The extraction of natural stone is significantly different from the extraction of minerals and minerals, since in the latter case there is no need to preserve the integrity of the mineral, and the extraction of granite needs the integrity of the stone. The modern stone company Antik has extensive experience in the extraction of granite and produces various products from this natural stone.
Features of granite mining technology
Absolutely all stages of the extraction of granite blocks must be carried out with utmost care in order to preserve the integrity and solidity of the stone. It is the size of the granite block that determines its value, since large blocks allow the production of large and solid granite products. Any damage, chips and cracks lead to a decrease in the quality and cost of the granite block, so storage, transportation and extraction should be as careful as possible.
Among the common methods of mining granite are the following:
- blasting operations for the extraction of pieces of various fractions;
- thermal methods for breaking off granite blocks;
- cutting the rock with diamond-coated ropes;
- chipping off granite rock with an air cushion;
- borehole method using spacer means.
The quality of the mined granite stone is entirely determined by the mining method. The cheapest explosive technique allows you to extract granite as quickly as possible. However, with this method, the stone receives numerous microcracks, and in the end, only 60% of the extracted stone is suitable for creating products, and the rest goes to waste.
Effective methods of mining granite
In contrast to blasting operations, it is much more rational to use open-cut and blast-hole mining technologies. These methods are significantly more time consuming and also have a higher cost and expense in the mining process itself. This leads to the high cost of mined granite blocks and significantly increases the cost of products obtained from them.
Nevertheless, granite mined by such methods is more durable and has much less internal microcracks in its structure. The absence of internal defects determines the service life of a granite product, its durability and quality. Chipping and cutting the rock is a more gentle method that avoids unwanted rock breakdown. The effectiveness of these methods also lies in the more accurate location of the fracture of the granite, as opposed to the explosion.
