit, while at the same time removing any contaminants from the aggregates.
The team at Weir Minerals specified a Trio TCW3618 coarse material washer to help Tudor Griffiths achieve its required operating parameters and increase the amount of
The TCW3618 reduced power consumption by around a third, from an estimated 55kW to 22kW at the same time as maximising plant availability. A potential of 170 TPH of mixed sand and gravel are produced and approximately 40 to 80 TPH of stone are washed, depending on the dig. A paddle change was undertaken after six months of use, achieving a total of 1,200 hours of wear life.
Following the installation of the Trio TCW3618 coarse washer, Tudor Griffiths saw production increase by 50,000 tonnes per year (12%) and a reduction in downtime of around 26 days per year.
Jason Pritchard, quarry manager at Tudor Griffiths said: “The Weir Minerals team worked with us to understand our objectives and proposed a solution which was capable of meeting our needs. The Trio washer has not only increased our plant capacity but also improved the overall cleanliness of our end product. We have been thoroughly impressed by the quality of the equipment provided by the Weir Minerals’ team, who have been proactive in proposing further adjustments and optimising our washer’s performance.”
The Trio coarse washer cleans coarse material containing very water-soluble silts and soft clay. Material rolls and tumbles while carried up the spiral shaft. Cast paddles abrade and separate aggregate from dust and soluble clay. The waste material absorbed by the water is discharged over the adjustable weirs at the back of the machine. Classifying is accomplished when material containing deleterious matter that has a specific gravity less than the coarse material is floated upwards and carried over the adjustable weirs. The water velocity to float the deleterious materials comes from the manifold on the bottom of the tub. The cleaned product is discharged at the inclined section of the machine. AB
The Trio TCW3618 coarse washer from Weir Minerals
Having an optimised blast
There are a lot of exciting technological developments in the quarries and mines blasting sector. Guy Woodford reports
As one of the world's leading mining, quarrying and infrastructure solutions companies, Orica’s digital strategy is maturing beyond the range of technologies it offers today, aiming to deliver a suite of digitally integrated workflow tools to enable the corporate vision of sustainably mobilising the Earth's resources.
Traditional digital solutions including software and IoT devices are typically focused on delivering data and insights specific to a discrete product. Through the digital integration of workflows, customers can now gain a deep understanding of how geology within the ore body intelligence space informs the optimisation of energy required for blasting in real time, and the subsequent benefits on downstream processes.
One example of this is Orica’s FRAGTrack suite of automated fragmentation and analysis technologies that has proven to deliver operational continuity for quarrying and mining operations, enabling downstream process efficiency by providing insights to optimise fragmentation.
The award-winning fragmentation monitoring solution leverages deep neural network artificial intelligence, along with industry-proven hybrid 2D and 3D particle-size distribution (PSD) processing methods. The system now includes a new variant, FRAGTrack Crusher, specifically designed for the quarry and construction market, providing automated, near realtime fragmentation monitoring at the crusher dump pocket.
Raj Mathiravedu, vice president for Digital Solutions at Orica, said: “Delivering unmatched measurement accuracy of material on trucks during the tipping operations, FRAGTrack Crusher is our latest addition that autonomously delivers constant and accurate performance tracking of particle-size distribution to drive continuous end-to-end improvements
for quarrying and mining operations. Our technology roadmap is to leapfrog from measurement as a tool to measurement as an outcome, and it is great to see the value that this is unlocking for our customers.”
Stevenson Aggregates, a longestablished concrete and aggregates provider recently embarked on a project to improve crusher throughput and reduce carbon footprint at Drury Quarry in New Zealand. Among the challenges faced were irregularities of scalping yield and inconsistent crusher throughput. Manual interventions and in-pit sampling for improvements had been time-consuming and unsustainable.
In response, Orica installed FRAGTrack Crusher, enabled with machine vision at the primary crusher feed, providing PSD analysis during tipping without interfering with the haulage operation. Smart trigger settings captured true samples and insights are fed to the FRAGTrack portal that enabled a direct feedback loop to managers and engineers for assessing blast fragmentation performance, as well as production rates, blockages, and the amount of primary crushing versus secondary crushing.
Daniel Topp, performance manager at Stevenson Aggregates, said: “FRAGTrack is allowing us to obtain information that we've never
typically had. What we're getting out of it so far is huge information to understand our rock and resource better. This is actually data that we can feedback and analyse and that's pretty revolutionary.”
Since the installation of FRAGTrack Crusher in May 2022, Drury Quarry has been equipped with more than 10,000 fragmentation images and PSD data, generating unbiased data that matches blast PSD to crusher performance metrics through time-stamped samples. A critical insight revealed that a large percentage of blasted rock bypassed the primary crusher and went straight to the secondary feed. This led to the calibration of the fragmentation prediction model to optimise blast design and the opportunity for pattern expansion to increase coarse rock fragments.
The application of FRAGTrack has saved Drury Quarry over 800 hours of manual processing, of which a fraction of the time is now given to data analysis and correlation, and continual optimisation of its operations. More importantly, FRAGTrack has allowed Drury to develop an accurate and unbiased PSD baseline for the optimum range of sizes to maximise crusher performance and reduce scalp yield.
FRAGTrack Crusher capturing samples during tipping
Recognising the value of the partnership, Stevenson Aggregates’ general manager, Kurt Hine, said: “Having a partner like Orica is great for us. We love our supply partners coming to us so that we can continue to innovate, improving our processes and deliver a quality product to our customers in a more sustainable way."
Today, Drury Quarry continues to leverage the FRAGTrack Crusher to reduce overall cost per tonne of aggregate, provide critical data for specific drill and blast optimisation and reduce overall carbon footprint as the demand for aggregate production in the region rises.
Orica’s leading blasting technologies undergo continuous improvements –among them is the uni tronic electronic blasting system designed for quarrying and construction. The current variant and its predecessor have long been the leading blasting systems in the category since 2004. Widely adopted globally, the current uni tronic 600 is hailed for its inherent safety features, reliability and cost-effectiveness in addition to its remote firing capability. Trials are underway for the next generation uni tronic. Details are yet to be revealed but Aggregates Business understands that enhancements are being made to the system to deliver greater precision timing, increased firing capacity, more flexible timing delays and a new user interface to speed up operations.
Joel Guenther, global senior manager for marketing (EBS), said: “As uni tronic continues to see increased adoption, we continue to look for opportunities to improve its features and usability to better support our customers. The upcoming release of our next-generation electronic blasting system will be easier to learn and use, with an improved user interface to enable faster field
implementation and troubleshooting.”
The upgraded version looks set to enter the market globally in the first half of 2023.
Experienced engineer Scott Britton, of leading global quarrying and mining technology provider Maptek, has observed a growing appetite to embrace new drill and blast technology solutions in the quarrying sector.
Quarry operators are starting to consider more advanced software solutions as operations face ever-higher demands to perform efficiently and comply with more stringent environmental and permitting constraints. Historically, the comparatively small size of quarries, and the perception of a lengthy return on investment, has contributed to a lack of focus on best-available technology when it comes to detailed analysis, modelling and design for drill & blast activities.
Production improvements have been introduced through more efficient fleet vehicles, automated systems and better utilisation of hardware, but when it comes to specialised software for design and modelling there has been a lack of real technical innovation.
Many quarries use CAD software, which is often lacking in sophistication or current techniques, meaning operations miss out on the opportunity to access ongoing improvement in their drill and blast practice.
As operations grapple with industry-wide skills shortages and large companies look to acquire quarries, there is growing enthusiasm to explore better design, execution and reconciliation methods.
Maptek’s sales manager: Europe, MENA & West Africa, Britton says one of the biggest drill and blast challenges for the quarrying sector is the lack of technical resources available to help make efficiency gains and push for change.
For various reasons, profit margins on the majority of projects are so small that, in addition to the expertise shortage, there is limited revenue for investing in the latest technology.
As most quarry operations are fairly small in comparison to bulk mining projects, it can be challenging to incorporate changes that typically deliver relatively small improvements, as the payback period can be much longer.
The quarrying sector has also struggled to retain skilled technical staff, with increased competition coming from construction and civil engineering, accelerating the need to embrace automation.
