At the AGM which was held at Designbuild in June, the Board voted to consider the following:

• A second exhibit at the stone show in Xiamen, China in March 2007. In 2006 ASAA and Austrade joined forces to organise a stand which produced business for several local producers of stone.
• Luke Deacon at Austrade is trying to confirm participation by 6 to 8 local companies. Attached is a PDF of an Exhibitor’s Form which can be completed and forwarded to Luke. Also attached is a PDF that describes the 7th China Xiamen International Stone Fair which will be held 8th-11th March 2007.
• Participation at Coverings the tile and stone show in Chicago, which will be held next April. Two members have already enquired about this event. I am currently negotiating with the organisers for a ‘special’ rate for an Australian Stone Pavilion. Australian Tile Publications will exhibit at this event and copies of Discovering Stone will be circulated from our stand. Please give me a call if you are interested in receiving more information about Coverings.
• The Board voted to strongly consider participation Designbuild 07 – this key event will be held at Darling Harbour on 3rd-6th June 2007. Designbuild support ASAA by providing us with a ‘free’ stand, a facility to hold our seminars, together with necessary equipment and technical support.

Attached are PDFs which fully illustrate a stand that Designbuild will construct for ASAA. Please read exhibition organiser Bill Hare’s offer which includes all aspects of stand construction and design. Note that the proposed ASAA signage will appear above each stand.

Members can book a minimum of 3 x 3 mtr. or any multiple thereof. Naturally the stand can be enlarged as required.

Members who wish to build their own stands can do so and receive a 5% discount.

Please study the images and the group stand package carefully.

Click to ‘here’ to read Diversified’s proposal. Call me if you require more information.

Floor Plans
Group Stand Package

Following the success of last year’s Austrade/ASAA stand at the Xiamen International Stone Fair in China, Austrade and ASAA have again joined forces to market Australian stone in China.

Please CLICK HERE to view more information about this great opportunity.

Find out more about this venture and the success enjoyed by some local companies who exhibit at Xiamen in 2005.

The RAIA NSW and other chapters have circulated their membership in relation to the Australian Stone Architectural Awards.

Please click here to view the ‘basix’ update that was emailed to members.

We invite ASAA members and non-members to submit entries that will feature on the September edition of Discovering Stone.

Tickets are available for the Tile and Stone Industry Annual Gala event where the ASAA awards will be presented on Friday 8 December. All proceeds go to charity. Call Joanne Salem on 02 8717 9000 to book.

We welcome our latest new member Richard Bowman, formerly of CSIRO. Richard is the principal of Intertile Research Pty Ltd. Richard chairs the Standards Australia Slip Resistance Committee and sits on several related international committees. Richard is one of the guest speakers at DesignBuild Seminars, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, May 28-30

We welcome two new members Bluestone (Basalt) Quarrier & Hugh’n James Group . if you would like to join ASAA click here

ASAA will conduct a survey of the characteristics of a variety of engineered stone products that are manufactured by a number of companies.

Discovering Stone contributing Technical Editor Richard Bowman said, “There are a number of draft European standards in the pipeline. Engineered stone is currently produced in several countries; research that I have conducted in relation to an article ‘Engineering Engineered Stone Installations To Prevent Failures’ (published in issue #5 of Discovering Stone – page 66) reveals that there is a great deal of variation in the way various engineered stones are manufactured.”

The Marble Institute of America (MIA) have announced that they are initiating a programme to “counter misinformation constantly being disseminated by the producers of engineered stone”.

ASAA and the MIA will exchange information in relation to this issue, in an effort to establish the differences that may exist in various engineered stone products.

The initial objectives of the ASAA study will:

• Determine how products are tested on an international basis and how those test methods pertain to existing draft standards;
• ASAA will conduct comparative testing of some engineered stone products that are available locally in an attempt to compare various materials in relation to proposed standards. The wide variance in current test methods employed in different countries currently makes it difficult to accurately compare various materials.

The MIA has commissioned an ‘E Coli Contamination Study’ that compares two American granites, a white marble and an engineered stone product. The results can be viewed in the attached document