The OFT has identified five key concerns following its investigation into the UK's 3.4bn aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete sectors and believes the sector warrant investigation, including the dominance of the five main players: Hanson, Cemex, Aggregate Industries, Anglo American (owner of Tarmac) and France's Lafarge.John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, says: "We are
Bentonite Beneficiation concerned that competition is not working well in these sectors, with underlying features of the market giving rise to persistent concerns."A spokesman for Hanson says that at a time when the construction industry is on its knees, an investigation will be unlikely to result in drastic changes "either way" but will be "distracting" and put further strain on suppliers such as itself.
"We've closed 20 quarries and 20 ready-mix concrete plants in the past two years, taking capacity out of the market, he says. "An investigation would not be helpful at a time when building activity is at a historic low."The Public Integrity division of the office was investigating the city's use of a lobbyist in an effort to rally residents against a mining project last year. Specifically, the
Rock Processing Equipment city faced allegations that it used that lobbyist to help orchestrate a referendum effort against the Azusa plan, which would be a violation of the law. Officials with the Public Integrity office said the case has been closed.
"We never felt we had done anything wrong to begin with," Duarte Councilman John Fasana said. The whole thing was absurd. At this point the truth has come out in terms of Duarte did or didn't do."A letter obtained by this newspaper, signed by District Attorney Steve Cooley, called Duarte's actions "troubling" but said they didn't amount to anything criminal."We found no evidence that Duarte
Lead Concentrate public funds were used to fund a referendum," wrote Cooley in the letter.Former Azusa Mayor Diane Chagnon submitted the complaint to the district attorney's office in Nov. 2010 that accused Duarte officials of using their hired lobbyists - Englander, Knabe and Allen - to coordinate a referendum of Vulcan Materials Co.'s approved mining plan near Fish Canyon in the foothills of Azusa.
