QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF

DIMENSIONAL STONES
&
MINING PRACTICES IN
DIMENSIONAL STONES

Surendra K
Department of civil engineering
National Institute of Technology Karnataka surathkal

NEED OF QUALITY
ASSESSMENT

To Improve Productivity
To
Improve Marketability-the Economic
Viability Of Granite Mining Operations Is
Dependent Directly On The Quality Of
Stones.
Rate Of Recovery And Control Huge Waste.
To Prepare Proper Mine Planning
Quality
Assessment
Helpful
For
Entrepreneurs To Compute In World Market.

Geological Aspects In Quality

Assessment Of Commercial Rock
Deposits:
Geology of rock deposit
is one of the most prominent
factors in assessment of quality, quantity, exploration,
exploitation and economy of exploration.
Geological aspects such as topography , stratigraphic
position, mineral composition, textural variation,
weathering and alteration , colour variation, structural
conditions like macro and micro discontinuities ,intrusive
veins etc. plays significant role granite mining.
Careful studying favourable and unfavourable structural
features in mining activity is useful to cut down the
production cost and improving
the quality of the
product.
Studies of structural elements in rock deposits help in
qualitative assessment and plan of appropriate method
quarrying suitable to nature rock deposit.

Some Favorable Structures:

Sheet

joints : Sheet joints in rock deposit

minimizes high cost equipment for bottom cutting

in granite mining.

Vertical joints : Vertical joints facilitated easy

and smooth splitting of rock deposit and also
presence of this joints in rock deposits produce
stone blocks with minimum waste, high rate of
recovery and minimizes cost of production.

Steep dipping foliation planes: foliation is the

property of rock where they can break along
parallel planes. deep foliation planes helps in
economic exploitation of rock blocks.

Migmatic structure: . Migmatite rocks are less

Unfavorable Geological Structures

The unfavorable structures like closely spaced
joints, minor faults, low dipping foliation planes,
folds and shear cracks are adversely effects the
quality of commercial stones.
Some

structures

of

regional

phenomena

like

lineament zone, major shear zones, active fault

zone etc. may not be suitable for exploitation. In
certain cases it is difficult to get even blocks of
cobble size.

Natural Defects In Decorative

Dimensional Stones
Detection of defects in dimensional stone industry plays
a significant role in quality assessment. Natural defects
stone industry adversely effects the quality and quantity
of rock blocks.
Macro defects like colour variation, texture variation
,structural discontinuities, inclusions, intrusions and
contact zones etc. are can be identified by careful visual
examination of stone deposits.
Micro fractures, stress minerals, alterations of minerals

Defects Which Affect The Quality And

Exploitability Of A Dimension Stone Deposit
Colour variations
Textural characteristics and textural variation
Structural and macro-discontinuities
Micro-discontinuities
Intrusives
Quartz veins
Feldspar vein and reefs
Pegmatite rocks
Aplite veins
Epidote veins
Dykes
Inclusions
Accessory minerals
Contact zones
Alterations

Weathering of stone deposit

Defect to due to water percolation

Intrusive in stone deposit

Quartz veins on stone deposit

Fractures present on stone deposit

Colour variation in stone deposit

Sheet joints

Colour variation

Structural Discontinuities
Multiple joints

Microfolds and Minor folds

Microfolds in charnockite

Minorfolds in Hornblende Gneiss

Intrusives

Quartz veins

Pegmatite vein with the Gneissic banding

Petrographical Aspects

Petrography involves in Identification of the minerals, composition,

fabric, and structure of a rock specimen is a necessary step
towards recognition of the properties that may be expected to
influence the behavior of the material in its intended use.
Petrographic examinations will require the use of optical
microscopy.
Petrographic examination identify constituents or minerals and the
extent to which they may lead to staining and color change of the
surface of the stone.
Petrographic examination
identify weathered or
altered
constituents or minerals and describe the extent of that
weathering or alteration.
Petrographic analysis of litho units gives invaluable data on their sawing and
polishing capabilities.
Common Petrographic characters in commercial granite grain size, degree of
uralitisation of pyroxenes, sasuritisation of plagioclase feldspars, cloudiness in
feldspars, presence of opaque ores, presence of free quartz and micro
pegmatite.

