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This area contains information on the historic and present uses
and producers of dimension stone in the province. It also provides
a brief review of the province's dimension stone resources and
potential.
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Summary
From the early 17th century until the outbreak of the First World
War Newfoundland had a small, dimension stone (building stone)
industry. By the early 19th
century most of the major communities had resident stone masons. Fortifications,
churches, government buildings, mercantile premises and railway bridge abutments
were constructed using stone quarried from several
sites around the island. Between 1865 and 1906 roofing slate was produced from several
eastern Newfoundland deposits (Figure
1a and
1b) mainly for export to England; however, some slate was also used locally. By the early
20th century the local demand for stone had disappeared, local expertise
died out and the use of stone was largely restricted to landscaping applications.
The modern dimension-stone industry is less than 25 years old. (see Figures
2a and
2b) In 2000, the
gross value of shipped dimension stone was $4.7 million and for
2003 the estimated value is $3 million (Table 1). There are now three
principle quarrying operations in the province: Finger Pond/Jumpers Brook area in central
Newfoundland, Britannia Cove in eastern Newfoundland
(Figure 2a), and Ten Mile Bay/Iggiak Bay
in northern Labrador (
Figure 2b). A listing of Newfoundland and Labrador dimension stone sites
is presented in Appendix 1 (Tables 4 - 11).
Table 1. Employment figures in person years and gross value of stone
shipped for the Newfoundland and Labrador dimension stone industry.
| Year |
Employment in Person Years
(Quarrying Operations)
|
Gross Value of Stone Shipped
|
| 1994 |
79 |
$4,909,000 |
| 1995 |
86 |
$4,485,000 |
| 1996 |
90 |
$4,845,000 |
| 1997 |
90 |
$5,422,000 |
| 1998 |
55 |
$3,953,000 |
| 1999 |
37 |
$3,057,000 |
| 2000 |
56 |
$4,704,000 |
| 2001 |
82 |
$7,089,000 |
| 2002 |
84 |
$5,843,000 |
| 2003 |
54 |
$4,085,000 |
| 2004e |
78 |
$5,316,000 |
| 2005f |
75 |
$6,108,000 |
| 2006f |
69 |
$4,889,000 |
|
Note: Employment figures only include those directly employed in
quarrying and do not include fabricators or support staff.
(e = estimate, f = forecast)
There are also several companies that operate quarries on the island of
Newfoundland providing landscaping stone for local and export markets.
The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador has an abundance of accessible
stone. However, the challenge has been to locate stone that can be commercially
quarried, and compete with stone from established international quarries. The
province with its developing expertise and untested stone potential is well
positioned to become a significant exporter of stone products. Continued
exploration and development will see new stone varieties identified, which will
bring unique characteristics to the marketplace.
What is Dimension Stone?
Dimension stone is any stone product which is quarried, shaped or simply
selected for specific purposes, be it for construction, architectural or
funerary stone.
Geologists classify rocks according to their mineral composition. However,
the dimension stone industry classifies stone based on appearance and hardness
as either "granite", "marble" or "slate". The
granite of the dimension-stone industry along with truly granitic rock also
includes gneiss, gabbro, anorthosite and even some sedimentary rocks. Uses for
granite include architectural stone (construction, flooring, cladding, counter
tops, curbing, etc.), raw block and monument stone for the funerary trade.
Travertine, alabaster, calcareous stones and virginite are all classified as
marble and are typically used for interior flooring, facing stone and monument
stone. Slate, depending upon the quality, is used for roofing, flooring,
architectural construction and landscaping.
In 1999, world stone production was estimated at 110 million
tonnes and consumption was about 600 million square metres, worth more than
$US20 billion. (Stone World Buyers Guide, 2001). China, Italy, Spain, India and
Brazil accounted for 53.5 percent of the world quarrying output. In 2000, Canada
produced about 0.5 million tonnes of dimension stone valued at $62.5 million
(Table 2) (Vagt, 2002).
Table 2. Canadian production of dimension stone
1998-2000 (Vagt, 2002).
| |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
| Commodity |
(000 t) |
($C000) |
(000 t) |
($C000) |
(000 t) |
($C000) |
| Granite |
163 |
27 264 |
193 |
32 804 |
238 |
40 481 |
| Marble |
14 |
887 |
28 |
2 283 |
31 |
2 913 |
| Limestone |
179 |
9 570 |
185 |
12 072 |
195 |
14 704 |
| Shale/Slate |
18 |
5 205 |
34 |
8 592 |
41 |
9 958 |
| Sandstone |
63 |
5 536 |
65 |
6 771 |
72 |
9 241 |
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The Revival of the Dimension Stone Industry
Interest in the potential of Newfoundland and Labrador
stone was rekindled in the early 1960s. In 1959, as part of a regional
industrial mineral exploration program in northern Labrador, Brinex Limited
examined several labradorite occurrences in the Nain area.
The Ten Mile Bay area was identified as having
the best potential and in 1960 a number of test blocks
were extracted with the assistance of National Granite Limited (Brinex, 1961).
Polished slabs were prepared by National Granite Limited and the Rock of Ages
Corporation in Vermont and marketed as "Blue Granite". Physical and
chemical testing of samples was completed by the Industrial Minerals Division of
the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, in Ottawa. Test results were
positive but demand for the stone did not materialize and the project was
shelved (Beaven, 1966).
Beginning in 1980, the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Mines and
Energy initiated a series of dimension-stone resource assessment projects. These
projects are briefly outlined in Table 3.
Quarry demonstration projects were
also carried out at Ten Mile Bay, Lumsden and in the Mount Peyton area. In 1988,
a building-stone demonstration project saw the establishment of a small wire saw
and polishing plant at Corner Brook (Agricola Mineralia, 1988). Six potential
dimension-stone sites were examined and stone was obtained from five of the
sites. Two of these areas have become successful quarrying operations. The
details of these projects are described further below.
Table 3. Summary of dimension-stone assessment projects carried
out by Mines and Energy.
| Year |
Project |
Reference |
| 1980 |
Assessment of dimension stone sites on the Island of Newfoundland. The Mount
Peyton black gabbro identified as having the best potential. |
Watson, 1981 |
| 1982 |
Detailed surveys of five Mount Peyton gabbro sites. Borney
Lake area identified as having the best potential. |
Tomlin, 1982a;1982b |
| 1985 |
Marble occurrences of western Newfoundland examined for
dimension-stone and mineral-filler potential. |
Howse, 1986 |
| 1986 |
Nain anorthosite examined for dimension-stone and gemstone potential.
|
Meyer and Dean, 1987 |
| 1988 |
Davis Inlet area labradorite examined for potential
dimension stone and gemstone. |
Myer and Montague, 1989 |
| 1991 |
Detailed assessment of Pye’s Ridge marble deposit, west of Deer Lake.
|
Knight, 1992 |
| 1993 |
Assessment of the dimension-stone potential of the Topsails Granite.
