Quarrying is the process of removing rock, sand, gravel, or other minerals from the ground in order to use them to produce materials for construction or other uses. A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safety risks and reduce their environmental impact. The word quarry can also include the underground quarrying for stone, such as Bath stone.
Types of rock extracted from quarries include:
- Chalk
- China clay
- Cinder
- Clay
- Coal
- Construction aggregate (sand and gravel)
- Coquina
- Diabase
- Gabbro
- Granite
- Gritstone
- Gypsum
- Limestone
- Marble
- Ores
- Phosphate rock
- Quartz
- Sandstone
- Slate
- Travertine
Methods of quarrying include:
- Digging: This method is used when the quarry consists of small and soft pieces of stones.
- Drilling and blasting: This method is used when the quarry consists of hard and compact stones.
- Wedging: This method is used when the hard rock consists of natural fissures or cracks.
- Heating: This method is used when the rock contains moisture or clay.
Quarries are subject to strict safety protocols. Before blasting, the area must be properly barricaded and people kept a safe distance from the blast. Quarries must also make efforts to minimize environmental impacts such as ground vibration, airblast, and fumes; this can be achieved through proper blast design.
The most common raw materials extracted at a quarry are construction aggregates such as crushed rock, sand, or gravel. These abundant, yet essential raw materials, are the foundation of our homes, schools, hospitals, roads, and almost all aspects of the built environment that we depend on. Quarries produce a variety of raw materials by extracting earth that will vary in contents according to geology and deposit type. Raw minerals are processed into end products at processing plants where they become building and construction materials such as cement, concrete, asphalt, brick, stone, clay, and plaster.
