Global Investment Opportunities in

Dimensional Stone Sector

Dr. S.S.RATHORE
Department of Mining Engineering
College of Technology and Engineering
Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and
Technology: Udaipur –313001, Rajasthan

Presented at: Mineral Based Seminar, Organized by GMDC and CII on

21st May, 2010 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat
 INTRODUCTION
 Dimensional stones are a major economic commodity in India
 The stones sector in India provides employment to over a million
people
 India is one of the few countries in the world having mining and
processing of granite, marble, sandstone, flaggy limestone, slate
quartize etc.
 The calcareous stones are largely spread over the North-West
and the siliceous stones in the Deccan peninsula in South India
 Indian stone industry growing steadily at an annual rate of
about 10% per year
 Stones are mostly extracted in the form of blocks and cut in
required sizes to use in construction industries
 During the conventional mining waste generation is quite high
and recovery of saleable products is only 20 to 50%
 Now a days wire/chain/belt saw techniques are in practice but
in sandstone and granite controlled blasting including
expanding chemical used at some mines
 Thus, scientific extraction of blocks at quarry site, processing
with latest techniques and proper utilization of waste
generation is need of the hour
 Mechanization of quarry operations adopting innovative
technologies for eliminating wastage and also to increase the
production capacity
 Utilization of waste means conservation of resources – in the
form cobbles, cubes, binding material, ceramic application,
agriculture use, masonry bricks, cement manufacturing, soap,
detergent etc.
 In general, sandstone and granite are extensively used and
preferred for structure, slates for roofing, Kotahstone for
industrial flooring & marble for domestic and monumental
flooring
 Research carried out in the areas of Utilization of marble
waste in powdery form under collaborative international
research projects
 Marble Resources of India
State Total (In million tonnes)
MARBLE DEPOSITS IN INDIA

Rajasthan 1144
Jammu & Kashmir 405

Madhya Pradesh (estimated) 400

Gujarat 95
Chhattisgarh 83
Maharashtra 59
Haryana 22
Uttaranchal 6
2
Sikkim

All India Total 2216

 Granite Resources of India
State Total (In million tonnes)
Karnataka 9740
Jharkhand 8847
Rajasthan 8479
Madhya Pradesh 6271
Andhra Pradesh 2788
Orissa 2135
Maharashtra 1159
Bihar 878
Tamil Nadu 713
Assam 584
Uttar Pradesh 495
Gujarat 420
Meghalaya 286
Chhatisgarh 50
Haryana 34
West Bengal 33
Kerala 4
All India Total 42916
 Dimensional Stone Resources
 India accounts for 20% of the world resources of
granite
 Sandstone resources in India are estimated at
around 1000 million tonnes in the states of
Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana,
MP, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Karnataka, Orissa,
Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Tamilnadu, West Bengal
 Over 90% sandstone deposits are in Rajasthan
spread over the districts of Bharatpur, Dholpur,
Kota, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur, Bundi, Jhalawar
 Slate deposits in India are estimated at around
500 million tonnes in the states of Rajasthan,
Haryana, HP, AP and MP
 INDIAN STONES PRODUCTION
( In thousand tones)
2005-06 2006-07 2007-
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
08

Marble 6831 6318 7511 8460 9608 10904 12243 13684

Granite 5900 6205 6710 7059 7759 8364 9044 9776

Sandstone 6659 6861 6363 8153 9313 8626 8809 8958

Flaggy
2096 2164 3387 3757 4268 5291 5291 7420
Limestone

Slate 16 18 14 11 110 98 129 163

Total 21502 21566 23986 27449 31059 33283 36520 40001

 16000 Marble
Granite
Sandstone
14000 Flaggy limestone
Slate
Production in thousand tonnes

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
1995- 1996- 1997- 1998- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2006- 2007-
96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
Year

Production of Dimensional Stones in India

 Export Value Rs 45620 Million Rupees ($ 920 Million)

Export of stones in 2005-06

5%

15% Granite cut blocks/ slabs

29%
2% Granite monuments
0% Granite Products n.e.s
2% Granite tiles
Marble blocks/ slabs
Marble monuments
Marble tiles
9% Other stones & Products
Slate Stone
33% 5%
 Global Scenario of Granite Consumption

 India accounts for 20% of the world resources of

granite
 In the raw blocks granite exports India is the
leader with 31.5% share of the global market as
against 11.5% Brazil and 9.5% China
 42% of export of raw blocks of granite from India
to China and 24% export to Italy
 In export of finished product of granite, India is
having fourth position with 6.6% global market
share
 43% of finished granite export to USA and 13.4%
to UAE
 China imports raw blocks from India and Brazil
and after processing finished products exports at
lower price to Europe and USA
 Mining Technology
 Wedge & feather technique
 Wire/chain/belt saw cutting technique
 Ziri cutting technique
 Drilling & controlled blasting
technique
 Flame jet cutting technique
 Slot drilling technique
 Swelling material
 Blind cut technique
 VARIOUS TECHNIQUES FOR
DAMAGE MEASUREMENTS
 Ultrasonic P-wave velocity before and
after blast
 Water absorption and tensile strength
 Modified rock quality designation
 Computerized X-ray tomography
 Ultrasonic flaw detection
 Petrological studies under microscope
to detect damage at grain levels
 Uses of Dimensional Stones
 Flooring
 Paving
 Wall Cladding
 Stairs cases
 Garden furnishing
 Land scaping
 Roofing
 Application of Dimensional Stones