|
Kerr, 1994 |
| 1994 |
Assessment of the Silver Mountain marble deposit, Upper
Humber River area. |
Howse, 1994 |
| 1994 |
Evaluation of granite in the Hodges Hill area, central Newfoundland. |
Kerr, 1995 |
| 1994 |
Report on the Fisher Hills bluestone, Pynn’s Brook area,
south of Deer Lake. |
Knight, 1994 |
| 1995 |
Report on the dimension-stone potential of Hopedale and
Nain migmatites. |
Meyer and Montague, 1995 |
| 1997 |
Report on dimension-stone potential for black granite in the Upper Humber
area, limestone in the Hearts Delight area, Trinity Bay, and in the
Cape St. Mary’s peninsula around Cuslett and St. Brides. |
Howse, 1997 |
| 2003 |
Newfoundland dimension-stone site studies, 2002 |
Dickson, 2002 |
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Several operations started during the 1990s but did not meet with
success. In 1991, a joint venture was formed between Newfoundland Slate
Incorporated and the Miller-McAsphalt Group from Ontario to manufacture roofing
slate. A roofing-slate plant was constructed at Burgoynes Cove to process slate
from the nearby Britannia quarry. In 1995 slate production at the plant peaked at
4,700 tonnes; however, the operation closed in 1998. Also, during the early
1990s, North Atlantic Stone Incorporated, a joint venture between Classic Stone
Incorporated and Kenny’s Granite Works Limited, opened an integrated
dimension-stone plant in Buchans to process stone from several potential quarry sites
throughout central Newfoundland including stone from the Mount Peyton area. The
operation closed in 1998.
In late 2001, Epoch Rock Incorporated opened a world-class
gang-saw plant at Argentia, which processed imported block
and exported polished slab for the counter-top
markets. The operation closed in 2003.
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Newfoundland, because of its strategic location and rich fishing grounds
played an important role in the English-French hostilities of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. Local dimension-stone usage traces its roots to this
turbulent part of our history (Figures
1a,
1b, and
1c). Local stone, including sandstone from the St.
John’s area and limestone from Chapel Cove, Conception Bay, was used by the
English in the construction and maintenance of fortifications particularly in
and adjacent to St. John’s and include Fort William (1618-1779), Fort Amherst
(1777) and Fort Townshend (1779-1871). Placentia (locality 2,
Figure 1a), located on the west side of the Avalon Peninsula was the French capital of Newfoundland from the early 16th
century until the French colony was ceded to the English in the
1713 Treaty of Utrecht. The French fortification, Fort Royal, on Castle Hill, Placentia was
subsequently occupied by the English and maintained until 1811 when it fell into
disrepair.
Early settlers incorporated loose stone, as they had in England and Ireland,
in retaining walls, cellars and foundations. Rock cleared from fields and
gardens formed rock walls, which defined land ownership. The rock walls of Grates
Cove on the Avalon Peninsula have been declared a national historic site and
reflect the early residents’ ties to Ireland.
The history and a description of many historic buildings may be found at
www.heritage.nf.ca/society/rhs/regstruct.html.
In the early 1800s, an increase in population, the development of a
wealthy merchant middle class and the establishment of local government brought
about a demand for dimension stone. Prior to 1817 the colonial governors had
resided seasonally in St. John’s; subsequent governors were required to occupy
their positions year-round and efforts were made to have an official residence
constructed. Governor Cochrane obtained permission to have a permanent stone residence built, and plans were drawn
up modeled after the Admiralty House in Plymouth, England, with an estimated
cost of £8,778, an exorbitant amount for that period. The plans called for a two-story structure with a basement and a
surrounding moat. In 1827, 28 stone masons, 25 carpenters and 1 slater arrived
from Greenock, Scotland, to begin construction on Government House.
Thousands of tonnes of red
sandstone were quarried from Signal Hill for use in constructing the walls.
Quoins, jambs and chimney shafts were cut from English granite. After
considerable modifications the building was finished in 1831 at a cost in excess
of £36,000, a princely sum that resulted in a Court of Enquiry into its
construction. Stone destined for the residence is thought to have made its
way in to the Governor’s summer home. The stately Government House is
currently used by the Lieutenant Governor and the grounds are open to the
general public.
 In the historic Conception Bay communities of Harbour Grace, Carbonear,
Spaniards Bay and Brigus (Figure 1c) stone was used in government buildings, mercantile
establishments and churches. Much of the stone was quarried from nearby Kellys
Island (sandstone quarry 1,
Figure 1b), but some stone arrived in Newfoundland as ballast on the various
merchant vessels. The Harbour Grace Court House was
constructed in 1835 using locally quarried sandstone. The
prominent building is still used as a court house.
Many of the prominent merchants of the early 19th century had
close ties with England where stone use was common. Upon arrival in
Newfoundland some of these merchants had stone buildings constructed. In the
1830s, local Harbour Grace merchant and politician Thomas Ridley had two stone
structures built. In 1834, the family residence, Ridley Hall, was built using
local stone. The building was recently gutted by fire. Circa 1838, the Ridley Offices were constructed using stone
from Kellys Island with
brick trim and incorporating a slate roof. The walls of this building are two
feet thick with the outer and inner stone walls in-filled with rubble. The stone
used in the Ridley Offices is thought to have either been
locally quarried or brought to Harbour Grace as ballast. Both of these buildings are
registered heritage structures.
Kellys Island sandstone was also possibly used in the construction of a prominent
mercantile premises in Carbonear. Rorke’s Stone Jug was built in 1860 after
fire had destroyed an earlier structure. The large, Georgian-style, three-story
building has a pitched slate roof. The stone walls and slate roof gave the
appearance of a jug hence the name. Rorke’s Stone Jug is a registered heritage
building. William Donnelly built a New England-style stone house with a Welsh
slate roof at Mint Cove, Spaniards Bay using stone quarried from Kellys Island.
In the first quarter of the 19th century Charles Cozens, a
prominent Brigus landowner, had at least four stone structures built in that
community of which only the Brigus Stone Barn remains. Built around 1825 as a
residence, possibly from Kellys Island sandstone, the three-story building was
later used as a barn. The building has been restored and is currently used as a
museum, and is a registered heritage structure.
The Conception Bay Museum, also known as the Harbour Grace Museum, is a
prominent building in the town of Harbour Grace. A former customs building
it is reported to have been constructed in 1870 replacing an earlier building.
The museum foundations are constructed of rough-hewn, grey sandstone which
somewhat similar to the local sandstone found around Harbour Grace. Overlying
the sandstone foundation and possibly used as a facing stone are two strings
(layers) of coarse-grained, yellow-green granite visible at street level. The
quoins (corner blocks), window sills and lintels, doorway and doorstep, eaves
and associated dentils (protruding blocks below the eaves), and the window
surround on the upstairs middle-front window, are also made from same type of
granite. The building is roofed with red and green slate which could possibly
have been obtained from the Random Island area or North Wales. The granite used in
the museum is readily identified as being Topsails Granite and indicates that date
of construction of the outside of the building must be later than 1870. This
rock was (and is) only available from the quarries located along the
Newfoundland rail line in the Gaff Topsails area that were not opened until at
least 1894.
Several prominent churches in St. John’s and Harbour Grace were also
constructed using local stone. The Gothic-Revival-style St. Paul’s
Anglican Church in Harbour Grace, which is believed to be the oldest stone
church in the province, had its cornerstone laid in 1835. The source of the
stone is not given, but sandstone from Kellys Island may have been used in its
construction. The church is a registered heritage building.
