Marble Institute Cutting Edge Newsbriefs

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StonExpo Is Rebranded as StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas
Stone World (07/02/08)

StonExpo and Marmomacc joined forces to rebrand StonExpo as StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas. The alliance is expected to help StonExpo, the leading natural stone trade event in the United States, and Italy-based Marmomacc, the biggest trade fair in the stone and design sector on the globe, expand their brands. The hope is that the North American stone and technology show will attract even more fabricators, installers, builders, distributors, architects, and designers. "In the past three years, StonExpo has experienced 95 percent growth," noted Galen Poss, president of Hanley Wood Exhibitions. "Now with the united strength of the StonExpo and Marmomacc brands, this event will be propelled into a global market. … This is a big win for the North American stone community." The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas will host the event from Oct. 15-18.
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How Color Theory Plays an Important Part in Purchasing the Right Natural Stone?
Best Syndication (07/13/08) ; Mathur, Smit

In addition to deciding what specific type to buy, homeowners looking to purchase natural stone flooring must narrow down the choice of color. While the tendency of most consumers is to shop for a product that meshes with their existing home décor, advisors say this can confine creativity when it comes to future use of a room. It is perhaps more important to consider the mood the homeowner wants to impart, as well as the amount and direction of light in the targeted area. Colors play up the desired ambience of a room, with yellows, browns, and reds creating warmth or coziness and green and blue hues helping to make a space feel bigger than it really is. Lots of light streaming in from south- and west-facing rooms will give an area more warmth, meanwhile, than rooms facing east or north. With that in mind, homeowners should first and foremost choose a color they love. They can then imagine what color walls and window treatments would best suit the color they have selected; the walls can always be repainted and the curtains replaced if they ones already in place are not a good match with the stone of choice.
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MIA to Survey Distributor Profits
Marble Institute of America (07/01/08)

In early June, the Marble Institute of America (MIA) began asking its U.S.-based, wholesale natural stone slab distributor members to participate in the industry's first-ever, distributor-only benchmarking survey. This survey follows the highly successful and informative fabricators' survey conducted last year. The purpose of this survey is the same: to help the natural stone industry strengthen its financial position by establishing financial benchmarks and providing an analysis of the surveyed companies' positions compared to other firms their size. "The era of easy, and even automatic, profits has come to a sudden halt," stated Gary Distelhorst, MIA executive vice president. "The natural stone distribution industry has moved from trying to keep up with demand to battling on sales, pricing, expense control and every other aspect of operations." The survey will collect the usual information on gross margins and expense control. However, results will be arranged to provide direct comparisons between the participating firm and the aggregate information. This information is beneficial to identify the strategies employed by the most successful firms during a down market. The survey results will not be made available for sale to nonparticipating companies until 2009. Participating companies receive The Performance Analysis Report, a financial and operating profile of the entire industry, as well as Profit Improvement Profile, an individual and confidential report comparing the participating firm with similar businesses. The detailed industry benchmarking information in the Performance Analysis Report and in each personalized Profit Improvement Profile is available to participating MIA member distributors for only $75. Nonmember stone distributors wishing to participate will be charged $200.00. "It is a great bargain," concluded Distelhorst. Profit Planning Group, the well regarded association profitability and compensation analysis firm, will manage the survey for the MIA. Members' proprietary financial data is kept strictly confidential. Only the employees of Profit Planning Group ever see a company's data. In over 20 years of conducting benchmarking surveys, Profit Planning Group has an unblemished record of maintaining confidentiality.
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Distributors of marble and other natural stones gathered in Orlando, Fla., recently for the Coverings 2008 conference, where attendees came to shop and do business with other vendors. Attendance was 3.8 percent higher this year than it was when the conference last came to the city in 2006, despite difficulties in the stone sector due to a slumping housing market. The 35,000 participants included distributors, retailers, builders, real estate developers, contractors, and 1,200 exhibitors from more than 50 countries. The free conference, a second component of the Coverings gathering, featured 21 sessions for professionals in the stone sector. Some of these sessions included: "Preparing for MIA Accreditation-What You Need to Know;" "Stone Trends 2008;" "Natural Stone-Sell Like a Luxury Brand;" and "Stone Showroom of the Future." Recipients of the Spectrum and Prism Awards, meanwhile, took home a total of $37,500 in cash prizes for their creative and innovative uses of natural stone and tile.
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Fireman Puts Alcoa's Stone Fortress Back in Shape
Associated Press (06/21/08) ; McRary, Amy