Microscopic images

Photo micro graph of gabbro

Plagioclase exhibiting alterations

Mineral

Sample-1

Sample-2

Opx(hypersthene.broz
ite)

45%

35%

Cpx(augite)

15%

15%

plagioclase

38%

55%

magnetite

hypersthene, Plagioclase and quartz with

magmatic textures

biotite

3%

apatite

2%

Model analysis of gabbro

Geochemical Aspects :

Geochemical parameter is more essential to evaluate characteristics of

the granite deposits. The colour of the deposit is controlled by the
proportions of major oxides and trace elements.
The microfabric and mineralogical aspects of samples usually carried
out using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis for crystalline structure,
differential thermal analysis (DTA) for chemically and physically
unstable minerals, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) etc.
The quality of quarry materials is to a large extent dependent on the
geochemistry and mineralogy of the rock.
Geo chemical examinations provide identification of type and varieties
of minerals and structures present in the specimen.
The Petrographic examination establish whether the specimen contains
chemically unstable minerals or volumetrically unstable materials.
X-ray microanalysis using energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometers with
scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDX) or wavelength-dispersive Xray spectrometers in electron microprobes (EMPA/WDX) may provide
useful information on the chemical composition of minerals and rocks

ZAF Method Standardless Quantitative Analysis

Fitting Coefficient : 0.1552
Element
(keV)
mass% Error%
At% Compound
O K
0.525
36.91
0.15
50.79
F K
Na K
1.041
5.02
0.09
4.80
Mg K
1.253
0.05
0.08
0.05
Al K
1.486
15.16
0.07
12.37
Si K
1.739
36.19
0.08
28.37
K K
3.312
0.80
0.10
0.45
Ca K
3.690
5.51
0.11
3.03
Cr K
5.411
0.16
0.19
0.07
Mn K
5.894
0.00
0.23
0.00
Fe K
6.398
0.20
0.24
0.08
Total
100.00
100.00

F
FeeK
K
bb

F
FeK
eK
aa
M
M
nnK
K
bb

C
C
rK
rK
aa

20

F
FeeK
K
eesc
sc

40

K
K
K
K
aa

60

K
K
K
K
bb C
C
aK
aK
aa

C
C
ll F
K
K
a
a
M
M
L
ll
C
rL
rL
aO
aO
F
eL
eL
ln
lnL
M
M
nnL
L
arL
arL
F
F
K
K
aa C
F
F
eL
eL
aa
N
N
aaK
K
aa
M
M
ggK
K
aa
A
A
lK
lK
aa

C
C
P
P
S
S

80

C
C
aK
aK
bb

140

M
nnK
K
aa
C
C
rK
rK
bb M

S
SiK
iK
aa

160

100

0
0.00

Cation

K
34.9094
5.4047
0.0427
15.4100
35.3476
1.0102
7.4496
0.1844
0.0034
0.2381

Scanning electron microscope image of

stone sample

001
180

120

mass%

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

8.00

9.00

keV

Minerological composition by edax

10.00

Physico-mechanical Strength Properties

Dimensional
and
ornamental
stones
for
engineering applications have to satisfy not
aesthetic needs but also technical characteristics.
Physico-mechanical strength properties of rock is
very important for optimal use of stones as a
structural material.
The index properties of rocks play a crucial role in
the planning and design of civil and mining
excavations, including the stability of dump and
rock slopes.
Physico-mechanical parameters (Density, Sp.Gr,
Hardness, porosity, Adsorption, compressive and
tensile strength, slake durability etc.) are carried
out on representive samples.