In the late 1830s, Bishop Fleming obtained permission to construct a
new church to
meet the increasing spiritual needs of the Roman Catholic population
of St. John’s. In 1839, Bishop Fleming was offered sandstone that had been
loosened by road construction on Signal Hill. He appealed to the congregation
for assistance and three days later 6000 people of all denominations moved 1,200
tonnes of sandstone in a single day to the site of the new church. Buff-coloured
sandstone for the church construction was also quarried from Kellys Island
during the summer of 1839. Stone was also reported to have been quarried at
Mundy Pond, Long Pond and the South Side Hills, in the St. John's area. In May, 1841 the cornerstone was
laid for the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. John The Baptist. The Roman-basilica-style church took 14 years to complete and is one
of the largest stone churches in North America, measuring 75 m long by 57 m wide
with a facade 30 m wide. The church was faced with Galway limestone and the quoins,
mouldings, cornices and window frames were originally fashioned from Dublin granite.
The limestone has largely been replaced with grey sandstone quarried from the South Side Hills. In
1850, boulders of Holyrood Granite were shipped to St. John’s for shaping and
incorporation into the Presentation Convent which was constructed adjacent to the
Basilica. Both the Basilica and Presentation Convent are registered heritage
buildings.
 The first cornerstone of the Church of England Cathedral of St. John
the Baptist in St. John’s was laid in August, 1843. The
church was to be constructed using limestone imported from Cork, Ireland. Crates
containing the limestone were destroyed during the Great Fire of 1846. New plans
were drawn up by English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott and called for a
Victorian or English Gothic-style, latin cross-shaped structure. The corner
stone was re-dedicated in September, 1847. The church was almost completely
destroyed during the Great Fire of 1892. Reconstruction began soon afterwards
and continued until 1972. Dressed, white, fine-grained sandstone was imported
for incorporation into the church. Approximately 7,500 tonnes of coarser
grey sandstone, quarried from the Southside Hills, was used in constructing the
walls. The cathedral is a registered heritage building and the exterior
of the church is under renovation.
In 1852, construction began on the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the
Immaculate Conception in Harbour Grace using sandstone
from Kellys Island. However,
in 1889 fire completely destroyed the structure, and it was replaced with
the current Gothic-style stone building that is a registered heritage building.
 The cornerstone of St. Patrick’s Church in St. John’s was laid in 1855.
However, construction was not completed until 1881. Stone for the church was
quarried from Cudahy’s quarry in the Southside Hills and the quoins appear to
be grey Dublin granite. In 1873, the modified
Gothic-style George Street Wesleyan Church was constructed in St. John’s. The
church was built of rough-hewn stone quarried from the Southside Hills and
hauled to the site by sealing crews. The exterior stone walls were covered by
plaster. Constructed of red Accrington brick and Scottish Giffnock sandstone, the
High Victorian Gothic Revival-style St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in St.
John’s was dedicated in 1896. Newfoundland red and black slate covers the
church roof.
 A large stone church was also constructed in the now abandoned Roman
Catholic community of St. Kyran’s, Placentia Bay. The Church of the Assumption,
consecrated in 1859 and now a crumbling ruin, was built with locally quarried red
granite, and imported sandstone used for the quoins, windows, door frames, etc.
The church was reported to have measured about 79 feet long by 39 feet wide and
had 20-feet-high walls which were 26 inches thick. The front of the church had
three gothic arches, the central arch served as the entranceway, and on each side
were six gothic windows (Long, 2002). In 1922, the church was destroyed by
fire. Consecrated
in 1863, the Church of the Holy Trinity, Ferryland, was built from
stone quarried on nearby Stone Island and transported to the site by local
fishermen. Some imported granite was used for quoins. The church was the last of
five stone churches that Roman Catholic Bishop John Thomas Mullock ordered built
that also included the long demolished stone church in Torbay.
 In 1870, Great Britain recalled its Newfoundland garrisons and the local
government assumed control of the former garrison buildings. A two-story, stone
barracks, which was built in 1842-1843 near Georges Pond on Signal Hill from local and
Nova Scotian sandstone, was converted into a quarantine hospital. St. Georges Hospital, as it came
to be known, was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1892. In 1897, stone salvaged from
the ruined structure was used to build Cabot Tower
to mark the 400th anniversary of John Cabot’s
discovery of Newfoundland. The tower was designed by local architect W.H. Greene
and built by local stone mason Samuel Garrett at a cost of $7,000. The corner
stone was laid by Archbishop Howley on June 22, 1897 and it opened three years
later. The building replaced an earlier wooden structure used to signal the
arrival of ships. It was near the site of Cabot Tower that Guglielmo Marconi received the
first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901. Signal Hill and Cabot Tower are now
a national historic site operated by Parks Canada.
 Samuel Garrett used stone left over from the construction of Cabot Tower and
salvaged from the ruins of St. Georges Hospital to construct a series of stone
houses, the Samuel Garrett Houses, on Temperance Street
as wedding presents for his four daughters. The three-story, red sandstone
building has a mansard-style slate roof and two foot-thick walls. To prevent rot
and to provide insulation an airspace separates the inner wooden wall from the
outer stonewall. The Samuel Garrett Houses are registered heritage buildings.
 During the latter part of the nineteenth century, stone lighthouses were
constructed at Rose Blanche on the southwest coast, on Belle Isle near the tip
of the Great Northern Peninsula, and on Puffin Island near Greenspond on the
northeast coast. Both the Belle Isle and Puffin Island lighthouses have long
since been demolished. The Rose Blanche lighthouse,
which was built prior to 1873, was designed by lighthouse engineers D. and T.
Stevenson of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built using stone quarried from the
underlying Rose Blanche Granite. The lighthouse after being decommissioned in
the 1940s fell into disrepair and by 1992 was in danger of total collapse. In
1988, the South West Coast Development Association assumed the lead role in
restoring the structure. Restoration began in 1996 and was completed in 1999.
Restoration included training local people in stone quarrying and stone masonry.
Newfoundland slate from Britannia Cove was used for the roof. The building,
which is the only remaining stone lighthouse on the eastern seaboard, is a
registered heritage building and is open seasonally to the general public.
In 1889, Robert Gillespie Reid, a Scottish railway-bridge builder, was
contracted by the Newfoundland government to complete the narrow gauge railway
from Harbour Grace to the copper mining district at Halls Bay. With the decline
of the copper mines the railway was rerouted to Port aux Basques,
and was completed in 1898. To provide stone for trestle
abutments Reid operated quarries at Shoal Arm, Benton and The Quarry
located near the Gaff Topsails. In 1898, he was contracted to build a railway
station at the west end of Water Street, St. John’s, and
pave Water Street with granite cobbles. Stone for the station and the street was
obtained from the quarry where about three dozen men laboured between 1898 and
1901 quarrying thousands of tonnes of granite and loading the large blocks on
railway flatcars bound for St. John’s (Martin, 1983). Paving stone for Water
Street was also quarried in 1898 from a small granite quarry at Petites
on the southwest coast of Newfoundland. Stone from the Petites quarry and
sandstone from Kellys Island were also used for facing stone on the impressive St. John’s Court
House.
