The late-April grand opening of the Navajo FlexCrete Building Systems facility in Page, Ariz., marked not only a major milestone for the aerated concrete industry but an important step in a partnership between the Navajo Nation and the city.

Approximately 200 people, including dignitaries from the Navajo Nation and several state and local officials, attended the dedication ceremony of FlexCrete's first commercial manufacturing facility and the largest aerated-concrete plant in the country using an ash-based mix. The operation is owned by the Navajo Housing Authority (NHA), which is also co-owner of the innovative aerated-concrete technology through FlexCrete Building Systems, a joint venture with Headwaters Incorporated of South Jordan, Utah (formerly ISG Resources Inc.).

Block and panels from the Page facility will be used to support NHA building programs throughout the expansive, 260,000-member Navajo Nation. The plant also will sell product commercially in the Phoenix, Albuquerque and Las Vegas markets, providing significant economic development for NHA, the Navajo Nation and the northern Arizona area.

Although the plant is still in the preproduction phase and work is in progress to obtain certification (the block product has been certified), operations personnel expect the facility to be functional sometime in June.

FlexCrete consists of 60 to 70 percent ash and 30 to 40 percent Type I portland cement, plus water and a proprietary, aluminum-bearing additive. The mix design yields a high-slump material whose volume, during an initial set period of about 20 minutes, doubles as aluminum compounds react with fly ash and cement particles. The lightweight and impact-resistant product (the result of millions of air bubbles embedded in the concrete) is cast in 8- × 8- × 24-ft. plain or cage-reinforced sections, then sawed like wood to either panels (for roof, exterior or interior walls) or solid blocks.

The 32,000-sq.-ft. Page operation initially will offer block sizes from 6 × 8 × 24 in. to 16 × 8 × 24 in. Panels will be offered up to 25 ft. long × 2 ft. high with thickness ranging from 2 to 12 ft. When at full speed, the plant should produce approximately 10,000 blocks per day. Another FlexCrete facility in Palestine, Texas, is coming online at about the same time as the Arizona plant.

The NHA FlexCrete facility will use fly ash supplied by Headwaters from the nearby Navajo Power Plant, which is operated by the Salt River Project. FlexCrete has purchased, for an undisclosed price, 483,000 of the 600,000 tons of fly ash the power plant is expected to generate this year. The plant is also a zero-discharge operation, generating little waste because materials are recycled.

In March 2003, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joe Shirley, president of the Navajo Nation, teamed up for a luncheon timed to coincide with the commercial launch of FlexCrete and commencement of the joint venture between ISG Resources and the NHA. The event took place at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., and saw participants from economic and housing development, energy and environmental agencies introduced to aerated concrete.