Cemstone Brings High-Reactivity Metakaolin Scm Into Mainstream Mix Design

Under a new partnership with Calgary-based Whitemud Resources Inc., Cemstone has begun using WhitemudMK high-reactivity metakaolin (HRM) as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete mix designs for heavy/civil work

Sources: Cemstone Products Co., Mendota Heights, Minn.; CP staff

Under a new partnership with Calgary-based Whitemud Resources Inc., Cemstone has begun using WhitemudMK high-reactivity metakaolin (HRM) as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete mix designs for heavy/civil work. The premier WhitemudMK source in the U.S., Cemstone will promote the material through its 50-plus ready mixed plants in Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northern Iowa.

Whitemud Resources cites the producer’s tremendous reputation for innovation, most recently underscored in a 70,000-yd. contract for the widely acclaimed Interstate 35W St. Anthony Falls Bridge reconnecting Minneapolis and St. Paul. Our ingredient is ideal for high-performance concrete, notes Whitemud CEO Kelly Babichuk, and that’s an area where Cemstone excels.

The HRM is arriving by rail at Cemstone’s Twin Cities base, dispatched from a new Saskatchewan mill Whitemud built specifically for concrete and energy (oil well capping) markets. The operation draws from a large deposit of white kaolin (aka China clay), batches of which undergo calcining and kiln processes similar to those for portland cement. Finished WhitemudMK is an ASTM C618 aluminosilicate pozzolan that can be dosed as an SCM at rates up to 20 percent.

Finer than cement and fly ash, HRM imparts higher strength and improved durability when used as a supplementary binder, owing to reactivity with calcium hydroxide in the mixture. Compared to the finer silica fume, the agent has been recognized as yielding better mix workability but offering comparable compressive-strength development and lower permeability benefits. Depending on the clay deposit, HRM is uniformly white or off-white, well suited to architectural applications or those where designers and owners seek lighter slabs or structures.

The Cemstone partnership follows Whitemud Resources penetration of the Canadian ready mixed market, with early MK users including (Calgary neighbors) Inland Concrete and Burnco Rock Products, plus Eastern province producers.