 In 1910, a small red granite quarry was opened at Old Bay located to the east of Harbour
Breton and about 1200 tonnes of stone was exported to Nova Scotia before
operations ceased in 1914. Stone from Old Bay was incorporated into the
memorial to Sir John Guy at Cupids (Martin, 1983).
The first recorded attempt at quarrying slate was in 1847 from a quarry at
Great Cove, near Brigus, owned by Charles Fox Bennett (Martin, 1983). The slate
was to have been quarried for local consumption; however, the Welsh slaters who
worked the quarry had little success and the venture closed after two years.
 The Random Sound area (
Figure 1a) of Trinity Bay is in part underlain by units of purple,
green and red slate. Exposed on the north side of Smith Sound are deposits of
high-quality slate suitable for roofing material (see
Figure 1b). In the 1850s, the first of the
Trinity Bay slate quarries opened at Britannia Cove (also known as Burn Point
or Britannia Cove) on the north shore of Smith Sound (Martin, 1983).
The quarry, which supplied slate both to local and export markets, was operated
by the Carberry Family until 1900. Although the slate was of high quality the
Carberry quarry suffered from weak local markets. In 1860, John Currie, a Welsh
slater, opened a quarry adjacent to the Britannia Cove quarry. This operation was
operated seasonally by the Currie family until 1899 when the operation was
purchased by A.J. Harvey. Harvey subsequently formed the Newfoundland Slate
Company Limited which in 1900 purchased the nearby Britannia Cove quarry. The
Newfoundland Slate Company renovated the operation and continued exporting slate
until 1906 when through a combination of misfortunes
the operation closed. Three smaller slate quarries operated sporadically on
Random Island with the last quarry closing in 1910. It is reported that between
1865 and 1909, 153,702 squares of finished roofing slate were produced, the bulk
of which was shipped to England (Murray and Howley, 1909).
Between 1901 and 1909 a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to develop
slate quarries at Summerside, north of Corner Brook, on the west coast of Newfoundland, and Birchy Bay
(Martin, 1983;
Figure 1a). Mismanagement, misfortune, and low slate prices plagued both
ventures and by 1909 quarrying had ceased without any slate having been shipped.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries several
unsuccessful attempts were made to quarry marble from western Newfoundland
(Martin, 1983). Small shipments of marble were sent to England from the Canada
Bay area (
Figure 1a) in the mid 1860s and from the Humber River area, east of
Corner Brook, in 1881. Between 1912 and 1915, an attempt was again made to quarry
marble from the Canada Bay area. Infrastructure was put in to place and local people
were trained. However, the onset of World War One forced the closure of the operation.
In the early 18th and 19th centuries stone masons and
quarriers were brought from England for specific projects. By the early 19th
century most of the larger communities had resident stone masons, but by the
outbreak of the First World War, local quarrying activity had largely ceased.
Expertise gradually died out as construction moved towards other sources of
material. For most of the 20th century stone usage would largely be
restricted to landscaping and retaining walls.
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The complex and varied bedrock geology of Newfoundland and Labrador (Figures
2a and
2b) represents an almost untested dimension-stone resource. It is a piece of
Earth’s history, up to 3 billion year old, comprised of vestiges of ancient
continents, mountain chains and long-destroyed oceans brought together by the
forces of continental drift. Newfoundland offers
tremendous potential for new resources of granite, marble, slate, and flagstone,
while the immense landmass of Labrador offers unlimited potential for a wide
variety of granitic rocks.
Extensive areas of Newfoundland are underlain by granitic rocks. In eastern
Newfoundland, past exploration efforts have focused largely on an extensive area
of granite lying to the north of the Burin Peninsula. In central Newfoundland,
efforts have centred around the Mount Peyton, Hodges Hill and Topsails
intrusive suites (
Figure 2a) and these areas have further exploration potential. In western
Newfoundland, Precambrian granites and gneisses of the Long Range Mountains
have seen only sporadic exploration efforts. New forest-access roads
continually open areas for exploration, particularly in central and western
Newfoundland. In Labrador, past exploration efforts have focused on the
anorthosites south of Nain (
Figure 2b). Extensive coastal areas and regions recently
opened by new highway construction in central and southeastern Labrador have yet
to be evaluated. Gneisses and migmatites in the Hopedale area also offer
some potential.
Extensive units of marble and limestone are present throughout western
Newfoundland. A number of areas have seen advanced exploration activity, but
large areas remain to be explored and a number of marble prospects require
further evaluation. Small occurrences of marble are present throughout central
and eastern Newfoundland. However, these are either too deformed or too small
for dimension-stone purposes. In Labrador, the recent discovery of blue marble,
opens a new area for exploration.
In eastern Newfoundland, good potential exists for further development of
high-quality slate deposits along the eastern Newfoundland slate belt, which extends,
sporadically from Keels southwards to Long Harbour (
Figure 1b). Potential for expansion of
landscaping-stone quarries in eastern, central and western Newfoundland is good
with steadily increasing local markets and the development of export markets for
flagstone.
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The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador currently has three dimension stone
quarrying and fabrication operations, and two
operations quarrying landscaping stone for local and export markets. These
operations are (see Figures
2a and
2b for map of locations):
Torngait Ujaganniavingit Corporation (TUC) operates anorthosite
quarries at Ten Mile Bay and Iggiak Bay in the Nain area, northern Labrador, and
processing plants at Ten Mile Bay and Hopedale. A third quarry is planned for
Windy Hill near Rigolet.
Terra Nova Granite Memorials operates a black granite (gabbro) quarry and monument plant at Borney
Lake/Jumper’s Brook in central Newfoundland.
Hurley Slateworks Limited operates a quarry and roofing slate
plant at Britannia Cove in eastern Newfoundland.
Carew Services Limited operates a stone yard in Portugal Cove and landscaping
stone quarries at Upper Island Cove (Conception Bay North), Twillick Brook (Bay
d’Espoir) and Pynn’s Brook.
Fisher Hills Bluestone operates a landscaping stone quarry near
Pynn’s Brook, western Newfoundland.
Ten Mile Bay Quarry
Location and Access. The Ten Mile Bay quarry and fabrication plant are located on
the west side of Paul Island about 10 km southeast of Nain,
northern Labrador (
Figure 3). The community of Nain
is serviced by a regularly scheduled air service from Goose Bay and by
passenger boats and freighters. The Ten Mile Bay quarry is a seasonal operation
that is accessible by boat from late spring to late fall.
History of Development and Production.
The 1986 Mines and Energy regional evaluation of the dimension-stone potential of the Nain
anorthosite identified the Ten Mile Bay site as having the best potential for development. Test blocks were quarried, slabbed
and polished and displayed at various geological and mining conferences (Meyer and Montague, 1994). The anorthosite (granite) at Ten Mile
Bay is light grey, fine to medium grained, and has a uniform texture. About 12 to 20 percent of the labradorite crystals display
the blue iridescence or chatoyance.
