China's marble resources status and main varieties

Shanghai Jiani Material Technology Co., Ltd. is a professional company specializing in the production of stone tiles.Today, let me introduce marble.

Status of Marble Resources in China

China is endowed with abundant stone resources, ranking first worldwide in reserves. Among all stone types, granite dominates the country’s stone resource portfolio.

Systematic statistical data on China’s marble resources remain incomplete. Historically, the former Ministry of Land and Resources only released reserve figures for partial provinces. In recent years, it has stopped publishing overall marble reserves but continues to release data on facing marble. To date, the most comprehensive national stone resource survey was conducted in 2007 by the China Stone Material Industry Association.

China boasts a rich variety of stone colors and patterns, including red, black, white, green, blue and various patterned varieties. According to the 2007 statistics from the China Stone Material Industry Association, 672 marble varieties have been discovered across the country. By the end of 2005, the geological reserve of marble stood at 3.979 billion cubic meters, mainly distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Beijing and other provincial-level regions. China’s prospective marble reserves exceed 20 billion cubic meters. In addition, 835 granite varieties have been identified, with a geological reserve of 36 billion cubic meters, primarily found in Fujian, Guangdong, Shandong and other provinces.

Major marble mining areas in China include Quyang of Hebei, Yixing and Ganyu of Jiangsu, Huangshi of Hubei, Baoxing of Sichuan, Liuba of Shaanxi and Yingde of Guangdong. Chinese marble deposits fall into three genetic types: regional metamorphic, sedimentary and contact metamorphic. Sedimentary marble accounts for approximately 30% of the total reserves, regional metamorphic marble over 50%, and contact metamorphic marble more than 10%.

According to another set of statistics from the former Ministry of Land and Resources, the proven reserve of facing marble in China is 1.31 billion cubic meters, with 171 mining areas. Hebei, Guangdong, Guangxi and Shanxi each have facing marble reserves exceeding 100 million cubic meters.

Main Marble Color Varieties in China

China features an extensive range of marble varieties, which are mainly categorized into five major series: white marble, cream marble, sunset red marble, dark green jade marble and black jade marble.

- White Series: Snowflake White from Laizhou (Shandong), White Marble from Fangshan (Beijing), Quyang Jade (Hebei), Baoxing White and Oriental White (Sichuan), etc.

- Cream/Yellow Series: Rosin Yellow and Cream Marble from Xichuan (Henan), Wood Grain Yellow from Quanzhou (Guangxi), etc.

- Red Series: Red Wanlu from Lingbi (Anhui), Nanjiang Red from Nanjiang (Sichuan), Tieling Red from Tieling (Liaoning), Laishui Red from Laishui (Hebei), etc.

- Green Series: Dandong Green from Dandong (Liaoning), Laiyang Green from Laiyang (Shandong), Lushan Green from Lushan (Henan), etc.

- Black Series: Crystal Black Jade from Bijie (Guizhou), Shuangfeng Black from Shuangfeng (Hunan), etc.

White marble occupies a large share of the domestic market and is one of China’s major bulk marble products, among which White Marble and Snowflake White enjoy high reputations.

White Marble is mainly produced in Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Hubei, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Beijing. Snowflake White is primarily sourced from Xinjiang, Gansu, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei and Shanxi.

Other well-known white marble varieties include Xinjiang White Jade, Ledu White (Qinghai), Snow White Princess and White Crystal White (Shaanxi), Pale White Jade, White Crabapple, Fugong White and Gongshan White (Yunnan), Qian White Jade (Guizhou), Hexian White (Guangxi), Lianzhou White (Guangdong), Leiyang White and Chenzhou White (Hunan), Dexing White (Jiangxi), Guichi White and Feidong Prince White (Anhui), Fengning Crystal White (Hebei), as well as Baoxing White, Oriental White, Danba White, Li County White and Shimian White (Sichuan). Baoxing White from Sichuan is particularly renowned.

Chinese white marble enjoys a solid reputation internationally, with iconic varieties such as Laizhou Snowflake White, Fangshan White Marble, Quyang Jade, Baoxing White and Oriental White. It is widely applied in interior decoration of landmark buildings, bar counters and bathrooms, and also serves as an excellent raw material for stone carvings and crafts.

China has abundant white marble resources, forming three major mining clusters:

1. Southwest Cluster: Represented by Sichuan’s Oriental White and Baoxing White, as well as Yunnan’s White Crabapple and Hekou Snowflake White.

2. North China Cluster: Featuring Quyang Jade, Snowflake White (Hebei) and Fangshan White Marble (Beijing).

3. East China Cluster: Dominated by Laizhou Snowflake White and Ganyu Snowflake White (Shandong).

Overview of China’s Marble Production

Marble slabs consistently account for around 11% of China’s total stone slab output. In 2009, large-scale stone enterprises across the country produced 33.97 million square meters of marble slabs, a year-on-year increase of 33.3% — outpacing the overall growth of the stone slab industry and reaching 1.9 times the output recorded in 2005. The average annual growth rate of marble slab output from 2005 to 2009 stood at 17.3%.

Six provinces — Fujian, Henan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hubei and Shandong — are the core marble production bases in China. In 2008, their combined marble slab output reached 20.11 million square meters, accounting for 79.0% of the national total.

As China’s top stone-producing province, Fujian turned out 6.25 million square meters of marble slabs in 2008, taking up 25.6% of the national total. Marble production in Fujian is highly concentrated in Nan’an, a county-level city under Quanzhou, whose output contributes 96.0% of the provincial total.

Henan ranks second nationwide in marble slab production. Its production is centered in Nanzhao County, Nanyang City, which produced 2.44 million square meters of marble slabs in 2008, equivalent to 68.2% of Henan’s total output.

Jiangxi is the third-largest producer, with major production based in Wuning County, Jiujiang City. The county’s output hit 2.27 million square meters in 2008, accounting for 66.6% of Jiangxi’s total.

Guangdong is the fourth major production province, with its marble industry mainly gathered in Yunfu.

Tongshan of Hubei is also a key production area. Its output in 2008 was 1.89 million square meters, making up 92.6% of Hubei’s total marble slab production.

In addition, Laizhou, a county-level city under Yantai of Shandong Province, is another important marble production hub in China.

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