Some operators recognise that this change is coming and are starting to make appropriate changes, but due to the lack of investment and resources, companies that fail to streamline their operations are likely to struggle.
In addition to issues relating to technical resources, productivity and efficiencies, more stringent legislation and permitting is now required to exploit new resources. This has increasingly resulted in higher project startup costs and further reliance on specialist consultants to support new planning applications.
FRAGTrack Crusher’s autonomous adaptive fragmentation monitoring at the crusher dump pocket
Blast Box 310R with remote firing at Drury Quarry with the current uni tronic 600
"Ultimately it means that companies are at risk of being uncompetitive if they fail to adapt," Britton says.
"They know this, and demand for Maptek solutions and technical support is on the rise within the quarrying sector. We are beginning to see a higher level of interest and engagement at technical events with more companies approaching us for help."
While Maptek has more customers in the mining sector, its solutions can be found in a wide range of quarry operations across Europe. One long-standing customer has used Maptek Vulcan geological modelling and mine-planning tools routinely for their mainland Europe projects over the past 20 years and recently started to implement a similar approach for their operations in North America.
In a large operation, different (survey, modelling, design) tasks are performed by dedicated teams. In quarry operations, a smaller technical team requires individuals to carry out multiple tasks to keep projects moving.
These range from the extrapolation of existing resources, reconciliation of the current ‘mined’ topography and stockpiles against the remaining reserves or preparing new excavation designs and production schedules to satisfy key strategic objectives.
rock fragmentation or help to best mitigate environmental effects as these key parameters often differ from blast to blast.
CAD-based software in current use by the quarrying industry is often not up to the task. Even minor modification to excavation or blast designs requires significant time and effort, meaning it simply does not get done, or only gets done once. There is seldom time available to consider alternative scenarios, which is how mine planners and drill and blast teams can pre-empt issues before they occur.
This is where Maptek comes in. Vulcan QuarryModeller, Vulcan Drilling Designer and BlastLogic products have been configured to efficiently perform routine tasks. These products employ cutting-edge visualisation, geological domaining and modelling capabilities, as well as easy-to-use design and planning tools in a single software environment.
Vulcan QuarryModeller is tailored for modelling and analysing deposit geology and designing quarry operations. Different scenarios can be tested to maximise output, and production reports can be generated to
guide daily operations. Adding the Vulcan Drill and Blast Design module brings in tools for previewing a drill and blast pattern before it is set, ensuring potential layout issues are solved early, saving time on the ground.
Benefits of the advanced approach allow quarry operators to:
• Test blast patterns quickly and efficiently to identify the optimal design
• Reduce consumable costs and increase production by maximising equipment efficiency
• Save time and reduce errors with automated editing of multiple holes
• Ensure accurate blast designs with up-todate information
Complementary solutions include the Maptek open-pit scheduler Evolution, GeoSpatial Manager for managing survey surfaces and PointModeller for modelling point cloud data. Working with the Maptek suite of tools allows the majority of work for a quarry project to be handled in one system, with single-vendor technical support and services.
From a drill and blast perspective, it is common for quarries to apply standardised burden/spacing patterns and hole-charge plans. This approach does not optimise
The right software is fast and intuitive, providing efficiency gains that give opportunities for deeper analysis
Rich 3D environments handle large datasets from multiple sources
As quarry staff need to be multi-skilled, Maptek understands software solutions need to be intuitive.
“Multi-tasking may see an individual running some geological modelling, creating a blast pattern and changing the excavation design,” Britton says.
“Tools that interact with the pit design and the geology as well as the spatial technical data, provide a seamless data flow.
“Software that is quick and easy to learn and that does all of those tasks becomes an important asset for quarry operators and managers.”
The efficiency gain leaves time to run alternative scenarios, adjust to changes in rock type, consider infrastructure and ESG concerns and experiment with different designs.
“If users are not able to explore scenarios virtually on the desktop, they’re not getting the opportunity or the data to drive for these efficiencies.
“Holes are easily manipulated in Vulcan, allowing users to quickly make adjustments. This is a huge benefit, because with inefficient, older packages it's almost impossible.
“Changing drill-pattern design or hole loading or charge plan for a blast could take half a day with CAD packages, whereas
Vulcan can do it in a matter of minutes.
“The tools all tie into each other and the data flows, so you make the right decisions.”
The enterprise nature of drill and blast management and reconciliation package BlastLogic may be beyond the scope of individual quarries. However, it is ideal for large organisations operating multiple satellite quarries, which Britton notes is a growing trend in the UK and beyond.
“Each quarry may only blast a small number of holes weekly or monthly, with the same blast team moving from site to site to carry out the work. BlastLogic supports the drill and blast design and inventory control in a centralised, audited system so there's definite benefits,” Britton says.
Maptek understands the issues that quarry operations and industrial minerals companies face - the global mining sector faces a similar dilemma - and has applied insights garnered from its 40-year foundation in the mining industry to deliver solutions that support safe, productive extraction.
Britton, a chartered engineer with a background of more than 25 years in mining and who obtained EPC shotfiring & blast design certification in the mid-1990s and a DAPS Quarry Manager’s Qualification more than 20 years ago, says experience and technical expertise set Maptek apart.
“We employ skilled technical teams who understand these types of problems and can draw on our global pool of experts,” he says.
“Our technical team includes people who have worked at mining operations, and I do think it's an important differentiator that means Maptek is better placed to understand customer problems and identify how we can help.”
Post-COVID, as in-person events such as trade shows return, he has noticed a growing appetite for change.
“When we attend these events, we're getting an uptick in activity around what Maptek solutions offer.
“There’s definitely a positive charge in the industry and a willingness to look at all the solutions available.”
A company philosophy which includes walking in the shoes of customers has helped Maptek reposition its offerings to quarries, led by dedicated packages at more attractive prices, flexible licensing and web-based applications.
The Maptek Account licensing system is designed to facilitate software uptake and usage between users and teams. Scalable configurations can facilitate short-term campaign access to advanced, industryleading optimisation features.
The technical support and services staff come from diverse industry backgrounds and are always eager to get involved with unique, challenging projects and find innovative solutions.
“Maptek’s varied customer base ranges from some of the largest global mining companies to individual operations with a handful of staff. This means that our local service team can draw on a global network of expertise to ensure our customers get the support they need.”
As automation becomes more prevalent, operations need to become better equipped to handle the demands of the systems collecting and delivering the data stream.
The capability to quickly update designs and planned sequences in a digital workflow that takes into account changing geological conditions is critical for allowing the latest data to flow through from the resource model to production, ensuring that ore body knowledge informs all activities.
Interoperability and integration of tools in the modelling and design process enable block models and scheduling plans to be updated as new data becomes available.
Maptek says it is the perfect technology partner to help quarries adapt and thrive through this evolution of mining and quarrying practices.
Global aggregates demand up despite strong headwinds
The Global Aggregates Information Network (GAIN) continues to be a key voice within the world’s aggregates industry. Below, GAIN convenor Jim O’Brien analyses GAIN member association aggregates production data, which offers a further indication of the robust nature of the industry and its essential importance to global infrastructure development
Introduction to the Global Aggregates Information Network (GAIN)
Many readers will already know that the Global Aggregates Information Network (GAIN) is a unique voluntary coalition of aggregates associations with the express purpose of openly sharing best practices for the greater good and sustainability of the industry globally. GAIN members share valuable experiences in quarterly conference calls and meet physically every few years, the next such meeting being planned for New Zealand in July 2023.
An update on global production
Recently, GAIN members kindly provided updated estimates of aggregates production in their respective regions, as shown in Figure 1. For the pre-pandemic year of 2019, the GAIN total was just on 34 billion tonnes (bnt). Quite surprisingly, the year 2020 showed only a 3% decline, thanks to great industry resilience throughout the pandemic lockdowns. The year 2021 saw modest recovery, which is continuing into 2022. If the momentum can be maintained into 2023, GAIN member production will surpass the 2019 level of 34bnt. Adding in the figures for the rest of the world (estimated from populations by tonnes/capita ) shows that the 2019 global total was just on 44bnt; it will probably be 2024 before this total is achieved again, as these typically less-developed countries are having a slower recovery.