Renovations to a marble castle in Alcoa, Tenn., continue at the hands of owner Dean Fontaine, a captain at the Knoxville Fire Department who purchased the 14-room house in 1995 for $40,000. He says he was drawn to the mysterious rock bastion, which offers a mix of Roman architecture and medieval form, because of its permanence--although it had been neglected over the years and was facing condemnation at the time of his purchase. "It's rock here, rock there and rock all through," says Fontaine. "With this architecture, you couldn't tear it down." William Andrew Nicholson started building the fortress of gray and Tennessee pink marble in 1938; and the carpenter and stone mason, 61 at the time, completed the less than 2,000-square-foot building eight years later. Nicholson built the manor with rounded walls at least four feet thick to help the righteous survive 1,000 years after an Armageddon, which he thought would occur in 1959. An Associated Press columnist dubbed the dwelling the Millennium Manor in 1957; but it is also called the "rock house" or Darby's Castle, after a 1973 Kris Kristofferson song.
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Stone+tec Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary
Construction and Maintenance (06/27/08)

Exhibitors attending the 30th anniversary celebration of the biennial Stone+tec trade show in Nuremberg, Germany, next May will be facing an economic climate that has shifted since they last gathered for the event two years ago. One major change that has taken place since the last Stone+tec show was held in the spring of 2007 is the economic strife affecting the United States. As a result of these economic problems, America is seen as losing some of the natural stone market to European nations. The industry is focusing on selling its products in booming markets such as Germany, which saw a 3.7-percent increase in building production in February and an 11.4-percent increase in January, according to the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Meanwhile, the economies of central and eastern European countries are continuing to grow despite the cooling global economy.
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Despite numerous studies, questions still exist over whether granite countertops produce dangerous amounts of radon--a scentless, colorless, radioactive gas that is a byproduct of decaying uranium in rocks. A Consumer Reports study tested three rock samples--one each from two national companies and one from a nearby rock yard--and did not detect any radon emissions. The Marble Institute of America's larger study, conducted by the University of Akron, analyzed samples of the 52 types of marble used most frequently in homes and found 10 that added "almost immeasurable amounts of radon to the house." The highest level emitted by any stone studied in that research was 0.27 Pico curies per liter (pCi/L), far below the 4 pCi/L that the Environmental Protection Agency says warrants corrective action. Still, because the gas is the second-leading cause of cancer in the United States, the EPA is urging all homeowners--those with and without granite countertops--to perform in-home tests. A radon level of 2 pCi/L or less is considered safe; a test that shows a radon level between 2 and 4 pCi/L should be followed up with a long-term test; and a radon level of 4 pCi/L or higher should be brought down immediately. Other popular decorative stones--limestone, soapstone, and marble--generally do not emit the gas.
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Historic Museum Addition Rediscovers Vermont Marble
Stone World (07/01/08) ; Stinnard, Michelle

Princeton, N.J.-based Michael Graves & Associates and SmithGroup's Detroit office have completed a $158.2 million renovation and expansion of the Detroit Institute of the Arts (DIA). The project, which took six years to complete, included the expansion and renovation of the north and south wings of the original building, which was designed by Paul Cret in 1927. As part of that effort, both the north and the south wings of the DIA were reclad with Vermont Montclair Danby marble that was quarried and fabricated by Vermont Quarries of Rutland, Vt. The marble was chosen because it was extracted from the same quarry as the Vermont Danby white marble that was used extensively in the original building. Different cuts of marble were used on the north and south wings, including vein cuts and fleuri cuts. Inside the north and south wings, the front stairs were completely replaced with new stone that matched the existing stone used in 1927. In addition, a circulation spine featuring marble floors was created on all levels of the museum. The museum's gathering spaces also used Montclair Danby marble in a variety of patterns, along with Appalachian Green marble accents. Although the use of detailed stone patterns was challenging, the final results were pleasing to everyone--particularly the City of Detroit, said Carolina Lopez, a project manager with SmithGroup. "The project has given the people in the city and southeast Michigan a lot of hope, and it is good to see things like this happening," she said.
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New MIA Technical Module Tackles Silicosis
Marble Institute of America (06/19/08)