 Important modern buildings in India like

the Presidential House, Parliament House,
and Supreme Court of India made from
high quality sandstone of Rajasthan
 The Lotus temple of New Delhi stands
testimony to the relevance of marble in
modern Indian Architecture
 Innumerable temples, forts and palaces of
Ancient Indian Civilization have been
carved out of locally available stones
HEAP OF WASTAGE
 TWO MAIN TYPES OF WASTE

A) Small shapeless blocks deriving by B) Muds produced by sawing and

cutting and sawing of stone polishing operations on slabs

Air dried filter-pressed mud

 Hazards of Marble Slurry
 Fine particles of slurry (with size less than 363 micron) become
air borne and cause air pollution
 Marble slurry affects productivity of land due to decreased
porosity, water absorption, water percolation
 Slurry dumped areas cannot support vegetation and remain
degraded
 Due to long-term deposition of marble slurry on land, the finer
particles block the flow regime of aquifers. Thus, seriously
affecting underground water availability
 The slurry is carried away to rivers, drains, roads and water
bodies, affecting the quality of water, reducing storage capacities
and damaging aquifer lives.
 The heaps of slurry scattered all round an industrial area is an
eye sore and spoil the aesthetics of the entire region
 Utilization of Marble Waste
 Portland cement producers are using solid waste
marble of high calcium carbonate content
 Low cost binder by using low calcium carbonate
content marble slurry of dolomite formations
 Application in agriculture: In sandy soil it can be used
to increase the water retention capacity of the soil
 Marble Slurry Dust (MSD) can be used as sub-grade
layer of a road pavement
 Marble slurry with ordinary clay of the water
reservoirs can reduce cost and slurry can be utilized for
making the bricks to use in construction industry
 Value added products, Substitute of calcite, Ceramic
tiles, Soap and detergent products, Stone dust barrier
in coalmines, Agglomerated marble
 Details of experiment with marble powder
S.N. Treatments Pot no kg/ pot

1 Marble slurry 41,42,43 18

2 Soil 44,45,46 18

3 Marble + Soil (1:1) 47,48,49 9+9

4 Marble + Soil (1:2) 50,51,52 6+12

5 Marble + Soil (1:3) 53,54,55 4.5+13.5

6 Marble + Soil + Farm yard manure 56,57,58 8+8+2

7 Marble + Soil + Farm yard manure 59,60,61 7+9+2

8 Marble + Soil + Farm yard manure 62,63,64 6+10+2

9 Marble + Farm yard manure 65,66,67 16+2

10 Soil + Farm yard manure 68,69,70 16+2

MARBLE POWDER IN AGRICULTURE USE

 The available phosphorus (P) content was 5.60 ppm,

whereas, soil had only 2.17 ppm available phosphorus
 The pH value of the marble powder was 9.67 whereas,
soil had 7.25
 The electrical conductivity (EC) of marble slurry and
soil was at par
 The available potash (K) content of marble powder was
156.01 ppm is nearly three times of the soil (56.07 ppm)
 The marble powder has maximum content of calcium
and magnesium carbonate
The maximum seeds/pod (14.73) was recorded with 6
kg marble powder + 10 kg soil + 2 kg FYM/pot
 The maximum seed yields/5 plant (84.40g) was
recorded with 8 kg marble powder + 8 kg soil + 2 kg
FYM/pot
The maximum straw yield/5 plant (160.91g) was
recorded with 4.5 kg marble powder + 13.5 kg soil/pot
The maximum biological yield/pot (230.22g) was
recorded with 4.5 kg marble powder + 13.5 kg soil/pot
The maximum test weight (6.47g) was recorded with
16 kg soil + 2 kg FYM/pot, followed by 8 kg marble
powder + 8 kg soil + 2 kg FYM/pot
 Utilization of Marble Waste
in Bricks for Construction
 The marble powder was mixed in different ratios with the soil
and bricks were casted in the normal way
 Bricks were made with 10% Marble + 90% Soil; 25% Marble +
75% Soil; 50% Marble + 50% Soil and 100% Soil
 Bricks were checked as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
 Increase in brick length was 2.92% with addition of 50 percent
marble powder to the soil. Similarly, increase in width was only
4.42% with addition of 50 percent marble powder to the soil
 The bricks made from pure soil had breaking strength of
1.08MPa. The strength has increased significantly to 2.42 MPa
with 10% marble content. Strength also increased appreciably to
1.67 MPa with 25% marble content and 1.91 MPa with 50%
marble content
 The increase in marble proportion in the soil has decreased
water absorption capacity from 31.0% (Pure soil) to 27.0%
(Marble content 10%).
Utilization of Marble Waste Powder
 Testing compressive strength Universal testing machine

Drying bricks for water absorption Water absorption test

 Scope of Investment in India
 Optimization of production cost of the
finished product to compete with China
 By selling finished products compared to
rough blocks, profit realization can be
increased to 2.5 times
 India to set up industry for manufacturing of
consumables such as diamond tools, steel
blades, steel grits.
 China and Italy are having their own
consumables
 Adoption of multi-wire diamond sawing
machine which can produce one container
2cm slabs (About 300 sq. m.) in 8 hours
 CONCLUSIONS
 New mining and processing technology may be
adopted to reduce waste generation
 Huge scope of waste utilization, generated from
mining and processing of dimensional stones by
establishing local industries in the various parts of
country
 Processing Technology such as gangsaw is old and
may be replaced by multi wire to improve
productivity
 Scope for development of tools and processing
equipment on the line of China to reduce the
finished product cost of dimensional stone
 To adopt zero waste concept in the mining and
processing of the dimensional stone sector
sector..