The regional breakdown clearly depicts China continuing as world leader, with 46% of global aggregates production. India follows in second place with just 12% of global production for a population soon to be greater than that of China, hinting at enormous growth potential for India. Europe and the US follow with 7% and 6% of global production respectively, with these top four locations together representing some 71% of global production.
At 14.5t/c (boosted by its exports), the UAE leads for 2021 aggregates production tonnes per capita (t/c) for the various GAIN countries. Next is China at 13.6t/c, with the
smallest being Argentina at only 1.6t/c. The GAIN average was 7.4t/c, while the global average was 5.3t/c. Clearly the developing world has enormous growth potential.
Commentaries on country trends
It is interesting to view the data in Figure 1 in terms of the trend by region compared to 2019.
CHINA:
In China, the world’s largest aggregates market, growth in 2021 had been fuelled by its 14th Five-Year Plan 2021-25. However, January to May 2022 saw a 12% decline on prior year, mainly because of renewed COVID-19 lockdowns and the weak real estate market. The second half of the year is expected to see a recovery through the central government commitment to ongoing infrastructure investment, as well as stimulating real estate and introducing policies to help enterprises to stabilize growth. China is massively investing in coal to alleviate power shortages, and energy cost inflation has hit aggregates producers. Overall Chinese production may be declining somewhat from its 20bnt peak but continues to be very strong with government support.
INDIA:
India, the world’s second-largest aggregates market, suffered a significant decline of over 18% in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with steady recovery envisaged in 2021 and 2022, driven by its major infrastructural projects including airports, roads, tunnels, and metro rail in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. However, aggregates demand for residential/commercial complexes is slow, and development has also been stalled by electricity power disruptions in some states, due to low stocks of coal at many thermal power plants. There is also some disruption in the supply chain of imported spare parts, compounded by soaring energy costs and weakening of the Indian rupee . Despite these headwinds, aggregates industry sentiment remains positive, with huge potential
for growth beyond its estimated 5.3bnt, particularly as its population size is now overtaking that of China.
SOUTH KOREA:
Aggregates demand remains strong in Korea, driven mainly by new housing needs. COVID restrictions have been lifted, and there is a determination in the new administration to drive the economy forward. Access to aggregates resources is an ongoing challenge and marine aggregates are seen as a significant opportunity.
MALAYSIA:
Aggregates demand fell by over 40% in 2020, and the continuing difficult economic situation has led to a severe recession in the building sector, with both existing and new projects curtailed. Other challenges include ongoing COVID cases, power deficits due to coal shortages, a shortage of overseas labour and surging diesel costs for aggregates producers. Despite all this, the outlook still remains positive because of the nation’s infrastructural needs.
SOUTH AFRICA:
The economic situation remains very difficult, exacerbated by continuing impacts of the pandemic, frequent power outages and high unemployment. However, it is hoped that the government will re-focus on much-needed infrastructural spend to stimulate the economy and thereby assist the medium - to longerterm growth of the aggregates industry. Very little data is available for the rest of Africa, the “forgotten continent”, with its growing population of 1.3bn.
EUROPE:
The year 2021 saw continued growth in aggregates markets, which has continued into H1/2022. However, the outlook is somewhat challenged by the wider impacts of the war in Ukraine. Strong inflation in energy and other costs are now compounded by security-of-supply concerns about natural gas in the coming winter. The geopolitical
situation has had a positive effect in putting a strong new focus on independence in the supply of all resources, as well as on upgrades in infrastructural spend from both security and climate adaptation perspectives. Consequently, the overall outlook, despite these headwinds, remains positive in Europe.
USA:
The US aggregates market has moved ahead positively in H1/2022, thanks to the implementation of the first phase of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment Bill. There are some concerns about labour shortages and energy futures, which later can be resolved provided the current Administration awards new drilling permits. While the midterm elections later this year may see a political shift in power, it is hoped that bipartisan cooperation will continue to provide infrastructural funding authorisation. The construction outlook and aggregates demand both, therefore, look set to remain positive through to 2026.
CANADA:
Aggregates demand in H1/2022 continued in positive territory, despite labour shortages, fuel price hikes, some supply chain disruption and a new COVID wave in the Eastern Provinces. There were also some challenges from an unusually cold winter and high rainfall in some provinces, compounded by unusually hot summer weather in others. However, overall industry sentiment remains positive.
MEXICO:
The H1/2022 recovery has been tempered by very high energy inflation, supply chain delivery and cost challenges, compounded
by a COVID resurgence. However, it is hoped that the strong US market may also help stimulate the Mexican aggregates sector.
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA:
Colombia is the shining star, anticipating that double-digit growth in aggregates demand will continue to be driven by major infrastructural investment in railways, tunnels, and roads. It is also hoped that the recent presidential election result will positively stimulate the Colombian economy. Argentina continues to suffer from severe economic turbulence, having experienced a precipitous decline in aggregates demand of almost 50% in 2020 . However, it is hoped that presidential elections next year will provide a growth stimulus. The Brazilian economy continues to move in positive territory. Reports from Chile, Peru and Ecuador unfortunately indicate slowing economies due to social unrest, with the exception of Costa Rica, which is benefitting from the exports from its mining sector. More general regional challenges have been unusual weather patterns and a marked deterioration in local exchange rates versus the US dollar. However, the potential for growth in demand for aggregates in Latin America remains huge with its rapidly growing 500 million population.
OCEANIA:
In Australia, there continues to be a strong pipeline of public infrastructure projects which is supporting aggregates demand. However, there are significant labour shortages and supply chain challenges. Despite an unusually cold winter which has fostered continued COVID and influenza outbreaks, the overall construction industry
outlook remains very positive. Likewise in New Zealand, the outlook remains very positive, the main challenges being a post-pandemic lack of immigrant labour. Aggregates producers there are currently unable to meet the pent-up construction demand, exacerbated by delays in permitting consents for new quarries. Variable weather patterns across Oceania have presented both challenges and opportunities to the aggregates industry.
Conclusions
The global aggregates industry has proven itself amazingly resilient in overcoming challenges that would have been unthinkable only three years ago. Developed economies have now come through the COVID pandemic successfully, with their governments having the resources to stimulate economic recovery. However, the pandemic and post-pandemic impacts still linger in many developing countries, slowing their economic recovery. Other headwinds include severe energy shortages, price hikes, supply chain challenges and post-pandemic labour dislocations, compounded by unusual weather patterns in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Despite all these challenges, the medium- and longer-term demand for the aggregates industry remains fundamentally strong, driven by a growing global population, increasing urbanization, varying levels of economic growth and climate adaptation measures. Consequently, global aggregates demand is anticipated to recover to the 2019 level of 44bnt by 2024, likely climbing towards 50bnt by 2030, assuming continued current patterns of global economic growth. AB
Figure 1: GAIN and global aggregates production estimates for the years 2019-2023
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Healthy aggregates demand but Ukraine war casts dark shadow
Aggregates demand continues to be high in Germany, but the nation’s quarrying sector faces a daunting number of challenges, ranging from exploding energy prices to supply chain delays. Liam McLoughlin reports
The current challenges facing Germany’s aggregates market are directly linked to the effects of the war in Ukraine.
German aggregates federation MIRO says that the supply chain problems connected to the conflict are clearly noticeable. “Our companies are waiting significantly longer for the necessary spare parts and for new systems and machines, the manufacturers of which are also struggling with the effects,” says Christian Strunk, who was elected as MIRO president in November 2021.
He adds that the global market is still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with computer chips for control systems of all kinds that are manufactured in Asia in short supply (exacerbated by the Ever Given accident that blocked the Suez Canal in March this year).
Strunk says the situation has improved somewhat, but companies in the aggregates industry will still have to deal with these shortages in the coming months.
MIRO vice-general secretary Walter Nelles says that the insecurity about the supply for raw materials and exploding energy prices is also putting the German aggregates industry under enormous pressure.
“We hear from companies that want to reduce their production capacities, although business shutdowns cannot be ruled out,"
Nelles adds. “Ultimately, the constantly rising production costs mean that building raw materials and building material products continue to become more expensive. The construction sector has significantly lowered its forecasts for the near future, both in terms of private construction and public construction.”
