Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
White Marble, Bajaur
Raw block at raw block prices. We put real numbers against two routes and let the owner choose. They chose slab.
- Location
- Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Material
- White marble
- Scope
- Deposit assessmentExtraction planningEquipment supplyProcessing routeExport placement
The situation
What we walked into
A good white marble deposit being worked at low intensity, with all output leaving as raw block at raw block prices.
The commercial question was not how to extract more. It was whether Halberg could move this material further up the value chain before it left the country.
Multi wire machine cutting a marble block into slabs
Finished white marble slabs standing in a rack for grading
What we did
End to end
Consultation
We assessed the deposit and graded the material against international slab specifications.
We then modelled two routes side by side. Route one, continue exporting raw block. Route two, invest in slab processing and export finished product. We put real numbers against both and let the owner choose with full information.
Equipment
For extraction we supplied wire saw equipment with marble specification diamond wire and a trimming wire saw.
For processing we specified multi wire rope at 0.45mm to 0.65mm diameter, which delivers material yield above 97 percent and cuts 1.5 to 2 times faster than conventional gang sawing. On a block of white marble, that yield difference is the entire margin.
Operations
We commissioned extraction and trained the quarry crew.
We advised on the processing setup and connected the operation to slab buyers rather than block buyers.
The result
What changed
The operation moved from selling raw block to selling processed material, which is a fundamentally different price per cubic metre.
Yield above 97 percent through multi wire processing meant that almost none of the purchased block was lost to saw kerf waste. Extraction losses fell because trimming happened on site.
- 97%+
- Material yield through multi wire processing
- 1.5x to 2x
- Cutting speed against conventional gang sawing
- 0.45mm
- Wire diameter, so less stone is lost to kerf
- Block to slab
- A different price per cubic metre entirely
Close detail of Bajaur white marble showing an even fine grain
Feedback
They showed us both options with the real numbers behind each one and left the decision to us. We had what we needed to make it properly.
Similar problem
Tell us what is not working on your site
We will tell you what we would do about it, with the numbers behind it. Email or WhatsApp, whichever suits you.