Agency of Industrial Marketing (Kiev, Ukraina):

Maevsky O. S., Head of Research on natural stone market, e-mail: om@aimarketing.info

Spain:

Daniel P., Journalist freelance, the observer on the industry of a natural stone

Ukraine has enormous reserves of natural stone: granite, gabbro, marble, limestone. However, development of the Ukrainian stone-mining and stone-processing industries is restricted by insufficient investments in euipment of the enterprises operating in this area.
On January 1st, 2012, 223 deposits of block stone were registered in the Ukraine. According to the data of the Ukrainian State Geological Organization, the reserves of block stone in the end of 2001 made more than 338 mln m³, including 162 mln m³ of granite and granitoids; 62 mln m³ of gabbro and gabbroids; 41 mln m³ of marble, limestone and similar carbonate rocks; 26 mln m³ of othrt rock types. In 2011, 459.5 mln m³ of raw materials for block facing stone was mined in the Ukraine.
The most part of deposits is connected with the Ukarinian crystalline shield, in the form of a belt with eidth about 250 km and length about 2,000 km; it crosses all the country from west to east. Essential amount of granite deposits is adapted to the exits of crystalline rocks on the surface; these deposits are divided to the six main groups according to their colour, gradation and decorative properties. In addition to granite, dark-gray and gray-black charnokites, gray and pink-gray migmatites, dark-gray and black granosyenites, dark-blue syenite, as well as labradorites, gabbro and gabbro-norites, dark-gray and black basalts and other rocks are revealed in the Ukraine.Brief characteristics of the main Ukrainian companies operating in the field of stone-mining and stone-processing are presented. It is noted that Ukraine exports raw material blocks, semoproducts and finished products of granite, gabbro, labradorite, sandstone, marble in more than 60 countries worldwide. But the most part of the Ukrainian stone consumption is determined on Russia, CIS and Baltic countries, Poland, Italy and China.