Black Galaxy Granite Slabs

In the Galaxy of stone there is one star that has been shining brightly for over 25 years now. This star is none other than the Indian granite, “Black Galaxy”. This granite from India is also known by various other names including Star Galaxy, Galaxy granite, Ongole Galaxy etc. The allure and endurance of this granite has been tremendous over the years with an estimated sale of almost 3 million cubic meters of this material over the years.

The Black Galaxy granite has a black background with gold colored specks in it. The gold specks are due to the presence of ferrous rich Enstatine (Bronzite). The technical geological name for this granite is Gabbric Anorthosite. The material has a hardness of around 4.5 on the Moh's scale which can be termed as moderately hard. The material takes on a very good polish. The ideal use of this material is in interior applications. Black galaxy can be broadly divided into three types based on the size of the gold colored specks:

1. - large specked Black Galaxy

2. - medium specked Black Galaxy

3. - small specked Black Galaxy

Black Galaxy quarries are located in a village by the name of Chimmakurthi in Ongole district in the State of Andhra Pradesh in India. The location is about 350 km north of Chennai. One can reach the quarries by road in around 4 hours or by a convenient train from Chennai (around 6 hours) to Ongole, and then on to the mining areas by road. There are around 44 quarries spread over 400 acres of land. The sizes of the quarries range between 2 and 20 acres each. The quarries are quite mechanized. The equipment in the quarries has been constantly updated and it is common to find the latest mining machinery in operation in the quarries.

The main issue for the quarry owners has been the poor recovery of material from the quarries. In almost every quarry the area that has good deposits is very limited. This has raised significantly the cost of quarrying. However, in spite of these negative factors the output is reasonably high for this colour considering that this is one of the more expensive granites in the world. Most of the deposits are below ground level. There are variations of white lines and black lines in the material in almost all the quarries.

As is the case with most granite and marble quarries all over the world, mining is not done on a scientific basis and the emphasis has been on the extraction of maximum amount of material.