“Fly ash is not waste, it is a valuable resource.” These findings “promise to lift fly ash perceptions in the world” - Kunigal Shivakumar (director of Composite Materials Research Centre).

The 2017 Australian Society for Concrete Pavements Conference will be held at Mantra on Salt beach, Kingscliff NSW on 17 & 18 July 2017. The "Call for Abstracts" has been broadcast and submissions close on 19 August 2017.

NSW transport and road funding highlights in 2016-17 includes, $2.9 billion allocated to WestConnex; $2.1 billion on upgrades to key regional highways; and $2.7 billion to deliver Sydney Metro (including $1.3 billion for Sydney Metro Northwest and $1.4 billion for Sydney Metro City and Southwest).

• Budget Reports
• Budget Road Map

The Ash Development Association of Australia is currently drafting content for the upcoming edition of Coal Ash Matters and we would love to hear your ideas and contributions!

Queensland based company Coretrack Ltd has developed a new ceramic proppant made predominantly from fly ash, which are lightweight and inexpensive compared to its predecessors. The innovative proppant allows for deeper 'fracking' and can withstand higher pressures than traditional ceramic proppants.

The Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA) will be answering the question of "Why does concrete do the things it does?" For a product that in its simplest form consists of only 4 materials, it is an incredibly complex and interesting material. Get it right, and you can achieve amazing results. Get it wrong, and the results can be catastrophic.

The forum addresses a range of topics relating to the design, specification, construction and maintenance of concrete pavements. There will be a report on the trial of the use of recycled concrete in the select material zone and heavily bound sub-base on an upcoming project to reconstruct and widen a section of the M1 Motorway. 

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been responsible for the cleanup of the U.S Tennessee Kingston plant spill and eight (8) years on, the team are doing great. In the initail planning stage the team grouped engireers together to develop an innovative method of storing the fly ash.

Jamie North combines the co/by products of industry and native Australian flora species to create sculptural installations that explore the simultaneous concurrence and conflict between man-made architectural structures and the biological world.

Australia will be one step closer to achieving its environmenal sustrainability targets if we can effectively manage new industries using by-products as resources from old industries. It is in this space that an Australian fly ash industry may emerge, bringing with it innovative leaders and entrepreneurs to incorporate fly ash as an integral part of their business. 

The following Standards Australia publication has been released: AS 1141.22-2008 Amd 1 - Methods for sampling and testing aggregates - Wet/dry strength variation

Concrete 2017 will be the 28th Biennial National Conference of the Concrete Institute of Australia and will be held in the beautiful city of Adelaide, South Australia.  

Please note that the following amendments were published on the 8th April 2016.

This year the Asian Coal Ash Association will hold the Coal Ash Asia 2016 Conference from the 22-26 September in Shouzhou, Shanxi Province, China. Coal Ash Asia 2016 features 3 days of conference, seminars, exhibition and business matching.

The burning of coal to make electricity creates two major by-products, fly ash and CO2 from smoke stacks. The ADAA and its members are currently doing everything possible to increase the utilisation of fly ash in the hopes of lessening the impact of burning coal on the environment. Although the utilisation of fly ash has been progressive, CO2 has been continuously viewed as a nuisance. Until now…

A 2nd Edition of Procurement of Construction Products – A guide to achieving compliance was released in November 2015.  The Guide now recognises 34 industry led product accreditation schemes and guidance information across a range of building product categories including reinforcing and structural steel, cementitious materials for concrete, wood products, glazing products, electrical products, fire safety services, plumbing products, insulation products, coating products and building products. The Guide is an important and valuable contribution to the efficiency and reliability of the building and construction industry. This Guide has been jointly developed by 30 key construction industry stakeholders and supported by many others. 

The Construction Materials Industry Conference will return to Melbourne in 2016. Celebrating CMIC's 10th anniversary, CMIC16 has a re-energised format that will attract more than 600 Australian and international delegates and guests from the heavy construction materials industry, suppliers and government.

AS/NZS 3582.1, AS 3582.2 and AS/NZS 3582.3 are now available for purchase through SAI Global from Friday, 12 February 2016.   

The Concrete Institute of Australia is kicking its 2016 workshop program on High Performance Concrete Floors and Pavements between March and April, Want to be part of it?

US based company, Southern Research is using $1 million in federal funding to develop and test a method to extract valuable rare earth elements (REEs) from coal fly ash, the minuscule waste particles captured by anti-pollution devices in coal-fired power plants. REEs are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are widely used because of their special properties.  Increasing interest and research is being conducted into extract these elements from coal combustion products (Coal ash).

There has long been a considerable demand for coal ash products in the UK construction and engineering sectors. The UKQAA (UK Quality Ash Association) recently produced its Ash Availability Report, which showed that since the turn of the century, the construction industry has typically consumed half of what’s produced annually. This rose to 70% in 2014 as the economy showed real signs of growth and the sustainability agenda became more important to specifiers.

The annual participants forum was held Thursday, 26 November 2015 – Friday, 27 November 2015 at the Australian Maritime Museum. A full report from CEO Craig Heidrich will be featured in the upcoming April Edition of Coal Ash Matters.

"Methods for sampling and testing aggregates-Coarse aggregate quality by visual comparison" AS 1141.30.1-2009 Amd 1 draft is open for public comment, and is due to close in four days. If you wish to make a comment, click on the link below for more information.

After almost two years since the New South Wales Government called for expressions of interest, the Vales Point Power Station previously owned by the NSW Government has been sold for one million dollars to Sunset Power International Pty Ltd. Newcastle Trades Hall Council secretary Daniel Wallace said it is crucial that workers' jobs are protected.