Great Pacific Pumice

Great Pacific Pumice Inc.
Great Pacific Pumice Inc. mines pumice from its 25 million cubic metre deposit formed 2360 years ago at Mt. Meager, 150 km north of Vancouver, Canada.

Mr. Sandy Biln,
Great Pacific Pumice Inc.
1980 Centennial Way,
P.O. Box 508,
Squamish, B.C. V8B 0A4
Phone: 604.892.7703
Fax: 604.898.1112
Email: sandy@pumice.ca

GEOLITE Aggregate For Geotechnical Applications

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Pumice is a volcanic rock composed of bubbles or vesicles in a glass matrix formed by the effervescence of gases and rapid cooling of molten granite during an eruption. Characteristically pumice is frothy and lightweight, with a density low enough to float on water. The combination of its light weight, hardness and abrasiveness makes pumice useful in numerous applications.

GEOLITE is a pumice fill with a gradation of 20 mm x 50 mm and a loose dry density of 450 kg/m3 and a maximum saturated density of 1000 kg/m3. GEOLITE is naturally inert and environmentally safe, has high bearing capacity and its high angles of internal friction compare favourably with conventional soils, resulting in economic solutions for challenging soil conditions. Additional Information on GEOLITE

We currently supply various gradations of pumice for the following applications:

Horticulture

Granular sized pumice, 2 mm x 9 mm, is used as a soil amendment for potting soils to improve drainage and contribute to moisture retention. Pumice sand is used as a propagation media. Pumice is used as a hydroponics growing media, as an athletic field conditioner, for turfgrass aeration on golf greens and tees and as a carrier for fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

Lightweight Concrete Products

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Pumice concrete blocks meet all compressive strength requirements while providing faster and easier placement and reduced deadweight loads. Lower thermal conductivity results in less heat loss and higher fire ratings than normal blocks. Pumice blocks rate highly as an acoustical insulator. Compressive strengths up to 45 MPa are attainable and unit weights as low as 1000 kg/m3.

Other concrete product qualities include uniformity of colour and texture, freeze-thaw resistance, nail ability and saw ability. Pumice is the aggregate of choice for stone veneer (faux rock), a manufactured product which now consumes more than half of North American pumice production.

Lightweight Structural Concrete

Lightweight concretes have been used since the Roman Empire and are now widely used in floor sections in high-rise buildings, floor topping in low-rise buildings, floating bridges, bridge decks, drilling platforms and tilt-up concrete industrial and commercial buildings.

Interest in lightweight concrete in high-rise buildings has increased recently, not so much for the lightweight characteristics which reduce steel and erection costs, but for its high elasticity. Pumice concrete has six times the flexural strength than normal concrete and, with reduced seismic moment, is more resilient to earthquakes and other shocks.

Fire resistance is a major motivation for using lightweight concrete. A two-hour rated floor assembly can be achieved with 81.25 mm of lightweight versus 112.5 mm of normal concrete.

EuroLightCon is a substantial European consortium which has reinvented the approach to lightweight aggregates, lightweight concrete production, mix designs, test methods for quality assurance and the performance of various lightweight concrete structures (EuroLightCon Reports see all 44 reports)

Cosmetic Pumice Stones

Natural lump pumice has been used to cleanse and beautify hands, elbows and feet for hundreds of years.

Landscape Boulders

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25 cm to 100 cm blocks of pumice are used for landscaping, artistic carving, flower pots, water fountains and display ornaments.

Pozzolans & Other Future Products

We are testing and conducting market analysis for additional applications such as:

  • Pozzolans - World annual pumice production is 18 million tonnes of which 50% is used as a pozzolan or supplementary cementatious material, either as an additive or interground with clinker to manufacture cement. The Ministry of Energy and Mines in B.C. together with CANMET from Natural Resources Canada has identified the Mt. Meager Pumice deposit as the leading source of natural pozzolans in B.C. Reserves are estimated to exceed 25 million tonnes and the pumice exhibits good pozzolanic properties producing concrete with superior properties in comparison with normal concrete.
  • It is widely accepted that the production of one tonne of cement produces more than one tonne of CO2 or GHG emissions and consumes 5.5 GJ of energy. Climate Change is a tremendous opportunity for high quality and economic pozzolans to manufacture blended Portland pozzolan cements and reduce emissions.
  • Stonewash denim and other fabrics (Mt. Meager pumice rates among the highest quality stone wash pumices in the world).
  • Kitty litter
  • Chemical and petroleum floor dry absorbent
  • Filtration media for aquariums and ponds and for filtering beer and animal, vegetable and mineral oils
  • Biofilter- Filtration media for removing odours
  • Charcoal grill beds
  • Pumice is also widely used for stuccos, fillers, abrasives, polishing and wallboard manufacturing.

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Chemically, Mt. Meager pumice is 66% silica and 16% alumina, with a pH of 7.0, MOHS hardness of 5.5, creamy white colour and a liquid absorption capacity of 40%.

The uniqueness of the Mt. Meager pumice lies in its quality and consistency and the availability of large blocks of pumice up to one cubic metre in size. This is the only pumice mine in Canada. The deposit lies closer to a marine port than any other deposit in North America, providing the opportunity to export in bulk to the Pacific Rim.