In 2021, aggregates industry demand around the regions of Germany was inconsistent. According to MIRO the overall demand for building gravel and building sand fell by -5.1% to 249 million tonnes. The value of the demanded production amounted to €2,021bn and was therefore +3.3% above the previous year's value.
In the crushed rock sector, the quantity demanded was 219 million tonnes, -1.7% below the 2020 level. The value of crushed rock production amounted to €1,765bn, which was €45m or +2.6% above the previous year's figure. MIRO states that estimates assume demand will decrease somewhat this year and next due to the economic situation described. In building construction, the use of gravel/sand from aggregate for concrete dominates, while in terms of infrastructure, crushed rock is the preferred option for road construction.
The industry is also struggling with the ‘energy transition’. Due to the designation of areas for renewable energies (wind power and photovoltaics), raw-material extraction
areas are over-planned and are therefore no longer available for raw material supply.
In addition, MIRO says that, due to European and national regulations, permission procedures are becoming more complex, with companies needing an average of more than ten years to obtain a new permission.
“All in all, the overall situation is more than unsatisfactory, which in particular also calls into question the country's security of supply with the important raw materials, crushed rock, gravel and sand – although the demand continues to be high,” Nelles comments. “The government has already issued several ‘relief packages’ of a tax nature in order to defuse the unprecedented situation.”
In terms of the equipment German quarry operators are currently looking for, Nelles says that the aggregates industry relies on proven machine and plant technology in order to be able to make qualified building raw materials available to the market as efficiently as possible.
“Even if predominantly stationary plants are operated, however, a trend towards mobile plant technology can be seen, which can increase the flexibility of the company,” he adds. “There is no question that, in addition to energy efficiency and the environmentally friendly operation of machines and systems, components for process optimisation also play an important role.”
A Caterpillar wheeled loader being rebuilt in a Zeppelin workshop
Machines with the lowest total cost of ownership are understandably very popular among German operators, according to Simon Husemann, senior product manager, large machines at Zeppelin Baumaschinen, dealer for Caterpillar equipment in Germany.
He says that popular machines include the Cat 988K XE large wheeled loader with electric drive, in addition to the other XE performance models such as the medium wheeled loaders with continuous variable transmission: the Cat 966 XE, 972 XE, and the recently introduced 980 XE and 982 XE.
“They significantly improve fuel effi compared to powershift models and increase productivity,” says Husemann. “The XE medium wheeled loaders can be found in yard loading and sand and gravel operations where our studies show they offer the lowest total cost of ownership.”
Michael Schwarz, sales manager Europe, at crushing and screening plant manufacturer Kleemann, says that from his company’s viewpoint, the trend is shifting towards multistage crushing and screening processes.
Germany that are influencing the demand for aggregates, the federal government that was newly elected in September 2021 has set the goal of building 400,000 apartments per year.
minerals (21,000 tonnes per bridge) compared to regular road construction (216,000 tonnes per km of motorway),” he adds.
“The individual plants have to be intelligently linked with each other,” he adds. “Production or even quality fluctuations can be significantly reduced with innovative linked systems, and the result can be seen in lower costs per tonne.
“Mobile linked solutions often supplement or even replace stationary systems. With our high-performance plants, Kleemann can provide a high degree of flexibility. The linked plant ‘moves’ along the demolition wall, and stockpile conveyors integrated into the process ensure efficient stockpiling and optimised site logistics with as little machine traffic as possible.”
Erich Kribs, product manager GPE at off-road equipment manufacturer Volvo CE –region EU/INT, says that productivity services are the main opportunity for the company’s business at the moment, as it sees customers needing to take great steps forward in reaching their carbon-reduction goals while still increasing productivity, profi safety.
“Our CO2 Reduction Program is a key focus for us in this area – and the advantage being
MIRO states that the significant expansion of energy production from renewable resources such as wind power, in addition to pending road and rail projects, cannot be carried out without the use of mineral raw materials, not to mention the numerous pending maintenance measures for a third of all bridge structures in Germany. The demand for primary mineral raw materials is therefore unchecked and is also preordained for the next few years, according to MIRO.
Husemann says the federal government's expenditure for road and rail construction remains at a good level and requires more aggregates output.
“We need to keep tabs on the capital
Kribs of Volvo CE says that the main trends in construction influencing demand are ongoing infrastructure projects for building and maintaining highways and bridges, in addition to the electrification of railway networks.
Schwarz of Kleemann, adds that the expansion and maintenance of the rail network requires large quantities of highquality track ballast.
In Germany, around 200 million tons of mineral construction waste are generated every year, more than 90% of which is recycled. Around 70 million tonnes of recycled aggregates are produced and used from this.
MIRO’s Strunk says that, ultimately however, this can only cover 12-13% of the demand for aggregates – and this percentage has not changed significantly in recent years. “Since recycling is also being legally enforced by the federal government, the recycling industry faces major challenges,” he adds. “Companies in the primary aggregates industry have recognised this and are increasingly involved in the recycling sector. They have the appropriate know-how in this regard.”
Strunk says that differentiated use of recycled aggregates in Germany, particularly concerning the aggregate for recycled
is boosting aggregates demand”
Erich Kribs, Volvo CE
A Volvo CE L350H wheeled loader being used to move hard volcanic rock at a quarry operated by Schicker Hartsteinwerke in Bavaria
Christian Strunk (left) and Walter Nelles of German aggregates association MIRO
concrete, is only possible through further additional processing. “Although this seems desirable, the quantities used for this are then no longer available for unbound construction, for example in road construction,” he says. “Unfortunately, the processing waste from this process step cannot be used for other purposes and would therefore have to be disposed of.”
The European Green Deal, climate change and the current Ukraine crisis have thrown the spotlight on electricity generation from renewable energies in Germany and the need to expand this as quickly as possible. The use of floating solar panels (floatovoltaics) on extraction-site lakes is one such source of renewable energy.
Strunk says the installation of floating solar systems on quarry ponds involves significantly fewer conflicts of use than is the case with naturally existing lake areas.
“Unfortunately, the federal government does not want to see this potential,” he adds. “On the contrary: there are strict restrictions on the size of floating photovoltaic systems on quarry ponds. In addition, although the extraction of raw materials in the so-called outdoor area enjoys higher priority, this does not apply to the installation and operation of photovoltaic systems!”
Strunk says that companies that want to operate floating photovoltaic systems on their quarry ponds for their own power supply and for feeding into the public grid are thus put under a legal ban. Quarry companies who want to set up stationary photovoltaic systems on their areas and on their systems experience the same situation.
He adds that MIRO is demanding that the federal government eliminates the legally enshrined ‘reasons for impediments’ and gives companies the opportunity - in particular through simplified and swift permission procedures - to be able to actively participate in the ‘energy transition’.
The exact number of floating photovoltaic (PV) systems on German quarry ponds is not known, but Strunk says that it is very low due to the legal restrictions mentioned. He adds, though, that the potential is immense, especially since around 60% of the gravel/ sand extraction operations are operated as ‘wet extraction’.
“The largest PV system on a quarry pond in Germany has the area of two football pitches and generates almost 3,000 megawatts of electricity per year,” he says. “We know that
in France, for example, the situation is very different and very large photovoltaic systems are operated on quarry ponds.”
In terms of current opportunities in the quarrying sector for equipment manufacturers, Husemann of Zeppelin Baumaschinen says the ongoing trend of decarbonisation is a prime consideration in many machine purchases.
“With our Cat portfolio, we are in a good position to provide fuel-efficient machines that help our customers save fuel, CO2 and as a result, costs,” he adds. “Many quarry customers update their fleets to the latest and most efficient generation of machines.”
Schwarz says the best cost-per-ton ratio continues to be the decisive factor for Kleemann’s quarrying customers.
“What is needed are machines and solutions that are powerful, versatile, efficient and flexible,” he adds. “Sustainability and environmental awareness are also playing an increasingly important role – and not only due to increased fuel costs.”
Looking at key trends and developments in the German quarrying sector over the next 18 months, Kleemann’s Schwarz says that electrification will play an increasingly important role.
“The focus will be on environmentally friendly processes and lower CO2 emissions,” he adds. “With our diesel-electric-drive concept with the option of an external power supply, as with our new MOBIREX MR 130 PRO impact crusher’s all-electric drive concept, the customer is ideally positioned.”
