Skip to main content

Cold comfort for Macismo and BituFIX in Mongolia

Macismo International reports that its newest cold asphalt licensee was used extensively in Mongolia last winter, proving its efficiency even at -20C.
November 29, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
BituFIX cold asphalt excels in -20C

Macismo International reports that its newest cold asphalt licensee was used extensively in Mongolia last winter, proving its efficiency even at -20C.

The Mongolian division of Bitumina – a global Dubai-based manufacturer of hi-end pavement binders – has a three-year contract to repair 280km of state-owned mining roads in Mongolia. The first stage of the project started last February during extremely adverse weather conditions.

Despite inclement weather, the performance of Bitumina’s BituFIX cold asphalt mix, was not affected.

“In Mongolia it’s still minus degree at night, but we made the first product of this year successfully and it’s performing pretty well.” said Ganshagai Battulga, chief executive of Bitumina Mongolia. “We started the project on February 13 and the condition was terrible when we first got there. It’s windy and snowing at -20C degrees but BituFIX did not fail us.”

Macisimo said that BituFIX’s performance during the winter attracted much attention at the three-day Mongolian Road Expo 2019 held in the capital Ulaanbaatar in October. During the Expo, Bitumina sealed deals on several substantial orders, said Battulga. “Our product-BituFIX became the hottest product during the Expo. It’s going famous among the people who work in this sector” says Battulga.

Macismo said it remains in discussion with Bitumina about Macisimo products to be used in the manufacture of bitumen emulsion.

Expo Mongolia usually highlights innovation and progress in the mining sector, mainly presenting mining technologies, equipment and devices. But this year it expanded its remit to cover water management issues regarding climate change, a major focus for many transportation authorities throughout the world.

Bituminia signed a five-year licence to sell their Bitufix cold asphalt mix. Only about 20% of the 50,000km of roads in Mongolia are asphalt paved roads. The remainder are dirt or gravel. In 2019, it the goal has been to have paved over 2,000km of roads completed to connect all province centres to Ulaanbaatar.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Roadtec changes the game of asphalt paving
    December 20, 2016
    Truly innovative is Roadtec’s Shuttle Buggy material transfer vehicle. John Irvine, President of Roadtec, explains how and why the ‘Buggy’ changed the game of asphalt paving Road paving technology changed dramatically in the 1930s when the American inventor Harry Barber unveiled the very first asphalt paver. Barber was what we today would call a “game-changer”. Innovations like Barber’s don’t come around often. In fact, decades can pass until another breakthrough product pushes the productivity and q
  • Cold winters ravage roads requiring repairs
    January 7, 2015
    Detroit is one of the three worst cities in the US for poor weather, along with Chicago and Toledo For Metro Detroit the winter of 2013-14 was the second snowiest season on record, bested only by the winter of 1880-1881. This had a terrible effect on the city’s roads and in the suburb of Southfield, officials assessed the poor state of the asphalt and concrete streets and realised the conventional patch and fill programme would not be sufficient.Instead the contract was modified to cover mill and resurfacin
  • High-tech, high places: 3M in US and MetService in New Zealand
    August 1, 2017
    The US state of Michigan sets up a high-tech test road while New Zealand’s transport officials buy in some high-tech weather forecasting. The road safety division of 3M will provide the US state of Michigan with lane markings and retroreflective signs for a connected vehicle technologies trial along the I-75 highway. Around 5km of the Interstate 75 work zone in Oakland County will be transformed over the next four months to improve safety for drivers and test advanced vehicle-to-infrastructure technologie
  • Two new road construction machines for Massenza
    June 24, 2021
    Italian manufacturer Massenza, which produces bitumen emulsion and concrete equipment for road construction markets around the world, has been hard at work over the past two years developing two new machines.