Marble - Colorado Geological Survey

at Yule Creek. It is just too remote and
access so limited, transportation costs too
high to run risk. He suggested that I contact
Stacy Dunn, President of Yule Marble Company
to see if they would want to complement
their product line with black marble.
They would be the most probable to establish
an infrastructure. Ogden said he would
gladly visit the Conundrum Creek site on
his October visit.
Vermont Marble Company, Duncan Ogden,
November 3,1989
When calculating the value of marble which
is potential quarry material, a very rough
guideline is to use $.10 per cubic foot of the
saved blocks not applied to scrap pieces or
any smaller or broken blocks.
Breton of The Americas, Roger Baker, November
3,1989
To open a quarry would require a minimum
of $100,000 for drills and wire saws. Underground
quarries require 10 ft to 12 ft Diamond
chain saws costing $250,000 to
$300,000. With other accessories expect to
spend 500,000 on underground more specialized
equipment.
Denver Marble Company, South Platte Valley
Drive, Bernie Polack, March 24, 1989
Denver Marble Company, 100 years old, is
an impressive plant which retails stone from
around the world. We toured the plant and
were shown some of the most beautiful
stone; granites, gabbros, monzonites, as well
as many different types of marble. One marble
display was of Carolina Ash, strikingly
64
similar to the Conundrum Creek Marble in
texture and color. This Carolina Ash is not
in demand . Another "off-black" was Regal
Blue from the same area as the Carolina
Ash. This was a very beautiful marble but
was not selling. Belgian Noire, the most
notable black marble in the world was also
not selling.
Bernie said that the Yule Quarry which he
has been watching would take one tothree
million to start up which is extremely high
risk considering the very soft nature of
white marble sales. He carries Yule because
of its sporadic demand as maintenance rock
on existing structures. Most demand now is
for the more durable granites, the domestic
producer is at a tremendous disadvantage
because there are no pooled supply areas. If
Idaho Travertine is wanted it is obtained
from Idaho, furthermore, foreign suppliers
are aggressively pursuing U.S. markets.
The closest gang saws are in New Mexico
and in Idaho with only 72 in the entire U.S.
Marble testers include; Testwell Craig, World
Trade Center NY, phone 914-762-9000. Contact
Roger Baker, Breton of the Americas, 305-564-
2708.
An important aspect of marketing is the absorption
potential of the material. Marbles
with high absorption characteristics weather
rapidly and demand costly maintenance in
areas of high humidity. Another aspect is
guaranteed supply. Users want material fast
and when their contracts are ready for it.
The supplier must be capable of delivery.