Kribs of Volvo CE says: “The most important factors to look out for will be to take care of cost increases which are happening in all areas, as well as the challenge in finding operators for our equipment.”
Husemann of Zeppelin Baumaschinen says aggregates-industry supply issues will not be fixed until the first half of next year as there is still a shortage of microchips and other components.
“We hope to see a positive spin in the second half of 2023,” he says. “The privatehome construction sector is likely to change. At present, one home requires, on average , 105 tonnes of aggregates.
“The industry will recover a normal pace. It is currently at a healthy level with a good demand for both aggregates and equipment.”
Nelles of MIRO says that, in the current situation, it will be important for aggregates industry companies to be able to maintain their economic activity despite the immense ‘restrictions’.
He adds that, to this end, the federal government must focus more attention than before on ‘domestic’ raw materials in order to guarantee Germany's security of supply with these important raw materials.
“This is in no way intended to negate the topic of ‘globalisation’, but it does reduce the dependencies that we are currently feeling very clearly,” Nelles says. “The transport of raw materials is costly and CO2-intensive. Short distances are clearly essential. This advantage must also be used in relation to climate change: all regions of Germany have raw-material deposits. The nearly 3,000 quarries and gravel/sand pits in operation are spread across Germany.”
The return for the first time since March 2019 of the bauma quarrying, construction and mining equipment event in Munich (October 24-30) is welcome news, Nelles says.
He adds that, as the world's largest construction machinery trade fair, bauma will again set trends and focus on optimised and energy-saving machines and system components.
“This is important and necessary, as German companies also have to invest in new equipment again in order to be able to meet the requirements mentioned,” he adds.
“At the same time, bauma should also be used as a signal that, despite the drastic measures taken as a result of the Ukraine war, the construction industry is networked worldwide and continues to rely on globalisation, which cannot be influenced by individual world powers swerving out. It is to be hoped that the signal of ‘togetherness’ will also go out from bauma.” AB
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CAT PRODUCTIVITY GAINS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND
A major Bavarian building materials supplier has fully embraced Cat Productivity technology with eye-catching results. Guy Woodford reports
Whatever we do in life, there are few people who will say they are not interested in being more productive and efficient at it. Just ask Schwinger Granit’s Kristian Daub. Standing on the edge of a haul road high up in his company’s impressive Nittenau granite quarry near Regensburg in Bavaria, Daub enthusiastically demonstrates on his smartphone how his use of Cat Productivity technology since early 2020 has had a hugely positive impact on the site’s loading and hauling productivity and efficiency. “Using the technology is saving us €150,000-€200,000 a year,” says Schwinger Granit’s director, citing how decisions based on the “facts” generated by Cat Productivity data analytics had enabled him and his site team to implement operational change. This has led to many gains, including a significant reduction in fuel use through less machine idling and in the number of haul truck passes required when processing post-blast material.
Schwinger Granit’s Nittenau site processes 4,000 tonnes of granite materials a day during 11-hour shifts, Monday to Friday, with the help of machines including a Cat 385 Front Shovel excavator. “We used to
work six-day weeks, but with the help of Cat Productivity we can reach our required production volumes in five days,” explains Daub. “I use the Quiply [employee] app to send data generated by Cat Productivity to either a group in our team or individual machine operators when they have done a task well. They really appreciate the real-time feedback.”
Daub explains that his initial enthusiasm for quarrying machine and wider operation performance-monitoring technology began in 2010 when using Caterpillar’s VisionLink, which offers a unified view of health, location and productivity for your entire fleet, regardless of its size or the manufacturer of your equipment.
“After several steps in the past years, the launch of Cat Productivity was the right tool at the right moment,” says Daub. “If you have a tool you can use to check if a second Cat 775 truck is not necessary in the quarry, or a further Cat 972 wheeled loader is not needed anymore in the stockpile area, you are able to avoid unproductive fuel consumption, reduce costs and CO2 emissions, and you use it consistently, your operation’s efficiency and profitability will increase. In fact, Cat Productivity takes efficiency to another level.
“There’s a Japanese saying I like, ‘If you
Kristian Daub analysing Cat Productivity data at Schwinger Granit’s Nittenau quarry
Kristian Daub in front of Schwinger Granit’s Cat 374D LME crawler excavator
start to measure, something is going to happen’. With Cat Productivity, you can calculate your cost per tonne separated stockpile by stockpile. You can evaluate loading performance for each stockpile and make changes if a more efficient approach is needed overall or in a certain section or sections of your quarry. You can compare the operating cost per tonne for different loading machines, including front and back shovel models. You are also able to chart the quality of each blast by evaluating loading times, payload consistency and stockpiles. We make great use of all these options.”
Daub states that Schwinger Granit has also used Cat Productivity for real-time material-quality and material-droppingarea checks, to compare different types of excavators, and to optimise the design of new ultra-efficient load and haul slopes at Nittenau quarry. Furthermore, he has used Cat Productivity to calculate the quarry’s likely operating costs for the next year, to calibrate plant balances, to create personnel shift plans for future material heaps, and to provide vital feedback to drill/blast teams following Cat Productivity data-gathering drone flights.
He continues: “Optimising the use of materials’ extraction machines worldwide also offers high potential when it comes to tackling climate change. We have a strong focus at this quarry and throughout our business on reducing CO2 emissions per tonne. Cat Productivity via Cat VisionLink is a good tool to find out where and when you can save energy. This means that while you are focusing on efficiency and profitability, you can simultaneously reduce avoidable CO2 emissions.
“We have found that the greatest CO2 emissions savings can be achieved by reducing the high diesel consumption of loading and hauling machines in the material extraction area. We achieved enormous success quickly in this area through modernising our fleet to give us models with lower diesel consumption, and we used Cat Productivity to help reduce idling time. We have also reduced CO2 with our 2016 modernisation of our processing plant, which reduced crushing states while generating higher output.
“The new plant controlling system gave us the opportunity to increase the degree of automation linked to the throughput and the yield of required products. However, this only works thanks to the permanent evaluation of process data and implementing loops in the system.”
Keen to widen the use of smart technology across the entire Nittenau quarry operation, Daub agreed to Caterpillar’s request in 2019 to road test its new Cat Productivity software before its market launch.
“What had been a lack of information was in the past. Such a web-based software application was a big step forward and gave us the right tool to gain consistent success.”
Looking down into Schwinger Granit’s Nittenau quarry
Material processing at Nittenau quarry
Sharing some of his Cat Productivity data after Aggregates Business’s visit to the Nittenau quarry, Daub notes: “With Cat Productivity’s help, we have lowered our extraction CO2 emissions per tonne by 4.7% a year; our material handling CO2 emissions by 2.4% a year; and our stationary processing CO2 emissions by 0.8% a year. Worldwide there are huge CO2 savings we can make when it comes to quarrying extraction by avoiding unproductive operating hours. Let’s work on it!”
A fourth-generation, family-owned and -run business, Schwinger Granit’s 2016 materials-processing modernisation saw the company invest in a Sandvik two- or three-stage jaw-cone crushing setup, featuring Sandvik jaw crushers and Sandvik CH660, CH540 and CH440 cone crushers, two Metso ES screening machines and a Binder Bivitec plant for fine screening. Daub says this automated smart tech-led setup has increased material throughput by an impressive 70%.
The Nittenau quarry team carries out blasts for new material extraction every two weeks, with traffic on a neighbouring highway temporarily stopped to allow the blast to be safely conducted.
Railway ballast is a vitally important product for Schwinger Granit, with Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railway) a key customer. “From our Nittenau quarry, we are supplying 100,000 tonnes of railway ballast to the €2 billion Würzburg (Bavaria) to Göttingen (Lower Saxony, central Germany) rail line due to be completed at the end of 2022,” explains Daub. “We are currently transporting on our freight trains 2,300 tonnes of material a day for the Würzburg to Fulda (Hesse, central Germany) section of the
line. There must be no dust on the railway ballast, with a lot of the material used in tunnels on the route. It is a massive project that Cat Productivity is helping us deliver efficiently.”
