Rovske offers to become a participant in the project with an investment of at least 5 years. We are developing an enterprise for extraction and processing of crimson (raspberry) quartzite, which belongs to super-hard rock formations. The international trade name is Vendian Stone™.
The Rovskoe-1 deposit of Vendian Stone is located on the bank of the Svir River 14 km northeast of the village of Pidma (61.056557, 34.867358).
| Field area | 104,3 hectare |
| Total proven reserves of over | 21,125 millions m3 |
| Projected output of block stone of categories I-III | 2,535 millions m3 |
All necessary permits and licenses to carry out activities have been obtained. A technical project including a feasibility study was prepared and agreed upon. A small residential town was organized at the deposit, equipment for life support and manual stone extraction was purchased. In Q1 2023, stripping works were performed and mining of small-sized blocks started.
At the moment we are promoting the Vendian Stone™ trademark and negotiating the supply of block stone to interested companies from Russia, the Middle East and Turkey.
The planned output in the first year of operation of the quarry will be at least 53 thousand tons of rock mass, of which at least 12% will be full-body blocks, i.e. 6.4 thousand tons. At the same time, the revenue only through the sale of block stone, according to minimum estimates, will be 360 million ₽.
From the 2nd to the 4th year of operation the planned output will be at least 160 thousand tons of rock mass. In addition, it is planned to launch production of commodity items produced from waste (crushed stone, polygonal paving slabs, paving stones).
From the 5th year at least 270 thousand tons. It is planned to build a stone processing plant to produce slabs and other end products (architectural, memorial and other products).
In 1-3 years, the main buyers of our red-colored quartzite will be the domestic market, Turkey, Middle East countries, and China. In 5-7 years, we plan to enter the US market.
Crimson (raspberry) quartzite is a magnificent finishing stone known since the 18th century as Shoksha or crimson quartzite. It was used in the decoration of palaces and monuments, especially as steps and floor slabs in public spaces. It has an expressive crimson color and a calm pattern.
To date, the scope of application is quite extensive – it is the exterior and interior decoration of residential and public buildings on a par with marble, onyx, travertine and granite, but surpasses the latter in abrasion resistance and consumer properties, as it does not have background radiation.
Crimson (raspberry) quartzite has a number of advantages over other finishing materials – it is more durable, environmentally friendly, resistant to abrasion, resistant to acids and alkalis, high and low temperatures.
The first decade of the twenty-first century saw a doubling of demand for hard and superhard rocks. Now the world production has reached 135 million tons annually (with the total value of stone at $32 billion). In recent decades, despite the appearance on the market of artificial stone, ultra-hard concretes, ceramic slabs, finishing polymers and modern clinker, natural stone is increasingly replaced by coatings made of these materials. For example, in the manufacture of steps, batcharded, polished and heat-treated slabs account for 60% of sales, whereas 20 years ago, at the turn of the century, the same amount was covered by concrete (nowadays not even 25%).
However, the emergence of many synthetics has only played into the hands of increasing production of natural stone products. Composites with the use of epoxy adhesives and polyesters by orders of magnitude allowed to raise the realization of stone processing waste. They became indispensable as fillers for artificial facing stone, primarily quartz, granite and gabbro.
Only about 20 years ago, the unquestionable leaders in the mining and production of granite were European countries (the top 3 of which – Italy, Spain and Norway – occupied more than 50% of the market). However, in the 2010s, they were strongly squeezed by the rapidly growing China and partly Brazil. Today, these five – both in terms of primary product and final products – cover 2/3 of the world production. At the same time the share of Russia, unfortunately, is only 0.6% (with all its wealth of granite deposits numbering more than 50).
The world import volume of quartzites of all shades in the form of blocks for 2021 amounted to $303 million (1.5 million tons), of which red-colored about 15% – $45.5 million (225 thousand tons), which is an insignificant part of the global market due to its rarity. In recent years on the American market it is quartzite is overtaking the sales of granite and gabbro, due to its advantages – environmental friendliness, variety of colors and durability.
The global market for red-colored quartzite is represented by deposits in Brazil 80%, China 10%, India 8% and Sweden 2%. At these deposits, the stone is quarried in the form of blocks, which are further processed into slabs (slabs). Brazilian red-colored quartzite has a very bright and aggressive pattern and is supplied entirely to the U.S. market. Indian and Chinese quartzite has a brownish-red, turning to brown color. Swedish quartzite is the closest in hue and pattern to the quartzite in our deposit.
We plan to mine 6.4 thousand tons in the first year of operation, which corresponds to 2.84% of global imports of red-colored quartzite in blocks (excluding domestic Russian demand), which is a small but promising amount compared to the total volume of hard rock mining and sales.
Today, the Russian natural stone market is experiencing a shortage of raw materials in the form of blocks, crushed stone and paving stones. The Russian market of red-colored quartzite is represented only by the following commodity items – stone for baths, paving stones, crushed stone and stone for memorials. Quartzite in the form of blocks is completely absent on the Russian market. The volume of block decorative stone mined in the Russian Federation is insufficient to produce the end products required in the domestic market. The use of block products in the Russian Federation in 2019 amounted to only 790 thousand tons.
We invite companies and private investors to cooperate.