In 1987, slabs of the Ten Mile Bay anorthosite displayed at a trade
show in Baie Comeau, Quebec, attracted the attention of a Quebec entrepreneur
who in turn showed a sample to Italian dimension stone geologist, Attilio Bencaster.
Bencaster visited the Ten Mile Bay site with representatives of the Labrador Inuit
Development Corporation (LIDC) and Mines and Energy. A
10-tonne test block was extracted by the LIDC and the Department of Mines and
Energy and shipped to Italy. Market response was positive and a marketing
agreement was signed in 1992 between Torngait Ujaganniavingit Corporation (TUC),
a subsidiary of the LIDC and Wibestone A.G. to buy all of the quarry’s
production and to pay the LIDC 60 percent of the value of the anorthosite
blocks, once the blocks were quarried, shaped and stockpiled (Meyer and
Montague, 1994). The stone is marketed by Wibestone A.G. under the trade name
"Blue Eyes" to fabricators in Europe and North American; raw block
fetches a premium price per cubic metre.
During the winter and spring of 1992, the LIDC financed the purchase of
quarry equipment with the support of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA),
Enterprise Newfoundland and Labrador, the Canadian Aboriginal Business
Development Program and the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Mines and
Energy. A small quarry was opened in the summer of 1992 under the supervision of
two experienced quarrymen from Grainmax Limited of Quebec. Production amounted
to 16 blocks. During the winter of 1993, a local quarry crew was trained in
quarrying techniques.
In 1994, the operation produced more than 500 cubic metres of
trimmed block. Since then the operation has expanded considerably with up to 110
full-time seasonal employees and in excess of 1500 cubic metres of stone
exported annually. Large blocks are quarried using a
combination of drilling, diamond-wire sawing and occasionally low-grade
detonating cord. Hydraulic drilling machines are used to cut out production size
blocks from 200 tonne slabs. These production-size blocks are trimmed, squared
and stockpiled for shipment to Italy. Stone processing plants have also been
established at Ten Mile Bay and Hopedale to utilize
undersize and B-grade block.
In 2001, a quarry was opened at Iggiak Bay on Kikkertavok Island which
is approximately 20 km south of Nain. The quarry accesses a brownish anorthosite,
which exhibits large, multi-coloured labradorite crystals that is marketed under the
trade name Arctic Rainbow.
Local Geology The Ten Mile Bay area is underlain by anorthosite of the
Middle Proterozoic Nain Plutonic Suite (Ryan, 1991, 1995) which underlies
approximately 20,000 km2 of northern Labrador (
Figure 3).
The Nain Plutonic Suite straddles the collisional contact between the Archean
Nain Province and the Early Proterozoic Churchill Province and is one of several
large anorthosite-granite massifs occurring north of the Grenville Front (Ryan,
1995). The suite is comprised of anorthositic, troctolitic, dioritic and
granitic plutons which intruded between 1350 Ma (million years) and 1290 Ma
(Ryan and Emslie, 1994). Most of the suite is internally undeformed. However,
some of the suite shows evidence of deformation related to emplacement.
The following description of the local geology of the Ten Mile Bay area is
taken from Meyer and Montague (1994).
"The anorthosite being quarried at Ten Mile Bay is a very high value
stone, due to its unique and extremely attractive appearance.... Blue
chatoyant labradorite crystals averaging a little over 1 cm in size are set in
a soft medium grey background composed of labradorite crystals which don’t
show blue colour because of their orientation on the cut and polished surface
being viewed. When viewed from every possible angle, almost all of the
labradorite crystals display chatoyancy. The resulting effect is one of
"winking blue eyes" when walking past a large slab of this stone.
The subangular crystals are not tightly interlocking, but nicely separated by
0.5 to 2.0 mm white margins consisting of fine grained (crushed ?) labradorite.
The stone’s extremely consistent appearance is enhanced by a subtle banding
defined by discontinuous pyroxene-biotite foliae (up to 5%), which give gentle
" movement" to the stone’s appearance, and diminish the effect of
any rare imperfections.
Within the quarry there is a strong rift direction (105
E/20EN),
which is manifested by strong joint planes running parallel to the length of
the bay and dipping towards it. These persistent joint planes are gently
undulating, not perfectly parallel, and may be a result of stresses induced by
glacial rebound. The joints are not controlled by, but may be influenced by,
the discontinuous pyroxene-biotite foliation in the anorthosite, which also
strike approximately east-west, and dip gently into the hill."
"The strong north-dipping joint planes ("rift") have vertical
spacing of as little as 25 cm near surface, but quickly increase to over 1.75
m, especially along the eastern side of the quarry."
Borney Lake/Jumpers Brook
Location and Access. The Borney Lake Quarry # 5 is
located approximately 10 km southeast of the community of Bishop’s Falls (
Figure 4a). In 2002, with reserves almost exhausted in Quarry # 5, the Finger
Pond Quarry was opened approximately 5 km southwest of the plant. A
well-maintained gravel road connects the quarry and plant with the Trans Canada
Highway immediately east of Jumpers Brook. The quarry is a seasonal operation
with stone quarried and stockpiled adjacent to the plant.
History of Production and Development. In 1982, the Department
of Mines and Energy undertook an initial assessment of the Mount Peyton
Intrusive Suite as a potential source of dimension stone. A trial quarry was
established at Amy’s Lake in 1985 but the site was not viable. Stone from the
Amy’s Lake site did generate interest and in 1990 the Mount Peyton Granite
Company Limited opened a trial quarry 1 km west of the south end of Borney Lake.
The greenish-black stone was very attractive but textural problems limited its
use as a monument stone.
In 1992, Mount Peyton Granite and Classic Stone Incorporated formed a
partnership to develop quarries in the Borney Lake area and four quarry sites
were opened. A total of seven potential quarry sites were identified (
Figure 4b) but initial efforts focused on Quarry # 4. During
1994-1995, North Atlantic Stone Incorporated was formed and an integrated
dimension-stone fabrication plant was built in Buchans to process stone from
Quarry # 4 and other nearby sites. The black gabbro was marketed under the trade
name "Ebony Black". However, by 1995 quarrying problems and
the unsuitability of the stone as a source of monument-grade stone in Quarry #4
required that a new source of black granite be identified. International Granite
Corporation, completed a detailed geological mapping and
diamond drill program which lead to the opening, in
September 1995, of Quarry # 5 from which most of the
subsequent production occurred. Stone from Quarry # 4 and subsequently
Quarry # 5 supplied the North Atlantic Stone’s Buchans plant. This
integrated stone plant in Buchans ceased operation in July, 1998.
In January, 1998 Cabot Granite Fabricators Inc., a subsidiary of
International Granite Corporation, opened a 20,000 ft2 monument stone-fabrication
facility adjacent to Quarry # 5 at Jumpers Brook. Newfoundland Quarries Inc.,
a subsidiarity company was responsible for sales and marketing of production
from the Jumpers Brook plant. Black granite (gabbro) was
the primary stone used in the plant, but International Granite also
provided the
plant with red, pink and grey granites from sites near Seal Cove, Hodges Hill
and Comfort Cove. Cabot Granite Fabricators Inc. provided
finished stone for the provincial museum and archive complex "The Rooms"; located in St. John’s.