Daub also tells Aggregates Business that Schwinger Granit has applied to the relevant local government authorities for a licence to reopen one of its former quarry extraction sites around seven kilometres from Nittenau quarry. “It is a part of a plan we began working on ten years ago. We designed
the Nittenau site so that when we stop production here it will become a lake. There are another 60 years of mineral reserves here, but we are keen to grow the business by opening a further production site.”
Daub says Schwinger Granit’s close working relationship with Caterpillar and its German dealer Zeppelin Baumaschinen spans “around 20 years”. He continues: “We like the company’s overall package and have always had a good relationship with our local dealer who we trust and find reliable for skilled machine servicing and maintenance.”
Staale Hansen, manager, Large Machines and System Solutions at Zeppelin Baumaschinen, said: “We really appreciate the close working relationship we have with Kristian Daub and Schwinger Granit. Kristian is always looking for the best solution and when the solution has been found, he will master it and look at how it can be improved further over time to drive maximum efficiency and productivity. It is a true partnership and we have learned a lot working with Kristian.
“There is interest [across Germany] in the Cat Productivity application as it provides a complete overview of the machine and jobsite production which means that customers can take actionable steps that positively impact productivity, utilisation, and cost. With the energy crisis and in particular the price of fuel we expect that the interest will only grow in coming months, and we are ready to support our customers.” AB
A Cat 972M wheeled loader stockpiling material
Kristian Daub at the top of Nittenau quarry
A piece of Nittenau quarry granite
Mapping out the future for European aggregates
European aggregates association UEPG held its annual conference in Cyprus this year at a critical time. Delegates at the two-day event heard how the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ever-growing requirement for sustainability have highlighted the sector’s vital importance to European economies going forward. Liam McLoughlin reports
This year’s UEPG Congress in Cyprus was the first opportunity for the European aggregates industry association to hold the annual event fully ‘in person’ since the advent of the global pandemic. The Congress, held in the coastal resort of Larnaca from June 16-17, also marked the UEPG’s 35th anniversary.
Issues high on the agenda included UEPG’s roadmap for the sector through to 2030, how far the use of recycled aggregates can progress, the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on aggregates supply, and the increasing importance of solar panels on quarry lakes and wind turbines as an additional source of electricity – low cost and carbon-neutral.
It was a packed schedule and Aggregates Business was delighted to be invited along to listen in on some fascinating discussions that will help shape the industry and the wider world for years to come.
During his keynote address at the entrepreneurs’ forum on the first day of the event, UEPG president Antonis Latouros set out the association’s roadmap of its plans for the European aggregates industry going through to 2030.
Putting the importance of the industry to Europe in context, he said: “Aggregates build everything around us.
“If there were no aggregates there would be literally nothing around us. No roads, no ports, no airports, no buildings, no schools, no houses, no hospitals, nothing. To build one average house we need around 400 tonnes of aggregates, for an average school we need around 3,000 tonnes, for a kilometre of motorway around 30, 000 tonnes.
“The European aggregates industry produces three billion tonnes of aggregates per year, worth more than €30bn. These aggregates are produced in 26,000 quarries around Europe, which belong to about 15,000 companies, so our industry mainly consists of SMEs. We have the big companies as members [of UEPG] but they produce only 5% of these three billion tonnes.”
Each European citizen consumes around six tonnes of aggregates per year and the industry employs around 187,000 people. The UEPG represents this sector which is by far the largest non-energy extractives industry in Europe.
There are a number of UEPG actions on its 2030 roadmap, which was initiated by
former association president Thilo Juchem and launched in Brussels in September 2021 to identify the challenges and opportunities for industry over the coming years.
The roadmap sets out what the UEPG and its European aggregates-sector members need, what it promises and what it will deliver.
The first four actions concern what is needed. Firstly, the need to have access to sustainable local resources in order to have efficient transportation of its products, for both economic and environmental reasons.
“We are considered to be a low CO2 footprint industry,” Latouros says. “For each tonne of aggregates, we need around 3-5kg of CO2 but if we have to transport our products more than 40km we end up having more CO2 than during the production process. For this reason, it is better to be near to the point of demand.”
The second item on the roadmap is the need for streamlined/efficient national land-use planning and permitting policy. “Resources are everywhere in Europe, but accessing them is not that easy,” says Latouros.
Thirdly is the need for regulations
UEPG president Antonis Latouros (standing centre left) with President of the Parliament of Cyprus Annita Demetriou (standing centre right) and delegates at the UEPG Congress
facilitating a circular economy. “Recycling is part of our business model,” says Latouros.
Fourthly is the need for a level playing field for all through consistent implementation of EU law.
UEPG makes four promises in the roadmap:
• Professional representation of its industry, ever mindful of its predominantly SME membership
• Streamlined/efficient national land-use planning and permitting policy
• Responsible sourcing and excellence in delivering high-quality products
• Regulations facilitating a circular economy, increasing resource efficiency
In terms of what it will deliver, the UEPG commits to:
• Play an active role in climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Deliver on responsible environmental stewardship
• Deliver biodiversity net gain in both extraction and restoration
• Prioritise employee/contractor safety, health and wellbeing
• Foster better links and communications with local communities
• Further extend good-practice exchanges through the Global Aggregates Information Network (GAIN), helping make its industry more sustainable globally
In terms of efforts around climate change, Latouros said: “We will promote energy efficiency and electrification of our moveable machinery.
“This will come in a few years’ time that we will have these big monsters fully electrified. We will also promote the production of renewable energy on-site.”
The UEPG’s delegates assembly was attended by several senior Cypriot political
figures. These included the President of the Parliament of Cyprus Annita Demetriou, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis, the Commissioner of Environment Klelia Vasileiou, and the Mayor of Larnaca Andreas Vyras. In her speech Demetriou told delegates of her pride that the small island of Cyprus had taken over the leading role in representing Europe’s extractives industry in the person of Antonis Latouros.
The assembly is held to decide on strategy issues around the association. The UEPG office in Brussels is well-placed to interact with the EU’s lawmakers, being only five minutes walking distance from the European Parliament.
The association has members in 26 countries. “We bring all these countries to the same table to make decisions and work for the best benefit of our industry, but to an extent for the best benefit of humanity because we are producing an essential product,” says Latouros.
“We have four main committees: health & safety, environmental, technical and economic. With 26,000 extraction sites in the industry, we have the luxury of having the best of the best in experts to deal with these specific issues.”
He stresses the need for global cooperation among aggregates industry players. Along with all other major industries, recent geo-political events have major
implications for aggregates.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has combined with the drive for sustainability to bring Europe’s dependency on raw materials such as aggregates and energy increasingly to the focus of high-level attention.
“The invasion shifted European and national policy priorities,” said Aurélie Delannoy, chair of the UEPG economic committee. “The EU will develop a sort of war economy. To meet these challenges raw materials will be needed.”
Delannoy said that the European aggregates industry has an important part to play in these issues: “We need sustainable finance, in addition to the immediate recognition of aggregates as being essential and strategic raw materials - and this being recognised in land-use and permitting procedures.”
The UEPG has developed a position paper setting out the role the aggregates sector can play in a ‘green and secure’ Europe in this changed landscape.
The paper states that military mobility needs better and new infrastructure including roads, bridges, rail-tracks, airfields and ports. It adds that this should be undertaken with respect to climate-friendly renovation, low-carbon transport and e-mobility.
“Our production is low-carbon and should become climate-neutral as laid out in our Roadmap to 2030,” says Delannoy.
UEPG president Antonis Latouros addressing Congress delegates
“Aggregates producers are increasingly producing and using renewable energy, promoting alternative fuels and the electrification of machinery. Our 26,000 extraction sites have great potential to become green stepping stones helping to connect nature -protected areas.”
In May the European Commission published the REPowerEU Plan, the EU’s response to the global energy market disruption caused by the war in Ukraine with a view to reducing dependency on Russian fossil fuels, in particular gas. Delannoy says that energy-intensive industries such as aggregates can significantly contribute to and benefit from the REPowerEU efforts.
Replacing coal, oil and gas in industrial processes will help cut the fossil fuel dependency, while transitioning to cleaner energy sources, strengthening industrial competitiveness, and supporting international technology leadership.
