WINNING
THE HILLS ARE
ALIVE WITH GRANITE
One way of making up lost production at Springbok is to work the cleanest bench with the highest recovery to get faster production.
By Eamonn Ryan | All photos by
Eamonn Ryan and Ntsako Khoza
Springbok Quarry is a granite
quarry located in the heart of
the granite hills of Marikana,
near Rustenburg. Granite
mining in the area started in
the 1960s.
www.quarryonline.co.za
T
he area in question consists of the
Norite Koppies Bushveld embedded
in the Marikana Thornveld, which
occurs to the north of the Magaliesberg
Mountains and runs along a strip of rocky
hills between Rustenburg in the west and
Pretoria in the east. This area has witnessed
human activities for centuries and has many
heritage sites such as the remains of the
circular-walled Tswana communities of
long ago.
Springbok’s dimension stone quality
is among the highest in Rustenburg — a
quality renowned throughout the world, says
Springbok Quarry acting manager, Gerard
Smit. The pit delivers a relatively low average
20% recovery rate of export-quality grade,
which is on a par with the area — with other
granite quarries in the world recovering
anything from 3% up to 70%. This places
Springbok in the middle of the spectrum.
Springbok Quarry is owned by Italian firm
Finstone Holdings.
Dimension stone comes in various
grades, each with its own price range. First
and second grade is high-quality granite
for the export market (the 20%), primarily
processed at Finstone’s Garankuwa factory
into cladding and tiles for the construction
industry, and kitchen tabletops and
tombstones for the retail market. About 40%
of its product is third-grade — manufactured
into similar items for the local market (which
has grown enormously in importance for
QUARRY SA | MARCH/APRIL 2019_15