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Porphyry quarries, Quenast, Rebecq, Walloon Brabant Province, Belgium

Photo: Harjo
Latitude: 50°39'54"N
Longitude: 4°9'20"E
SA Carrières Unis de Porphyre de Quenast, Rebecq, Brabant Wallon Province, Belgique

Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock known for its hardness and durability, the Porphyry of Quenast consists for over 80% of Feldspar.
The exploitation of Porphyry in the area goes back to the 16th century.
In 1844 M Zaman purchased the best quarries and in 1864 he grouped the seven quarries into one society, the SA Carrières Unis de Porphyre de Quenast.
Today the quarry has become an immense operation, in area and depth one of the largest quarries in Europe with a annual capacity of 2 million metric tons but at the moment averaging about 1,6 million metric tons a year.
Originally, because of its durability, the Porphyry was used for the production of cobble stones for roads, one can still see them in many old roads in Belgium and France (the annual speed cycling event Paris-Roubaix is an epic event due to the many strips of cobble stones (Pavés or Kasseien) that are very hard physically on the athlete but also ruin many bikes)
Nowadays the main product is gravel for projects where hardness, durability and resistance of the gravel is of great importance.
Porphyry from the area has been used for instance in the huge Delta Works in Holland, in the "Chunnel" (the tunnel under the channel linking France to the United Kingdom) and for the high-speed TGV tracks (they exclusively use Porphyry)
Today four Porphyry quarries are operated (in order from east to west): Quenast, Bierghes, and the side by side located quarries of Lessines and Deux-Acren.



References

- Histoire, industrie et Geologie des Carrières de Quenast. Claude Pire, 1993.

Mineral List

Actinolite
Albite
var: Oligoclase

Analcime
Anatase
'Apatite'
'Apophyllite'
'Asbestos'
'Axinite'
Biotite
Bornite
Brookite
Calcite
'Chabazite'
Chalcopyrite
'Chlorite Group'
'Clinozoisite-Epidote Series'
Copiapite
Coquimbite
Epidote
Galena
Goethite
Gypsum
Kaolinite
'K Feldspar
var: Adularia'

Lepidolite
Magnetite
Microcline
Molybdenite
Muscovite
Orthoclase
'Phillipsite'
Prehnite
Pyrite
Pyrrhotite
Quartz
Rhodochrosite
Rutile
Siderite
Sphalerite
'Tourmaline'
Zircon


41 entries listed. 29 valid minerals.

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Copyright © Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau 1993-2011. Site Map. Locality, mineral & photograph data are the copyright of the individuals who submitted them.Further information contact the Site hosted & developed by Jolyon Ralph. Mindat.org is an online information resource dedicated to providing free mineralogical information to all. Mindat relies on the contributions of hundreds of members and supporters. Mindat does not offer minerals for sale. If you would like to add information to improve the quality of our database, then click here to register. Current server date and time: 22nd Jun 2011 16:15:07
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