Continued exploration resulted in the opening of the Upper Christmas
Lake quarry, but textural variations forced its closure. By 2001, much
of the accessible stone in Quarry # 5 had been removed necessitating the
identification of a new source of black gabbro. In 2002, approximately 5 km
southwest of the Jumpers Brook plant, exploration identified a
deposit of high-quality black gabbro near "Finger Pond" . Road access was established and a quarry
developed. Diamond wire saws were used to detach large panels of
black gabbro. Quarry bars and plugs and feathers were used to
extract production-size blocks that were trucked to the Jumpers
Brook plant for processing.
In 2005, the plant and quarries were acquired by Terra
Nova Granite Monuments. The new company continues to focus
on the production on monument stone, but work is also under
way to diversify and create other product lines.
Local Geology. Both the Finger Pond and Quarry # 5 are located within
the gabbroic phase of the extensive, Silurian Mount Peyton Intrusive Suite
(Dickson, 1993;
Figure 4a). The oval-shaped batholith underlies about 1400 km2
of north-central Newfoundland. The dominant rocks in the batholith are
dark grey, massive, fine-grained, equigranular, pyroxene ± hornblende ±
biotite gabbro and undeformed, massive, pink, medium-grained, equigranular,
biotite granite.
In the Borney Lake area the gabbroic rocks are well exposed along a series of
northeast-trending ridges and along the shoreline of Borney Lake (Tomlin,
1982a,b). Tomlin (1982a) noted that the gabbro is massive and exhibits two
prominent joint directions which trend around 30°
and 110°. The gabbro in the Borney Lake area is
typically black and is composed of 50 % plagioclase, 30 to 40 % pyroxene,
up to 15 % hornblende, 3 to 7 % quartz and 3 % opaques and minor biotite. On
broken surfaces the stone is grey, but upon polishing the stone achieves a
glossy black finish. Geological fieldwork by Sherry Dunsworth has identified
three main subunits of gabbro in the Borney Lake area. These are 1) massive, homogeneous
black gabbro (Ebony Black), 2) finely layered gabbro, and 3) variably textured gabbro. These subunits
are related to an inclined, layered geometry that formed along the margins of
the original gabbro magma chamber. Orthogonal joints are 1 to 3 m apart and
formed as a result of cooling of the gabbro.
Britannia Cove/Nut Cove
Location and Access. The Hurley Slateworks Company Britannia Cove
quarry and plant (
Figure 5) are located on the north side
of Smiths Sound. A gravel road links the quarry with the nearby community of
Burgoynes Cove which is approximately 34 km by road from Clarenville.
History of Production and Development. The Britannia Cove quarry was operated
by the Carberry family from the 1850s until 1900 (Martin, 1983). An adjacent
quarry was opened in 1860 by the Currie family who were experienced Welsh
slaters. In 1899, A.J. Harvey purchased the Currie operation and incorporated
the Newfoundland Slate Company Limited. The company acquired the Carberry quarry
in 1900 and proceeded to modernize the operation. Seasonal production continued
until 1906 when a combination of misfortune, fire and poor market conditions
forced the closure of the quarry. Numerous buildings, particularly in the older
portions of St. John’s have Britannia Cove slate roofs.
The inactive slate quarry was purchased in the mid-1980s and subsequently
leased to Newfoundland Slate Inc. In 1991, a joint venture was formed between
Newfoundland Slate Inc. and the Miller-McAsphalt Group from Ontario. Ardoisieres
d’Angers, a major French slate producer became interested in the development
and formed an arrangement to distribute slate to European markets. The French
company provided technical assistance with quarry and plant design, training and
equipment. A 36,000 ft2 world-class roofing slate plant was
constructed near Burgoynes Cove and quarry development work proceeded. An access
road was constructed from the plant to the quarry with the assistance the
Mineral Industry Assistance Program, administered by the Department of Mines and
Energy. In 1994, Newfoundland Slate severed its ties with Ardoisieres d’Angers
after a weak European market prevented Ardoisieres d’Angers from fulfilling
its contract agreements.
Newfoundland Slate developed its own markets and by 1995 slate production
peaked at 4,700 tonnes and the operation employed more than 60 people. The
company produced purple and green roofing slate, which was marketed under the
trade name "Trinity Slate", flooring tiles and flagstone. The
operation closed in1998.
In 2000, the locally owned Hurley Slateworks Company reactivated the quarry
and built a new roofing-slate production facility adjacent to the
quarry. At the quarry slate is extracted with saws and the
rough block is tracked to the plant for processing. At the
plant the slate is trimmed and split before being packaged
for shipment. The
company has employed up to 45 people when in full production and distributed
finished product in 12 countries.
Local Geology. The slates are part of the Bonavista Formation of the
Lower Cambrian Adeyton Group (
Figure 5). The formation comprises red, green and
purple slate, shale, thin limestone beds and local quartz-pebble conglomerate at
the base. The Bonavista Formation is underlain by quartzite of the Random
Formation. The Bonavista Formation has a discontinuous strike length of 50 km
and is host to several other potential slate deposits at Keels and Random
Island and the former Allison and Winter quarries on Random
Island.
The Britannia Cove deposit, which sits in the hinge of a 1.5- to 2.0-km-long,
tight, north-northeast trending, 5o- to 30o-south-southeast
plunging syncline (Blackwood, 1993), has approximately 65 years of reserves The
deposit is comprised of approximately 60 to 65 percent purple slate and 30 to 35
percent green slate (Blackwood, 1993). Red-purple and blue-green slate and minor
grey slate are also present.
Flagstone Operations
A number of small quarries have been operated sporadically as sources of
landscaping stone. Two companies currently quarrying
landscaping stone are Fisher Hills Bluestone and Carew Services. In 1993, Fisher
Hills Bluestone established a small quarry operation near Pynn’s Brook, south
of the town of Deer Lake (
Figure 6) to provide flagstone for the
local west coast market. Access was established and a small stone
guillotine was purchased to break stone. The quarry accesses
micaeous, blue-grey to green fine-grained sandstone of the
Carboniferous Saltwater Cove Formation. The sandstone contains
micaeous partings which make for excellent flagstone, suitable for walk ways,
patios and retaining walls. Production from the quarry is seasonal.
Carew Services Limited operates a large stone yard in Portugal Cove supplying
stone for both local, mainly the northeastern Avalon area, and
developing export markets. A
stone guillotine and various trim saws enable the company to cut and shape stone
for a variety of landscaping options. The company obtains stone from its own
quarries located at Pynn’s Brook, Twillick
Brook and Upper Island Cove and purchases stone from several sources.
The Twillick Brook quarry is located on the west side of the Bay d’Espoir
highway south of the Twillick Brook bridge (
Figure 7). The quarry
exposes fine grained dark grey to black siltstone and shale of the Salmon River
Dam Formation, Baie d’Espoir Group. Flagstone obtained from the quarry is
marketed in Atlantic Canada and the northeastern U.S. as Vinland Bluestone.
Numerous examples of both the Pynn’s Brook and Twillick Brook stone can be
seen in walkways, patios, rock walls, and stairs throughout
the city of St. John’s.
