Granite is drilled from quarries in large blocks weighing many tones
Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramids in Egypt were made with granite and their existence today is a testament to its amazing durability. The Mount Rushmore memorial features sculptures of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved from a granite outcrop in the South Dakota Mountains.
Mining granite
Granite is drilled from quarries in large blocks weighing many tones. They are cut down using diamond wire cables and drills and transported to a processing centre. Then multiple steel cables studded with tungsten and diamond tipped cutting heads cut through the solid granite blocks almost like a bread slicer. At this stage they are polished, starting with very coarse diamond abrasives, to gradually finer grit abrasives and water until the level of polish required for the purpose is achieved.