The Sustainability Report  2009 was presented today during  the shareholders meeting.
It reports on social, economical and environmental performances of the group's activities during 2009.
In line with the consolidated approach of the last few years,  the Sustainability Report  2009 is based on the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines and allowed us to reach the maximum level of application A+.
This result has to be considered as a tangible recognition to the commitment to reduce company's environmental impacts  and improve the collaboration with the local communities.
The Sustainability Report  has been translated in two languages: Italian and English.

Kiln 2 at the Robilante (Cuneo) plant was started up again in the middle of October after several important modifications were made to the pre-heater tower. The objectives of this three-year (2006-2009) project were as follows:
a) Increase the capacity of the kiln by reducing the drop in the gas system
b) Use more waste-derived fuels and at the same time improve gas retention in the pre-calciner and significantly reduce CO in the stack.
These objectives were achieved by the following operations:
- Replacing and/or modifying all the tower cyclones, from the 1st-4th stage
- Completely replacing the pre-calciner and increasing its volume.
These upgrades allowed us to increase the production capacity of the kiln from 1,800 tons/day to 2,200 tons/day. In addition to the upgrades to the tower, the kiln’s electrofilter was also converted into a baghouse.
The last step of this modernization project is to build a new 60-meter concrete stack with a diameter of 3.6 meters. Construction is currently underway and is expected to be completed by spring.

Another milestone in the road that we started upon over 10 years ago with the Vernasca (Piacenza) plant regarding the development of the environment/safety integrated management modern systems has been reached.
On December 18, 2009 ICMQ issued an occupational health and safety management system certification for the Augusta (Siracusa) and Siniscola (Nuoro) plants according to the BS OHSAS 18001:2007 provisions. We were able to achieve this due to the commitment and full collaboration from all the Buzzi Unicem employees who continued the excellent work initiated in 2005 with the UNI EN ISO 14001:2004 certification. Besides the Buzzi Unicem employees, the certification process also involved all outside personnel working at the plants, who shared the company’s decision to improve the already high safety standards of the productive environment.
In view of the current economic situation, this is another confirmation of the important role played by workplace health and safety in our company’s policy. The long road we have embarked upon will certainly lead us toward new goals but without losing sight of the fact that maintaining these results will require an even greater commitment than that expended thus far.