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A number of quarries have been opened throughout the province mainly for the
extraction of test blocks. Several of these quarries have seen limited
production or production upon demand and a brief discussion of the larger trial
quarries is presented below. Tables 4 - 11 gives a complete listing of
the various quarry sites throughout the province; for site locations refer to
Figure 2.
Hodges Hill Quarry
Location and Access. The Hodges Hill quarry is located
west of Grand Falls-Windsor, approximately 9 km north of the Trans Canada
Highway and about 4 km east of Cornfield Lake (
Figure 8). A good gravel road
links the quarry site with the highway.
History of Production and Development. Initial dimension stone
prospecting of the area was undertaken by Mr. Bill Mercer of Badger and in 1993,
Mr. Mercer sent test blocks to Nelson Monuments for polishing. Interest in the
fine-grained red granite lead to an arrangement in 1994 with Classic Stone
Incorporated. In 1994, the Department of Mines and Energy completed a study of
the dimension-stone potential of the Hodges Hill area in the area
between Badger and Grand Falls-Windsor (Kerr, 1995;
Figure 8). The
study examined 12 previously defined sites and identified 3 other potential
sites. Some development work and test block removal was undertaken in 1994,
including quarrying of greenish orange, coarse-grained granite from Site 3.
In 1995, the property was obtained by International Granite Corporation.
Geological mapping and trial quarrying were undertaken at a number of sites, including
an attempt to quarry the red granite exposed at Site 11, approximately 1 km east
of Cornfield Lake (Kerr, 1995). However, the granite was found to be too
fractured for block extraction. In 2000, International Granite Corporation
completed a geological assessment of an area of pink granite (Kerr’s Area A)
about 3 km east of Site 11 (
Figure 9). The area was tested with 9
short diamond-drill holes and a production decision was made and a quarry was
opened. Funding to upgrade the access road was provided under the Dimension-Stone
Infrastructure Support Program. The quarry is located
near the top of a rounded hill which rises about 250 m above the surrounding
area. Several areas have been excavated and numerous blocks
have been removed to the Jumper’s Brook plant. The stone, which is marketed
under the trade name Salmon Pink, was used for
architectural stone in "The
Rooms" museum and archives project.
Local Geology The area north of the Trans Canada Highway between Grand
Falls-Windsor and Badger is underlain by the extensive pink granite of the
Silurian Hodges Hills Intrusive Suite. The granite is in part peralkaline
and resembles the Topsails Intrusive Suite (Kerr, 1995). Two distinctive
granites have been identified in the area and these are a grey, buff or red,
coarse-grained, one-feldspar (alkali-feldspar) granite and a marginal phase
comprised of pink to red, fine-grained, variably porphyritic, two-feldspar
granite (
Figure 8).
Kerr (1995) reported that the intense orange and red colours observed in the
granites were the product of post-magmatic alteration, and that the granites
exhibiting these colours were typically more fractured and jointed than the
green, buff or pink varieties. However, Kerr also stated that there were areas
of orange and red granite exhibiting potential for quarry development and that
these areas required further evaluation.
Seal Cove
Location and Access. The Seal Cove quarry is located on
the Hermitage Peninsula, immediately west of the highway and approximately 5 km
northeast of the town of Seal Cove (
Figure 9). Access to the site is excellent.
History of Production and Development. The Mount Peyton Granite Company
opened the initial quarry in 1990 with funding provided by ACOA. Results were
favourable and blocks up to 5 m3 were quarried and transported to Bay
d’Espoir for shipment overseas for evaluation. The program was scuttled when
the blocks couldn’t be loaded for shipment. Classic Stone subsequently
enlarged the quarry through various government-funded
training programs. International Granite
Corporation quarried a small amount of stone from the site
and trucked the blocks to the Cabot Granite Fabricators
Inc. facility near Jumpers Brook. The stone has been
processed in to monuments, tiles and counter top. It was
also used for floor tiles and wall panels in the Law Society building, Water Street, St. John's.
Terra Nova Granite Memorials currently holds the rights to
the quarry. The stone is marketed under the trade name Autumn
Rose and is used mainly for funerary stone.
Local Geology. The granite exposed at the Seal Cove quarry is part of
the Devonian Pass Island Granite which underlies the southwestern tip of the Hermitage
Peninsula (
Figure 9). The granite is medium to coarse grained, and
light pink to rose in colour (Tomlin and Watson, 1981). Jointing patterns,
colour consistency and limited overburden make the granite conducive to
quarrying. However, comparison with currently available stone indicates that the
Seal Cove Granite would not be high priced.
The Summit (The Topsails)
Location and Access. The Summit quarry (
Figure 10) is
located on the Topsails Plateau immediately west of the abandoned trans-island
rail line and approximately 5 km north of Quarry Brook. Access to the area is
via the rail bed.
History of Production and Development. In 1992, Classic Stone
Incorporated, with funding from the Department of Mines and Energy, examined a
number of potential quarry sites within the Topsails Igneous Complex. Test
blocks shipped to Italy received a favourable response and a marketing company
Earthworks Limited was formed. In 1993, the Summit quarry, which is located
midway between The Quarry and the Gaff Topsail, was opened capitalizing upon
various government-sponsored training programs. The granite
was reported to have been very amenable to quarrying and gang-saw-size
blocks were possible. In excess of 200 cubic metres of stone
were extracted and a number of blocks were processed at the former Buchans
processing plant and plants in Quebec. Several large blocks of the granite
remain at the quarry site. International Granite
Corporation acquired the rights to the quarry and stockpiled
some of the former production at the Jumpers Brook plant.
The mineral rights to the quarry are now held by Terra Nova
Granite Memorials and the stone is marketed under the trade name Glacier Green.
It has been used for counter top and decorative work.
Local Geology The Summit Quarry is underlain by massive,
medium-grained, peralkaline granite of the Silurian Topsails Intrusive
Suite that underlies an extensive area of western, central Newfoundland
(
Figure 10). In the area surrounding the Summit Quarry, the granite exhibits a
wide variety of colours including yellow, green, orange, pink, red and mauve.
Field studies carried out by Kerr (1994) revealed that colour variations
exhibited by the granites were the result of both hydrothermal and surficial
alteration processes. Pink, brown, orange and red colour variations are
spatially associated with fracture systems that locally contain quartz- and
hematite-filled veins. Mauve and patchy-yellow and yellow-green colours are
attributed to oxidation due to weathering. Massive, pastel-green granite exposed
in the quarry floor is interpreted to be the primary non-weathered and unaltered
granite.
The granite exhibits a, prominent, subhorizontal joint system with a 2 m
separation, dipping 5° to 10° to the east (Kerr,
1994). Northeast- and northwest-striking, orthogonal, high-angle joints exhibit
spacings in excess of 2 to 3 m and locally greater than 5 m. There are three
2-m-high benches in the quarry and these expose the effects of surficial
weathering. The uppermost bench exposes yellow granite; the middle bench
contains yellow-green granite and the lowermost bench is underlain by green
granite. Locally, small, rounded xenoliths of volcanic rock and hornfels are
found in the granite.
|
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Licence # 2374, NTS 12H/11. Unpublished report, 11 pages. [12H/11(902)]
Ryan, B.
