According to Engineering News – Cement stock brick manufacturer Brick-It director, Sean Cameron predicts that the upcoming shortage of coarse ash – which is combined with cement and other aggregates before being moulded into cement bricks – will force the industry to change the bricks’ composition, subsequently affecting many facets of production.
Cameron expects that this shortage will manifest in the next three years, owing to increased demand for cement bricks.
Cement bricks are far more viable and cost-effective than clay bricks to produce.” Producers use coarse ash in the brickmaking process, owing to its low weight, which cuts production and transportation costs.
“The alternative is to use crusher run as an ash substitute, but this is a lot more expensive. Crusher run is also heavier. Thus, instead of loading 12 000 bricks on a truck, we might be able to load only 10 000, which also has a cost implication.”
“We would be forced to use more virgin raw material to produce the same number of bricks, pushing production costs through the roof.”
Cameron reiterates that “the coarse ash is where the problem lies. Eventually, it is going to run out”.
Cameron adds that when producers are forced to use crusher run, “it is going to change the whole market. This is partly why we want to try to diversify into pavers”.
Therefore, Brick-It is procuring a large-capacity RE1400 block machine from concrete equipment supplier Pan Mixers South Africa (PMSA) to use material from a nearby quarry to make pavers.
The company has also ordered another PMSA VB4X block machine to replace the original machine, acquired in 2006.