The newest technical module produced by the Marble Institute of America (MIA) is devoted to the subject of silicosis; a disabling, nonreversible and sometimes fatal lung disease caused by overexposure to respirable crystalline silica (granite, slate and quartz dust). Like the recently released MIA video of the same title, the module illustrates how to eliminate the threat of silicosis in the workplace. It covers the particulars of prevention, including the equipment and procedures required to eliminate silicosis as a threat. It includes sections on wet cutting and grinding, water treatment systems, which remove the residual crystalline silica, and air purifications systems that extract silica dust from the air and deposit it into disposable cartridges. "This technical module was produced in the spirit of our alliance with OSHA," stated Gary Distelhorst, MIA executive vice-president. "It reaffirms our commitment to the safety and health of those working in the natural stone industry." The MIA recommends that stone fabricators require each employee review the MIA silicosis video and that they also receive their personal copy of the new technical module as part of OSHA required safety and health training. Copies of "Silicosis, an Industry Guide to Awareness and Prevention" are available to MIA members for $11.00 each (non-members $16.00) and can be ordered on the MIA web site at www.marble-institute.com or by calling MIA at 440-250-9222. Volume discounts are available for larger orders.
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Pakistan May Earn $15 Billion Through Export of Marbles
Pakistan Daily (06/30/08)

Pakistan could rake in $15 billion each year by exporting marble, onyx, and granite found exclusively in the country's mountain ranges. Ihsanullah Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Stone Development Company (Pasdec), said in an interview that demand is high for marble from his nation. Pasdec has invested in Italian equipment to help ensure that techniques for extracting slabs of marbles and granites through blasting are safe and cost-effective. "We intend to reduce the loss of our valuable natural resources," Khan declared, noting that a shortfall of technology, trained workers, and quality equipment has spawned losses of up to 73 percent in cutting marbles and granites out of the mountainside.
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Quarry in C.B. Takes Little Time Reaching China
Halifax Chronicle Herald (07/12/08) ; Fraser, Laura

As of July 11, the privately held MacLeod Resources marble quarry in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, was working on agreement details with five or so Chinese companies, according to company President Christopher Trider, who estimates the value of the contracts could climb as high as C$3 million. MacLeod Resources is sitting on top of about 82 million metric tons of marble. Its infamous deep red stone is thought to be the only truly red marble in the world, according to sales associate Jessica MacDonald. In addition, the company quarries pink and gray marble. Some 140,000 metric tons of marble have been cut from the quarry--not even 1 percent of the stone the deposit is believed to hold. Instead of blasting, horizontal and vertical holes are drilled into the quarry's marble wall, and a diamond wire saw is weaved through the holes and pulled out to produce a clean slice from the marble. After all the sides are cut, a bag of water is inflated behind to push out part of the wall. MacLeod Resources logged an estimated C$500,000 in sales in 2007, with the majority of the company's overseas business provided by the United States and Italy.
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Epoxy Materials for Natural Stone Processing
High Performance Plastics (07/08) P. 4

Huntsman Advanced Materials (HK) Ltd. of Hong Kong has created a variety of epoxy materials intended to comply with the mandates of the natural stone processing sector for applications like slab finishing and impregnation, slab reinforcement with mesh, block reinforcement before cutting, and void filling. When used on marble, granite, or other natural stones, Araldite Stone products claim to lower the risk of slabs breaking apart during manufacturing, transport, or application; they also are said to improve the surface quality of natural stone slabs. Cracks, voids, porosity, and additional defects in natural stone materials can vary in size and shape, depending on the type of stone. Araldite Stone's epoxy materials boast unique qualities--including viscosity, work life, or special elements--so that the best product choice can be made for a job. For filling bigger-sized cracks or voids and for slab enforcement with mesh, the range includes medium viscosity mastics and products. The minerals are reported to have good weather and chemical resistance, limited shrinkage, and no solvent or styrene emissions.
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