1991: Undeformed and recrystallized noritic and anorthositic rocks within
the Nain Plutonic Suite, Labrador Canada (abstract). International Geological
Correlation Program, Project 290: Proterozoic Massif Anorthosites: Age,
Evolution, and Tectonic Setting, Saranac Lake, Adirondack Mountains, New
York., U.S.A.
1995: Anorthosite-granite suites. In A workshop on the Geology and
Mineral Deposits of Labrador: A Guide for the Exploration Geologist. Workshop
handout, Geological Survey, Newfoundland Department of Natural Resources, 134
pages.
Ryan B. and Emslie, R.F.
1994: Pre-Elsonian mafic magmatism in Nain Igneous Complex, Labrador: the
Bridges layered intrusion, comment. In Precambrian Research, Volume 68,
pages 179-181.
Stone World Buyers Guide
2001: Statistics. Business News Publishing Company, Paramus, New Jersey.
Tomlin, S.L.
1982a: Memorial and dimension stone. In Current Research.
Newfoundland Mines and Energy, Mineral Development Division,
Report 81-1, pages 219-222.
1982b: Potential of the Mount Peyton Batholith as a source of granite as
dimension and memorial stone. In Current Research. Newfoundland
Mines and Energy, Mineral Development Division, Open File Nfld/1281,
21 pages.
Tuach, J.
1993: The Random Island slate deposit, NTS 2C/04, Newfoundland. In
Ore Horizons Volume 2. Newfoundland Mines and Energy, Geological
Survey, pages 37-48.
Vagt, O.
2002: Stone. In Mineral and Metal Commodity Review, Canadian
Minerals Yearbook. Website: www.nrcan.gc.ca/mms/cmy/pref_e.htm
Watson, D.M.
1981: Dimension stone and mineral filler assessment. In Current
Research. Mines and Energy, Mineral Development Division, Report
81-1, pages 179-181.
|
Table 4. Past Producers (Granite)
| Quarry |
NTS Map |
Description |
Comments |
Reference |
| Petites |
11O/10 |
Unit: Petites Granite
Age: Devonian
Name: brownish-pink porphyritic granite
|
Quarried from 5 tidewater sites in the late 1800s and used,
in several St. John’s buildings, including the Court House, and as
cobblestones. Light to dark brownish-pink, medium- to coarse-grained,
potassium-feldspar porphyritic granite. Warm, soft colour and texture.
Variable joint spacings may limit potential for large blocks.
|
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document, 1998 |
| Rose Blanche |
11O/10 |
Unit: Rose Blanche Granite
Age: Silurian
Name: light grey granite
|
Quarried circa 1870s for the Rose Blanche
lighthouse. Light grey to dirty-grey, fine to medium grained, weakly
foliated, muscovite-biotite granite. A blue-grey, finer-grained granite
exposed at Otter Bay was sampled by Classic Stone. Polished slabs received
positive comments at US trade shows. Variable joint spacing and shearing
limit potential for large blocks. Stone also used to rebuild the
lighthouse which reopened in 1999.
|
Dimension Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document, 1998 |
| The Quarry |
12H/2 |
Unit: Topsails Intrusive Suite
Age: Silurian
Name: Nordic Green
|
Reid Newfoundland Company quarry 1898-1901, estimated
production 5000 m cubic metres. In 1992, Stonework Inc. had several of the
existing blocks processed into tiles.
|
Kerr, 1994.
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document, 1998
|
| Quarry # 4 |
2D/14 |
Unit: Mount Peyton Intrusive Suite
Age: Silurian
Name: Ebony Black
|
North Atlantic Stone Incorporated quarried the stone from
1993 - 1995. The stone was processed at the Buchans Plant of Classic
Stone. The quarry was abandoned due to the lack of suitable stone.
|
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document, 1998 |
| Quarry # 5 |
2D/14 |
Unit: Mount Peyton Intrusive Suite
Age: Silurian
Name: Ebony Black
|
Quarry # 5 was developed near Borney Lake in 1995 by
International Granite Inc. From 1995 to 1998 stone from this quarry was
processed at the North Atlantic Stone plant in Buchans. After the closure
of the Buchans plant in 1998 the stone was processed in the nearby Cabot
Granite Fabricators monument plant. The quarry ceased production in 2002.
|
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document, 1998 |
| Benton Granite |
2D/16 |
Unit: Gander Lake Granite
Age: Devonian
Name: pink granite
|
First quarried at the turn of the century by the Reid
Newfoundland Company for bridge abutments. Small amount of stone was used
for construction in St. John’s. Light pink, coarse-grained to
megacrystic granite.
|
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document, 1998 |
| Shoal Harbour |
2C/4 |
Unit: Clarenville Granite
Age: Precambrian
Name: reddish-brown porphyritic granite
|
Quarried at the turn of the century by the Reid
Newfoundland Company for bridge abutments. In 1997, Dimension Stone Inc.
extracted test blocks and these were shipped to Quebec buyers.
|
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document, 1998 |
| Old Bay |
1M/12 |
Unit: Harbour Breton Granite
Age: Devonian
Name: red granite
|
Small quarry operated by the Colonial Granite Company Ltd.
1910-1914. Approximately 1200 tonnes of stone exported to Nova Scotia. The
Harbour Breton Granite is described as a pink, medium-to coarse-grained,
alaskitic granite.
|
Departmentof Mines and Energy Mineral Inventory Card 001M/12Stn001;
Martin, 1983
|
|
Table 5. Dormant Quarries and Developed Prospects (Granite)
|
Quarry |
NTS Map |
Description |
Comments |
Reference |
|
Hodges Hill |
2E/4
|
Unit: Hodges Hill Granite Age: Silurian
Name: Salmon Pink
|
International Granite Corp. delineation drilling in 2000,
road upgraded and quarry development. Blocks removed in 2001 for the
Rooms museum
project in St. John’s. |
Mike Regular, pers. com., 2001 |
|
Summit Quarry |
12H/2 |
Unit: Topsails Intrusive Suite
Age: Silurian
Name: Glacier Green
|
Classic Stone Inc. opened the quarry 1993. About 200 cubic
metres of yellow and yellow-green granite quarried. Massive stone with
good, widely spaced joints. Quarry is adjacent to Newfoundland Trailway. |
Kerr, 1994
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document,
1998 |
|
Seal Cove |
1M/12 |
Unit: Seal Cove Granite
Age: Devonian
Name: Autumn Rose |
Mount Peyton Granite Co. opened a trial quarry in 1990
and it was later enlarged by Classic Stone. The granite is massive with
consistent grain size and potential for blocks up to 30 tonnes. Tiles and
slabs fabricated from this stone were reported to be of good quality. |
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document,
1998 |
|
Pass Island |
1M/12 |
Unit: Pass Island Granite
Age: Devonian
Name: Autumn Red |
Medium-grained, massive, pink to deep red granite exhibiting well-spaced jointing. In 1992, small test blocks were extracted by Classic
Stone and shipped to Italy. In 1993, Classic Stone opened several trial
quarries. This quartz-rich stone takes a high polish. |
Dimension-Stone Industry: Strategic Planning Document,
1998 |
|
Comfort Cove |
2E/7 |
Unit: Loon Ba | | |
