Innovative Collaboration Supports the Future of Sustainable Infrastructure

Purebase Corporation is proud to announce its collaboration with the University of California, Davis Pavement Research Center (UCPRC) in providing essential earthwork services for the upcoming Sustainable Concrete Lab2Slab initiative. This project will take a significant step forward this month with the scheduled concrete pours for the test sections occurring on April 17th.

We worked on-site at the UCPRC, where our team was hard at work removing top drain rock and excavating earth to make way for several concrete test slabs—paving the way for groundbreaking research in sustainable pavement solutions.

Lab results meet CalTrans requirements, Purebase to provide earth work to UCPRC for Test Slabs to be paved in Spring

The University of Pavement Research Center (UCPRC) in Davis, CA has been testing Purebase’s metakaolin- blend supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in their lab for use in their larger upcoming Lab2Slab test track initiative this Spring. The results indicate that our metakaolin-blend meets CalTrans requirements for SCM, according to ASTM C618 specification, confirming its suitability for real-world concrete applications. This validation demonstrates its potential to enhance durability, strength, and sustainability in infrastructure projects, reinforcing its value for large-scale implementation in transportation and construction projects. Purebase is proud to announce that we will be donating the earthwork for UCPRC’s Lab2Slab project involving several western states.

Climate Policies Shift through the Trump Administration

With a new administration in office comes shifts in laws
and regulations pertaining to climate change and clean energy. The Trump administration has ideas for several significant changes to U.S. laws and regulations concerning global warming and climate change.
1. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement:
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements,” directing the immediate withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement. This action marks the second time the U.S. has exited the accord, reflecting a shift away from international climate commitments.

Metakaolin shows high performance at UCPRC Lab Evaluation

Purebase was invited to attend University of California Pavement Research Center’s (UCPRC) Open House last month where attendees were able to gather insight on information regarding current projects, test tracks, and labs.

Current CalTrans projects were discussed and walkthroughs were given on the concrete and asphalt design software, as well as test tracks that are in various states of construction and projects that they are a part of.

Metakaolin: Multi-faceted for Industry

The many applications and benefits of the pozzolanic material

Metakaolin, the calcined form of pure kaolin clay, is a highly reactive pozzolanic material that significantly enhances the performance metrics of a wide variety of applications within the cement and concrete industry.

The versatility of metakaolin makes it a highly important and sought out material in the vast world of construction.

CARB Releases 2024 Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory – Trends show positive headway

A report released in September 2024 by the California Air Resources Board for 2022 greenhouse gas emissions shows a drop across most sectors that is the equivalent of removing more than 2.2 million gasoline-powered cars off California’s roads for one year! The latest data underscores a continued trend of steady emissions decline, even as the economy continues to grow. Between 2000 to 2022, emissions fell by 20% while California’s gross domestic product increased by 78%, pointing to the effectiveness of the state’s climate change and air quality programs. Emissions from the industrial sector contributed 19.6% of California’s total GHG emissions in 2022.

Our Year in Review

Purebase Corp had a great year, and we wanted to share some of the things that happened and what we are thankful for in light of the ‘giving thanks’ season.

What is National Organic Month?

September was National Organic Month, which raises awareness of the health and environmental benefits of organic farming and production, as well as encourages the adoption of organic products in agriculture and farming. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is responsible for ensuring that only safe and quality food reaches the consumer. A department within the CDFA is the Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation (OEFI). “California is a global leader in agricultural sustainability and resilience, leading in the innovation and implementation of practices that support a vibrant agricultural economy, healthy communities and thriving ecosystems.” 2 2. https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/ What is the CDFA & OEFI? Embracing organic foods means choosing products grown without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, or GMOs, leading to fewer chemicals in your body and the environment.

Case Study: Advances in Civil Engineering Materials.

This comparative study shows the reactivity and performance of different nontraditional and natural pozzolans in cementitious systems. The study opens up with… “The shortage of conventional supplementary cementitious materials opens up the prospect for broader utilization of nontraditional and natural pozzolans (NNPs). The NNPs used in the study included three calcined clays, three volcanic ashes (also referred to as natural pozzolans), three ground bottom ashes, and two fluidized bed combustion ashes.”

What is the University of California Pavement Research Center?

