Quarrying is a form of surface mining
used when the rock is close to
the surface of the land. This is used
for stone or rock to make buildings. The quarry is an
open
pit mine and is less deep than other kinds.
The way that quarrying is done depends on the rock that
the miners are trying to get out of the ground and what
the rock will be used for after it’s mined. For
example, if they want to get an ingredient of cement,
they will use
explosives
to break the rock into small bits. This is okay
because cement needs to be in small pieces when it's
sold. If they want
larger pieces of granite for kitchen countertops, the
miners will drill holes in the rock, long distances
apart. Dynamite will be packed into these and the
blast will separate large slabs of granite that will be
‘sliced’ with wire saws.
There are other ways to quarry such as drilling holes,
blasting dynamite to make an opening, and then blowing
in compressed air [or water] that splits the rock.
One of the biggest
problems for quarries is drainage. Many quarries are
dug in hillsides so that water can drain better.
Water flows into the quarry from the surface and from the ground.
The quarry needs to be pumped out to get rid of it.
This adds to the costs of quarrying the rock. When
the mining is over, the area can become a landfill that
is filled with refuse and garbage until it fills the pit
and is covered over with layers of dirt. This is
called reclamation. In our area, most
quarries are abandoned and left as a giant pit.
Then they refill with water and become a small pond or
lake. This may sound nice, but most of our
quarries are considered to be unsafe, unstable,
unusable, and a safety problem.
Quarrying video
Kris, our team member from Bulgaria,
visited a marble quarry. The video uses Windows Media
Player. Once the arrow gets bold, click on it and see the quarry. [Depending
on your computer, you might have to click on it twice
and wait a few seconds.] Notice how
big the quarry and the marble slabs are compared to
Kris.
You can download the video by clicking on this link:
These videos use Windows Media Player.
Click on the arrow below the viewer to play the
video. Depending on your computer and your
connection to the Internet, you may have to click
two times and wait a couple of seconds. If
your computer uses another viewer and you would like
to download the files, right click on the hyperlink
below the viewer and highlight "Save target as."