Petra Gradischnig, MD of the Austrian aggregates association and chair of the UEPG Biodiversity Task Force, said that a key priority of the aggregates industry is to protect biodiversity around its sites and ensure that materials extraction and biodiversity can go hand in hand.
To this end UEPG is a partner of EU biodiversity policies. These include the FloraFauna Habitat Directive and Birds Directive, which are the core of the EU’s nature conservation policy and are part of its Natura 2000 network of protected areas covering Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats.
In May 2020 the EU published its Biodiversity Strategy – part of its Green Agenda – which targets 30% of land and sea in Europe being protected areas by 2030. “At the moment around 26% of land and 11% of sea are protected areas, so there is still a lot of work to do,” said Gradischnig.
She added that the aggregates industry can make a significant contribution as a partner for the biodiversity strategy: “Our sites host wild pollinators such as bees and butterflies, and there are also several live projects conducted by our sector that demonstrate the compatibility between aggregates extraction and nature conservation.”
A further part of the Green Agenda,
aggregates recycling, was a major focus of discussion during the UEPG events. Brian James, special advisor at the UK Mineral Products Association and chair of the UEPG recycling task force, said that getting back to basics is essential for successful recycling in the quarry industry, and for the circular economy objective of getting construction and demolition waste back into beneficial use.
“In order to recycle material, you must have a source of material to draw upon,” said James. “You must meet the technical requirements for everything you are going to do. It is the same standard that covers all the materials, whether they are recycled, manufactured or primary materials.”
James added that the current increasing cost of fuel means it is ever more important that the cost-effectiveness of the recycling process is taken into account. “Fuel costs at the moment make transport and processing serious considerations,” James said.
He said that urban locations make sense to carry out recycling as this is where most of the demolition activity takes place that produces the material for recycling.
He gave the example of the UK, where it is estimated that the country currently recycles around 25-30% of its aggregates demand. Other countries within the EU are also doing well, in particular Belgium and the Netherlands which are also in the 25-30% range in terms of recycling aggregates, according to UEPG estimates.
“C&D waste complements the supply of primary aggregates, it does not replace it,” he added.
He said the amount of material that can be recycled depends on the amount that becomes available through C&D activity. The current EU target is for 70% of aggregates to be recycled, and Netherlands is looking to go completely circular in recycling of aggregates by 2050, but James thinks such ambitious
targets may not be possible to achieve: “You’ve got to have primary materials to meet the demand of certain areas.
“If you want very high-strength concrete you have to think a bit more carefully about the quality and consistency of the material, and whether you can justify the potential for increased usage [of C&D waste] in cement content. Use the recycled material for the best purposes that it is there for.
“My personal view from my background in construction is do not use recycled aggregates in over-specified areas. Do not use it for high-strength concrete, it will not have the required consistency. Use it where there is a bulk of material, and that is typically in highway construction or if you are doing harbour works where you have got to have ground development. It is excellent in these situations.”
In terms of whether the use of recycled aggregates should be specified in contracts, James says this can cause problems: “If you specify everything must have 25% recycled content the failure is, if it’s not available or if it is an awful long way away, it breaks all the rules that we are trying to adhere to. So be realistic. Don’t put it in the contract – put recommendations in by all means.”
Michael Tost, chair of mining engineering and mineral economics at the University of Leoben in Austria which works with UEPG on aggregates research, also thinks that a 100% aggregates recycling rate is not achievable. “I would even challenge a 60% recycling figure based on the data that we have at the moment,” he added.
Carsten Karcher, secretary general of the European Asphalt Pavement Association (EAPA), spoke to delegates about his work at the industry representative group. He stressed it is not possible to be in the asphalt sector these days without being responsible and sustainable.
“Asphalt plants are highly regulated
Aurélie Delannoy, chair of the UEPG economic committee
all over Europe by national authorities and ministries. They have to meet environmental certificates and permit requirements. This is all related to the health and safety of the neighbourhood, and of the workers employed there.”
He said that asphalt is a highly engineered and technological product, being a mixture of aggregates, the bitumen that binds it together, and some additives. “Ninety-five per cent of the roads in Europe are paved with asphalt, they are the veins of Europe,” said Karcher.
He added that asphalt is a high-level material, which makes it suitable for recycling and helping to drive the circular economy.
The European Commission’s ambition is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and set Europe on a path to becoming climate neutral by 2050. Karcher said that industries across the region are some way from this, but added that both the asphalt and aggregates sectors have the tools available to achieve these ambitious targets.
A recent survey of 14 EAPA national members found that, of the total 27.4 million tonnes of reclaimed asphalt that is available, 64% is re-used in hot-mix asphalt, 33% is recycled and only a maximum of 3% is sent to landfill.
The current European average for CO2 produced during asphalt production is 40kg per tonne. A tool for calculating CO2 emissions in asphalt production is already in use in Scandinavia, where producers are given credits during the bidding process for lower emissions. “There is a competition between the asphalt mix producers to have ‘greenest’ asphalt and this is usually the one that gets the job,” Karcher commented.
He called on legislators elsewhere to also mandate the use of a CO2 emissions tool in the bidding process. “It’s important as there has to be pressure on the industry,” he said The temperature at which asphalt is heated during production has a massive effect on CO2 emissions. “Every ten degrees that you reduce the temperature reduces the emissions by 50%,” said Karcher.
He said manufacturers should not overheat asphalt during production just to be
able to transport it further to jobsites that are a long distance from the plant.
He added that there is room for improvement in the distances material is moved in the asphalt sector. Across Europe the average distance for aggregates to be transported to an asphalt mixing plant is approximately 50km, and then a further 50km from the plant to the jobsite. To reduce the accompanying CO2 caused by these long distances, Karcher said asphalt producers should consider using different quarries that are in closer proximity to the plant for certain applications, or to carry out more recycling of asphalt at jobsites in cities and on highways.
“We can do even more, such as using energy with electric vehicles for transport from quarries,” he added.
At the UEPG delegates assembly on the second day of the congress, members heard the latest updates on the UEPG’s health & safety, environment, technical and economic activities.
César Luaces Frades, chair of the UEPG health & safety committee, said the association is assessing the impact on the aggregates sector of a potential update of the European Union’s carcinogens and mutagens at work directive. “We know that this is affecting a lot of quarries in some countries, and it is an emerging topic on the agenda,” he added.
He stressed the importance of UEPG member countries sending their inputs about the impact of the potential revision on the aggregates industry, as it is critical for the association to have the necessary data to establish its position on the issue.
In terms of its environmental work, UEPG is focused on the impact on the industry of the EU Biodiversity strategy. In January this
year, the EU published guidance on protected areas which sets the target of protecting 30% of EU land and sea by 2030. The EU adds that one third (10%) of this, areas of very high biodiversity and climate value, should be under strict protection.
There is good news for the industry in the removal of an initial European Commission proposal that forbade access to any extractive activities in strictly protected areas. This was not included in the January guidance, and UEPG’s former public affairs officer Sergiu Scolobiuc said this was due to the association’s work on the issue.
“It now employs more flexibility with a case-by-case approach,” said Scolobiuc. “There are exceptions for very smallscale sites which are essential for local communities, and I think aggregates would definitely fit in this definition.”
The designation process for protected areas has already started in several EU member states, and the UEPG is recommending that its members monitor and become involved in this process if possible as it can make a difference for the industry.
In February 2022 the association launched an ad hoc working group for biodiversity indicators to set a baseline for the aggregates industry by 2025. The group will collect data on biodiversity from designated pilot quarry sites in the lead-up to 2025.
The EU-funded “Life in Quarries” project, which has run at quarries in the Walloon region of Belgium since 2015 and expanded to two quarry sites abroad, has now been completed. A second edition of the project, whose aim is to develop and make sustainable the hosting capacity of biodiversity in various quarries, is currently being planned.
The EU published its Soil Strategy in
Delegates heard about the increasing use of floating solar panels on extraction-site lakes. Image: Heidelberg Materials
November 2021, with the objective of achieving healthy soils across the European Union by 2050 with concrete actions to be taken by 2030. The strategy includes more than 80 actions, including voluntary and legally binding measures to be implemented by 2030.
