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A special emulsion is being used at the largest gold mine in South America for slurry surfacing on its compacted, unpaved roads. The result is said to be greatly curtailed particulate emissions and enhanced visibility which makes roads safer and reduces regional haze.

VSS Macropaver reports a strong sales performance, with exports having been particularly profitable for the company, write Mike Woof. Vice president Doug Hogue said: "We're fortunate that we're dealing on a world basis to Latin America, China and Russia." Latin America, Chile, Mexico and Peru have been key markets for the firm, although the high import tariffs into Brazil have unfortunately meant that the company finds it hard to compete in this country's strong road sector against local rivals.

In Estonia, Novotrade Invest, which produces hydrocarbon resin HCR-105, has carried out research work on the material that can be used as a bitumen modifier. Hydrocarbon resin HCR-105 is obtained by thermal polymerisation of hydrocarbon fraction C9 [industrially it is isolated from the C9 aromatic hydrocarbon fraction during petroleum distillation].

US and European asphalt paving needs are different, but some firms are bridging that gap, reports Mike Woof. With a clear differentiation between the US and European asphalt paving markets, manufacturers from the latter are now developing machines aimed at the former. The US and European markets for paving machines have developed along very different lines. North American pavers are designed for high throughputs and high paving rates, having been designed to meet a need to build roads over long distances wi

Special fabrics are often used in civil engineering works, including highways, to make soil stronger Geosynthetics have been used in roadway construction for thousands of years with natural materials being mixed with soil to improve quality and stability. While today's products are much more sophisticated, the principles are the same. For example, when used with soil, geotextiles (permeable fabrics) can filter, separate, reinforce, protect, or drain, and they are often made from polypropylene or polyester,

As powerful fabrics, geosynthetics and geotextiles have a wide range of applications in many civil engineering applications including roads and airfields. Geosynthetics specialist Tensar is introducing a radical new product that it thinks will revolutionise the construction industry. According to the company, its new product represents the "biggest advance in ground stabilisation technology for 25 years. Six years in development, it is said to offer major improvements in aggregate confinement and soil stabi

New ownership offers greater overseas potential for Barrier Systems

Further development of SCT's wooden and steel barrier systems has led them to meet a wider array of applications. The company has had particular success with its wooden barrier range in areas of natural beauty and hopes to capitalise on this as the wider range comes to market.

Barrier Systems says that its new tensioned barrier offers high energy absorbing capabilities in head-on collisions. The company says that this is because the X-Tension technology is a tension-based solution rather than compression-based. The new range delivers good performance in these applications, as energy is absorbed with resistance at the impact head rather than being transferred down the rail as occurs with other systems. Even high-angle (15° during testing) impacts on the nose resulted in the vehicl

Moves are being made to develop barrier protection for motorcyclists. Many public highway authorities take little note of motorcycle riders at present, considering them a small minority and assuming that any additional safety measures will be costly and provide little gain in saving lives. In spite of this narrow minded attitude, some manufacturers have recognised that niche opportunities exist to improve safety levels for powered two wheeler users through developing innovative new products. Italian barrier