US: Martin Marietta Materials has entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its Midlothian cement plant to Quikrete Holdings. Under the deal, Martin Marietta Materials will also hand over ownership of associated cement terminals and ready-mix concrete batching plants in North Texas. The company will receive in turn Quikrete Holdings’ 20Mt/yr-capacity Kansas, Missouri, Vancouver and Virginia aggregates operations, plus US$450m.
Canada: Norcast ML Concrete Products has partnered with Meadow Lake Tribal Council Resource Development to purchase the Meadow Lake ready-mix concrete batching plant in Saskatchewan from Germany-based Heidelberg Materials. Operations will continue as usual, while the new ownership works to expand its supply of ready-mix concrete across northwestern Saskatchewan.
Norcast ML Concrete Products president Andrew Ardell said "We are committed to growing this business, with a focus on local employment, service excellence and community impact."
US: Ideal Ready Mix has announced the completion of construction of a new warehouse at its Ottumwa plant in Iowa. The facility will serve the plant’s growing concrete supply and construction services operations in South East Iowa. Fox 5 News has reported that construction firm The Rasmussen Group carried out the project.
US: Oak Ridge National Laboratory has launched new composite forms for 3D-printed polymer concrete for Kairos Power’s Hermes low-power demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The forms reduce construction times ‘from weeks to days’ and reduce costs, according to the developer. Also partnering on the project were Additive Engineering Solutions, tooling materials producer Airtech, Barnard Construction, 3D printers supplier Haddy, coatings producer TruDesign and the University of Maine.
The Hermes reactor is part of the US Department of Energy’s SM2ART Moonshot Project to install nuclear power plants with scalable technologies on the US grid.