Physico Mechanical Properties To Be Analyzed

s.no
1
2
3
4
5

7
8
9
10
11
12

properties
colour
Mineral composition
Texture and grain size
Density and specific
gravity

Test type
Applications
Visual
and To establish technical name of the rock, to identify micromicroscopic
fracture.
observation
Laboratory
To determine the weight of rock for handling. Density is a
method (IS 1122- measure of mass per unit of volume.
1974)
Porosity
and
water Laboratory
To determine the degree of decomposition rock.Porosity
adsorption
method (IS 1124- describes how densely the material is packed.. Water content is
1974)
a measure indicating the amount of water the rock material
contains.
Ultrasonic pulse wave Ultrasonic
Non- Useful to determine soundness of the block . The velocity
velocity
Destructive digital measurements provide correlation to physical properties in
tester(ISRM
terms of compaction degree of the material.
method)
Hardness
Schmidt
Impact Hardness is the characteristic of a solid material expressing its
Hammer
(ISRM resistance to permanent deformation.Useful to assess quality
method)
of mineral constituents
Durability
Slake
durability Essential for assessing granites used in the chemical industries
test (IS 10050- & labs.
1981)
Protodykonov
strength Protodykonov
index
apparatus
Point load index
Point
load To find compressive strength by indirect method
strength test
(IS 8764-1998)
Unconfined compressive Compression
Useful to rock suitable for engineering purpose. Compressive
strength
test(IS
9143- strength is the capacity of a material to withstand axially
1979)
directed compressive forces.
Tensile strength
Brazilian
Useful in calculating thickness of slab. Tensile strength
test(IS10082maximum tensile stress the rock material can withstand.
1981)

Indian Specifications For Structural Granite.

Phases of a Dimensional Stone Exploration

1. Desktop Study
2. Field evaluation
3. Detailed mapping
4. Drilling
5. Geophysical methods
6. Bulk Sampling
7. Test Quarrying

DIMENSIONAL STONE MINING

In Mining of dimension stone it is necessary to split or cut the stone into

successively smaller pieces until the final desired block size is achieved,
and saleable blocks are produced.

The Mining stage of dimension stone extraction conforms to one of two

general strategies. In the first of these, large volumes of rocks are loosened
by means of primary cuts, and then divided stepwise into smaller pieces
until commercial blocks are obtained, discarding waste material as the
process is performed. This method employed in most granite and marble
quarries.

Under the second strategy, commercial blocks are directly cut from the rock
body. This strategy is often employed in the production of sandstone.

Different Extraction Methods For

Dimensional
Stone
Cutting: Blocks separated by means of kerfs

Sand wire (helicoidal wire) , Diamond wire, Chain saw, Disc cutter
,Diamond belt cutter ,Flame jet ,Water jet etc.

Splitting: Blocks separated by fractures induced in predetermined planes

Explosives:

Detonating

cord,

NG

based

explosives,

Blasting

gunpowder ,Plug & feather ,Expansive mortar ,Hydraulic wedges

Cautious Blasting: Blasting with minimal breakage

suitable pieces selected from muck pile

Explosives

Splitting Techniques

Earliest techniques involved chipping a V-shaped groove in the stone using

hand tools, and then either filling this groove with wooden wedges which
expanded when wet, or in colder climates filling this groove with water which
froze to ice overnight in order to split the stone.

Today, all of the splitting techniques involve drilling of a series of small

diameter co-planar holes in the stone in order to introduce a splitting agent.

Plugs and Feathers

Mechanical Splitting

Expansive Mortar

Explosive Splitting

CUTTING TECHNIQUES

The Techniques of cutting stone have been developed in relatively recent

times. They were developed initially in response to the problems incurred
when splitting.

One of the earliest developed techniques, the use of helicoidal wire sawing
was the forerunner of the development of diamond wire sawing which is now
the most prevalent of the cutting techniques.

Jet Flame Cutting

Slot Drilling

Diamond Wire Sawing

Water Jet Cutting

Chain Cutters

Diamond Belt Cutters