The UEPG is focusing on the elements of the strategy with the greatest relevance for the aggregates industry. These include a new Soil Health Directive to be implemented by mid-2023, which is open for public consultation until the end of the third quarter of 2022.
In addition, there is a legally binding “soil passport” to boost the circular economy in streams of excavated soils, which is highly relevant to the aggregates industry. There are also cross-cutting actions in the Soil Strategy linked to water, pollutants, and biodiversity that UEPG will also be monitoring.
The association is proposing to set up an ad hoc working group to address this development in legislation.
A further environmental issue that is of importance for the aggregates sector is the increasing use of floating solar panels (floatovoltaics) on extraction-site lakes. The issue has assumed even greater relevance after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ensuing threats to the supply of power to European countries.
Scolobiuc said: “In countries such as Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands there is great interest in having floatovoltaics on quarry lakes. It’s a great opportunity for our industry.”
The UEPG is currently working on a statement for external communication on the use of floatovoltaics in extraction-site lakes, in view of their potential environmental impacts and benefits.
At the end of March, the EC set out a proposal for a new Construction Products Regulation (CPR) that lays down harmonised rules for putting construction products on the EU market. The new proposal changes a lot of areas that impact the aggregates sector according to Stefan Janssen, chair of the UEPG technical committee. “They want to implement the European Green Deal goals, so sustainability and providing environmental data is key and a big part of the CPR,” he says.
Janssen says new regulation will mean that quarry operators will face additional
site visits from EU notified bodies that specialise in environmental data, on top of the technical standard ones they currently deal with. “There will be a lot of additional general product and safety information you have to give,” he says. “Every device you have that has an impact on the carbon footprint has to be in your data and this needs to be up to date.”
It is proposed that if businesses have more than two ‘non-compliances’ with the CPR regulations the notified body will not issue the business with a new certificate for at least one year, meaning they will have no approval to supply CE-marked products (signifying that they meet EU standards) during that period. Janssen says: “I don’t know if they realise what they are doing to business, because businesses will crash if they are not able to deal with CE -marked products for one year. It makes no sense.”
Perhaps just as well then that there appears to be plenty of time for further revisions of the new CPR proposal as it has a transition period that runs through to 2045.
UEPG secretary general Dirk Fincke reported that the University of Leoben provided an update on the university’s 2010 review of the European aggregates industry. The 2010 Leoben Review was UEPG’s contribution to implement the EU Raw Materials Initiative’s 2nd pillar on improving access to domestic raw materials including aggregates, and reviewing landuse planning and permitting procedures. Over a decade later, Fincke says the EU Industrial Strategy now recognises dependency on (domestic) raw materials and has identified construction as one of the 14 industrial ecosystems to focus on. UEPG has worked on achieving this recognition with industrial alliances promoting the raw materials industry, particularly Industry4Europe. “UEPG’s strong involvement paid off with the updated Industrial Strategy and the recognition of Europe’s dependency on domestic raw materials,” Fincke added.
Going forward, he said that aggregates are an essential resource for the EU to achieve its sustainability objectives: the Green Deal and renovation wave, the strategy on climate change adaptation and the recovery plan fostering a green and digital transition of Europe’s economies require massive additional amounts of aggregates.
In line with the UEPG Roadmap to 2030, Fincke said the association is undertaking a review on land-use planning and permitting procedures to have a dedicated response on what is needed to ensure the responsible and sustainable supply of strategic and essential resources needed for the EU sustainability policies and strategies.
Michael Tost of the University of Leoben in Austria was commissioned to update the 2010 Leoben Study and has sent out questionnaires and requests for online interviews to UEPG members to collect data and input on anything new since 2010. Tost says their feedback is vital: “We will need scientific data for some issues, i.e., to propose a solid baseline, convincing, credible and realistic CO2 emissions reduction targets, actions that will allow companies and therefore the sector to move forward, and consequently to position aggregates as an opportunity for Europe and not as a threat.”
UEPG president Latouros said he and Dirk Fincke have already visited half of its member nations and the target is to go to all of them, starting with the Scandinavian and Baltic nations in September.
UEPG treasurer Leonie van der Voort said that March 2022 has seen the UEPG General Secretariat move to a new office, located on Square de Meeûs in Brussels. The European Asphalt and Pavement Association (EAPA) is joining UEPG at the new premises.
The association is planning a new logo and improvements to its website, in addition to recruitment efforts which include the appointment of two new public affairs officers. AB
UEPG treasurer Leonie van der Voort
Liebherr presenting new mixingplant generation at bauma
Liebherr’s more than 60 years’ experience developing and supplying mixing plants for concrete production is said to be incorporated into the new development of an innovative modular system, with the new edition of Betomix being unveiled at bauma 2022 in Munich, Germany (24-30 October).
Available from 2023, the new Betomix and Mobilmix mixing-plant series can be flexibly combined using prefabricated modules and replaces several predecessor series. For the customer, this is said to mean more freedom when configuring the plants, shorter delivery times, faster assembly, and increased parts availability. Improvements to the drive are also said to reduce consumption by up to 30% and increase weighing accuracy, so that a claimed up to 7.5kg of cement can be saved per m³ of concrete.
Depending on the customer’s requirements and use, mixer systems can be installed in the same basic system. Liebherr uses its own twin-shaft or ring-pan mixers. Output rates of 100 to 210m³ of compacted fresh concrete per hour are said to be possible. Multiple optional accessories can be integrated without additional effort. Various storage facilities for the aggregates can be incorporated, such as a tower silo. Even the optional winter cladding is standardised for all variants. Everything can be combined.
An example of the new plant series’ modular construction is the skip. It can be simply ‘hung’ on the respective mixing plant,
regardless of the required plant performance. Different height levels of the aggregates storage are easier to realize with the vertical skip than with an inclined construction. Due to the vertical construction, up to 20 % less space is required for the installation area. The elevator is designed as a structurally separate element and can be used with the stationary and mobile versions of the new mixing plants.
All accessible areas of the mixing plant are generously sized and offer sufficient
Liebherr will be showcasing its new edition Betomix at bauma 2022
as for steel-fiber dosage. A chain hoist can be installed on the weighing platform which can be used to lift Euro pallets with loads of up to 1,000kg to the appropriate working level through the material hatches.
The fully galvanised modules are said to have a long service life and are very robust. The modules are pre-wired at the factory. Q-gates are used to check and document the quality requirements of the respective assembly steps. The plug-in modules can be immediately connected at the construction
Trelleborg launches HiMod Advanced Composite Bearing Plus
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions (Trelleborg) has introduced its latest lightweight thermoplastic composite bearing, the HiMod Advanced Composite Bearing Plus. The new product is said to offer an enhanced dual-layer bearing with a low-friction modified PEEK layer that reduces friction and increases wear performance for use in bearing, wear ring, and bushing applications.
Manufactured using Trelleborg’s patented Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology, a thin, low-friction liner is bonded to the inner diameters and can be added to the outer diameters of the bearing to create a highquality solution for use in a wide range of industries, including quarrying.
Trelleborg says its HiMod Advanced Composite Bearing Plus will not seize or gall, unlike metal bearings, to reduce the likelihood of pump damage in chemical processing applications, has a low
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions’ HiMod Advanced Composite Bearing Plus
coefficient of friction, and can withstand extreme temperature ranges.
Reid Hislop, product manager at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, said: “Thermoplastic
bearings offer high durability and toughness for demanding applications. The addition of a low-friction layer within our HiMod Advanced Composite Bearing Plus provides up to 50% less sliding friction than with standard bearings, to increase performance and prevent damage to hardware components.
“These unique bearings can operate from an extremely low temperature of -156 OC to +274 OC / -250 OF to +525 OF and are capable of continuous service even when wet, with nearly zero water absorption. Unlike other non-metal bearings, these do not crack or swell in extreme conditions making them a reliable choice for a wide range of applications.”
Aggregates Business travels the globe attending conferences, events and equipment shows, keeping you informed of the latest offerings. Come and join us for a chat at any of the events below.
OCTOBER 2022
24-30: bauma Munich, Germany
MARCH 2023
14-18: CONEXPO-CON/ AGG
These dates were correct at the time of going to press, but please note that the COVID-19 pandemic means some events may be rescheduled with little advance notice
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