Marble and granite; Eritrea's valuable resources
Post Date: 11 Aug 2009 Viewed: 551
When people see the mountain of stones in Gogne, Geleb and other places of the country, they couldn't easily realize that the major buildings in the country are decorated by their products. Many people usually talk about oil, gold, diamond and other resources of countries, but Eritreans have to realize that there are mountains of marble and granite resources that they should be proud of.
MARGRAN is a company established in 1993 by reactivating an old Italian processing plant and by opening a new quarry near Gogne. Since its establishment, the plant has been engaged in quarrying and processing different types of marble and granite products. Some of its products include: marble and granite for windowsills, staircases, tiles, kitchen tops, etc.
In 2007 the Company was able to produce about 2500 meter cubes which marked the highest level of its production capacity. The main operating sites of the company are at Gogne quarry, a modern processing plant at Ghindae, as well as a small processing factory in Asmara. There are also major areas under the licence of the Company such as Belta (Gheleb), Tickul ad Kertsekemete quarries.
MARGRAN has now started to export its products to the Sudan and some European countries such as Spain. Speaking on the quality of its products Machine Operator of the Company, Mr. Berhane Haile said that the Eritrean quality is of the best. We have one the best marble qualities on earth. For example, our marble contains from 45 up to 75 percent iron. Especially the black marble found in the Debub and Gash Barka regions is of special quality,?he said.
The Company has increased its production for the local market and is expected to boost its export in the future. ad it not been for some challenges, the Company would have been in its highest level at the present,?said Mr. Brhane referring to the war of 1998. We could have imported new machineries and increased our production to its highest level,?he added.
The main objective of MARGRAN is to produce, sell and trade in blocks of dimension stones such as lime stone, marble and granite; to engage in import and export of the same materials and others.
The Company produces different coloured marble and granite products such as white, grey, black, pearl grey, cream, red, light black and rose.
The Company has now displayed its products at the Expo grounds.