Welcome to GAIN ™
GAIN™ is the trade-marked acronym of the Global Aggregates Information Network. Founded in 2010, it is an entirely voluntary network of the major regional aggregates associations of the world. It has no commercial interests and vigorously enforces an anti-trust policy. Aggregates are crushed stone, sand & gravel normally extracted from quarries and pits, but also from the sea (as marine aggregates); aggregates may also be produced from recycled construction and demolition materials and from by-products of other industries.
Enthusiastic attendees from China, South Korea, Malaysia, Europe, United States, Canada, Colombia, Argentina and New Zealand at the recent GAIN meeting in July 2023 in Queenstown, in the South Island of New Zealand.
The purpose of GAIN is to openly share experiences and industry best practices in the interests of promoting the greater sustainability and performance of the aggregates industry globally. Its meetings show that the challenges experienced by the industry in various parts of the world are remarkably similar, yet different regions can have surprisingly differing solutions. Consequently, there are valuable “gems of wisdom” experiences and best practices to be exchanged.
From 2010 to 2018, these best practice exchanges took place mainly in the form of biennial physical meetings, with newsletters published the intervening periods to maintain communications and continuity of knowledge sharing.
Since2020, GAIN embraced the new technology of virtual conferencing, which is particularly advantageous for the wide geographical spread of its members. With continued video conferences every quarter, GAIN members continue to openly and successfully share best practice on many topics.
Post-pandemic, the first physical GAIN meeting took place in New Zealand in 2023.
GAIN World Map
GAIN members are shown on the global map, which together represent some 80% of the global aggregates production of ~40bnt (billion metric tonnes), produced in around 200,000 quarries and pits worldwide, estimated to employ up to 3.5million people. The aggregates sector is by far the largest extractive industry globally in terms of its numbers of sites, production tonnages and people employed. Aggregates are the most consumed bulk product on the planet – over 5 tonnes (metric)/person/year.
The History of GAIN
GAIN was the 2010 brain-child of Jim O’Brien, then President of UEPG, as a logical and inspirational extension of the Atlantic Alliance....
GAIN Members
Member participation from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Japan, Korea, Latin America, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA & Europe....
GAIN Communications
After the Cape Town meeting in 2016, an approximately twice-yearly newsletter was initiated, edited by Jim O’Brien, however this was discontinued as of 2020 due to the more regular ongoing conference call communications between GAIN members.