BUSINESS
RECOVERING
DIMENSION STONE
Correct quarry layout can have a significant impact on the increase of recovery and value of dimension stone , write Nicolaas C Steenkamp and Breton Scott .
Dimension stone is naturally occurring rock material cut , shaped or selected for use in blocks , slabs , sheets or other construction units of specialised shapes and sizes . Typical markets for dimension stone include floors and paving , wall cladding , structural works , memorial art and other specialised works . Unlike precious metals and base metal commodities , dimension stone operations are highly dependent on customer requirements .
Customers determine the saleable specifications and matching these with the availability of suitable dimension stone raw material in ground , is the difference between profits and losses . Typically , the production dimension stone blocks have an average recovery of saleable blocks between 3 % and 30 %. Therefore , robust minerals marketing activities to secure several products from the raw material , which must be linked to the mining layout is critical to success .
Bowline Professional Services , as a mining consulting practice , supports some of the decision-making processes during the layout design stage of a dimension stone quarry . The most fundamental key to a successful dimension stone quarry is to
10 _ QUARRY SA | MAY / JUNE 2018