Tune Slate Co. Ltd owns and operates Tianxing Quarry in Ziyang County, Shanxi Province of China. The blue black slate from this quarry is one of the best natural roofing slates in the world. Officially, the slate has been tested and the results show that it reaches or even exceeds ASTM S1 standard (Ref 1). The mechanism of such outstanding properties relay on the rock microstructure and the chemical composition.
In the structure aspect, the rock material from this quarry has experienced more than 400 million years of sedimentation and metamorphism(from Silurian age) and belongs to silicon contenting sericite(Ref 2). It is known that sericite content is a key factor for water absorption level of the slate: the higher of the sericite content, the lower of the water absorption. Ziyang Tianxin slates content sericite as high as 85%.(Ref 2)
The chemical contents of the slate are listed below:(Ref 3)
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SiO2 70.8%, Al2O3 12%, Fe2O3 2.48%, FeO 4.07%, CaO0.32%, MgO 2.00%,
CO2 0.095%, S 0.038%.
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The slate from this quarry has very high content of SiO2 (70.8%) and very low contents of C, S, Ca, Mg elements, which can explain why the slate from this quarry is so stable (non-fading, non-weathering, acid resistance) that can last for hundreds of years. (as a proof, you can still see some local old huts with the slate roof around the quarry area today)
Realizing the excellent quality, the slate from Tianxin Quarry was registered on Rathschek sourcing index and the slate products were mainly to supply for Rathschek. Now, the quarry operator, Tune Slate Co. Ltd. has improved the infrastructure of the quarry mining system and formed a partnership with Black Diamond Slate. Thru Black Diamond Slate, this high quality slate is available in the US market now.
Ref 1: 2008 ATS JOB# D129985
Ref 2: X. Zhu 2003 Stone No 5 p9-19 (in Chinese)
Ref 3: H. Deng 2007 Stone No 5 p8-10 (in Chinese)
About Ziyang Tune Slate Company:
Previously, the Ziyang Tianxin Quarries were operated by Shanxi Nature Slate Co. Ltd.. About two years ago, Ziyang Tune Slate Co. Ltd bought the quarries from Nature Slate Co. Ltd. Since then, Tune has invested heavily in the infrastructure of the quarries, like the road, power supply, water supply and environment protecting facilities. Also, Tune Slate has carried out a big overburden mining project so that the new methods as diamond saw can be employed to obtain high quality slate rock block. Tune Slate is the only slate mining company in China who has made the use of diamond saw to mine the slate block. Tune Slate has formed a partnership with Black Diamond Slate LLC (USA). The goal of the alliance is to introduce and promote the top quality slate from Ziyang County, China to the N. American market.
Tune Slate is run by a strong team:
CEO of the company, Dr R. Pan obtained his PhD in Great Britan and worked for Barclay Capital as a senior investment analyst. Back to China in 1990s, Dr. Pan has started up a company (Humanwell Co. Ltd.) from scratch and as the CEO of the company, he led the company growing fast and now the company has been listed in the Shanghai Sock Exchange market with an annual revenue close to 1 billion yuan ($1= 6.8 yuan). Dr Pan has an international view of developing the company and he has started to drive the Ziyang Tune Slate to go public.
The CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of the company, Dr Y. Dong who obtained the degree from the Geology University of China and is an expert in the sedimentary deposit formation and mining field.
The COO of the company, Mr. Y. Pan who obtained MBA degree from Wuhan Industry College and has more than 15 years of experience in company management. |