The Partnered Pavement Research Center (PPRC) is operated by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC). Its inception was meant to provide timely, high-quality data, analysis, and technology needed to support decision-making by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and other partners. The vision of UCPRC is ensuring Caltrans and other partners will have continuously improving stateof-the-art pavement technology to maximize the level of service to all users of California’s pavements, while optimizing the results from expenditures on pavement infrastructure and minimizing the environmental impacts.

How is Purebase’s SCM Blend involved?

Recently, UCPRC launched the Sustainable Concrete Lab-to-Slab initiative, aimed towards advancing sustainable concrete technology by accelerating the implementation of more sustainable binders for structural, pavement, minor, and other concrete applications for real-world applications in pilot projects and mainstream construction. Purebase was personally invited and has provided its SCM Blend, derived from pozzolanic metakaolin, for the first test track of this initiative. The project focuses on evaluating low-carbon cements and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) beyond traditional coal fly ash and slag. “We are dedicated to evaluating the performance of these materials and helping government and private project owners accelerate their implementation.”

Purebase attends Second Annual Cement & Concrete Decarbonization Meeting

Purebase Corp enjoyed taking part in the second annual Cement and Concrete Decarbonization Meeting, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) from July 29th to the 31st in Golden, Colorado.

We had the opportunity to meet up with our colleagues from across the country who represent technology start-ups, investors, and academia while getting the chance to discuss our role in accelerating the transition to low-carbon cement and concrete solutions.

What’s in our backyard?

As Purebase Corporation is located in lone, CA, so is a historical landmark that has an interesting background.

The Preston Castle, originally known as the Preston School of Industry, was constructed in 1890 with the purpose of rehabilitating, rather than simply imprisoning, juvenile of-fenders. The bricks for the building were made at San Quentin and Folsom prisons using sandstone that was quarried six miles from lone, where they were then delivered by rail at 6,000 bricks per car.

What are EPD’s and why are they important?

An EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) is an environmental transparency report that testifies objective, comparable and third-party verified data about products and services’ environmental performances from a lifecycle perspective. Whereas the EPD score is the final declaration of a product, the foundation of any EPD score is the life cycle assessment (LCA). This LCA allows you to evaluate your product’s environmental performance over its entire life cycle. It typically takes into consideration your full value chain, from material extraction to manufactured product, its usage stage and end of life. 

The History of America’s Independence Day

“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be … the signal of arousing men to burst the chains … and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. …For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”

Metakaolin – The super pozzolan

We’ve talked about Purebase’s pozzolanic metakaolin, our supplementary cementitious material (SCM) that can replace Portland cement up to 20%, and our high-performance SCM, which can replace up to 40% cement in a concrete mix design. These materials ultimately can reduce a vast portion of greenhouse gases caused by the production of cement. But what exactly is a pozzolan; what is the difference between raw pozzolans and calcined pozzolans, and what classification does our metakaolin land in?

What are pozzolans?

A pozzolan is a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material that, in itself, possesses little or no cementitious value but will, in finely divided form and in the presence of moisture, chemically react with calcium hydroxide at ordinary temperatures to form compounds having cementitious properties. It is therefore classified as supplementary cementitious material (SCM). There are both natural (ACI 232.1R) and artificial (fly ash, ACI 232.2R, and silica fume, ACI 234R) pozzolans.1

Giving you the Purebase Advantage 

With springtime here and the weather warming up significantly over the next couple of months, Purebase’s agriculture division would like to remind our readers of our agricultural-based product that was developed to assist in sustainable, organic farming practices. It is organically certified and registered with the California Department of Food and Agriculture. 

• Shade Advantage is a clay-based plant protectant that manages the negative effects of crop stress due to intense heat and sun damage.
• Made from 95% kaolin clay, Shade Advantage forms a barrier coating on crops that reflects and diffuses harmful ultraviolet light, while also allowing useable light to come through.
• Provides sun protection to foliage, vegetables, fruits, nuts and most row crops. • Reducing sunburn damage may improve both crop yield and overall crop quality.

Purebase’s low-carbon cement/concrete vision moves forward

With US Mine Corporation (USMC) being the supplier of the material needed for Purebase’s supplementary cementitious material (SCM), the construction of a pre-concentration plant (PCP), otherwise known as a density separator plant, is now complete and in production. With Purebase having access to USMC’s vast resource reserve, the separator plant will ensure a high volume of commercial production of kaolin clay. This is a critical step in Purebase’s SCM operations, as the kaolin clay will be the main ingredient in producing the calcined clay (metakaolin) for use in low-carbon cement and concrete.