BRAZILIAN STONE – NATURAL QUARTZITE

Brazil is a supplier of natural quartzite, a type of stone that comes directly from the jungle. Quartzite is a highly decorative stone suitable for both small and large construction projects.

Quartzite is used to make:

decorative paving

garden boulders

candleholders and decorative elements

rustic tiles

stone stairs

veneer

Brazilian quartzite is a unique material that is often used in construction and for decorative purposes. Due to high mica content, the stone has sometimes almost a metallic lustre. Quartzite is naturally formed in the Brazilian mountains and it consists of compressed quartz and sandstone. The combination of these two minerals makes quartzite very hard, heavy and durable. The stone is also non-slip, which makes it an ideal material to use around swimming pools, in busy public places, or in exposed areas. Apart from quartz and sandstone, quartzite also includes other minerals, such as mica, which give the material an unusual colour (green, yellow, pink, white, and silver) in a rich variety of graining. All this makes quartzite stand out among other materials of similar kind, such as paving stones, or tiles available on the market. It is a material with a wide range of use in the reconstruction of houses, and it is popular particularly among architects and designers who are looking for new, practical, but primarily natural solutions. Paving and veneer made of quartzite can be used on large areas in the interior as well as exterior. It looks great around swimming pools, water taps, or fountains, as wells as in the gardens or on stairs. Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock that started off as sandstone. Sandstone is transformed into quartzite by the process of heating and compressing. Quartzite is usually white or light grey, but it can come in a variety of colours, including yellow, light brown, blue, green, purple, black, different shades of pink and red depending on other minerals contained in the stone, such as mica, tourmaline, zircon, and iron oxides.

In a true metamorphic quartzite, known also as meta quartzite, the quartz grains repeatedly underwent the process of crystallization and meshed with other binding material, creating a mosaic of grafted quartz crystals. Smaller amounts of the former binding material, iron oxides, carbonates, clay, and other minerals often recrystallize and migrate under pressure, giving quartzite its characteristic layered look.

Quartzite is a rather compact stone. It is almost as heavy as granite and comparable to sandstone. Compactness means lower water absorbency, which in case of quartzite is less than 1% (for comparison, the absorbency of sandstone can be up to 14%). Quartzite scratches at level 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness, which indicates that it is a very hard rock.

Unlike sandstone, which falls apart around the quartz grain, quartzite breaks the grain and forms a smooth surface. Whilst broken sandstone crumbles into individual grains of sand, the quartz-hardened quartzite disintegrates into sharp shards. Quartzite is one of the most durable natural stones, it is non-porous and waterproof. Quartzite is typically quarried in opencast mines because most deposits are located just below the surface. First, the upper layer covering the deposit is removed, then the quartzite is dug up with large excavators. Sometimes it is necessary to use explosive in order to loosen the compact deposit. The detonation breaks the upper layer of the stone and releases the stone mass without breaking it into small pieces. Large blocks of stone are then cut into slabs and transported to quarries where they are manually processed, which gives the stone its rustic appearance and a beautifully natural surface. Because it is so hard and because it contains mica, quartzite is rather difficult to cut into slabs of exact width.

When you choose to use quartzite in your project, you are choosing a unique natural material that took millions of years to form. No two slabs of quartzite will ever be the same, which gives this stone a unique and irreproducible quality. Quartzite is not only visually attractive, but it is also extremely durable and resilient.

Source: Kurier kamieniarski
Author: Kurier Kamieniarski   |   Published: 1.6.2009