Under the direction of Mahesh C. Gandhi and Jyotin C. Gandhi, Gandhi Mining Group of Mumbai, India, has been thriving in the stone business for more than 30 years. The corporation was formed in 1968 as a single granite quarry. Today, it has grown to become a parent company of several different businesses that are involved in the quarrying, fabrication and trade of natural stone from India, including a U.S. sales office.

The corporation established its first granite processing plant in 1972 in the state of Karnataka, India. Since then it has grown to operate additional fabricating facilities as well as purchasing several quarries.

Quarrying sites

Among the four granite quarries in Gandhi Mining Group's ownership are sites that produce New Imperial Red, Himalayan Blue, New Ruby Red and Cats Eye/Star Ruby. While the quarries are all located in the state of Karnataka, India, the sites for Himalayan Blue and New Ruby Red are found in the state's Koppal District; New Imperial Red in the Bagalkot District; and Cats Eye/Star Ruby in the Raichur District.

All four quarries produce granite that is relatively hard and durable, according to the company. It states that the compressive strength of the materials ranges from 234 to 240 MPa; the absorption by weight is approximately 0.05%; the flexural strength is 18 MPa; and the modulus of rupture is approximately 19 MPa.

As for machinery, the quarrying sites are equipped with DTH drills, diamond wire cutting machines, pneumatic drills, excavators, wheel loaders and dumpers. Primary cutting is performed using a line drilling machine and Fract chemically expanding slurry, states Gandhi Mining Group. Also, drilling and wedges are used in the process.

Approximately 1,000 cubic meters of material is produced every month, according to the company. A total of 100% of block production is exported - primarily to Europe, China and Taiwan.

In addition to material from its own quarries, Gandhi Mining Group processes blocks from a network of India's best quarries. This includes granite such as Absolute Black, Black Galaxy, Tan Brown, Madurai Gold, Kashmir Gold, Kashmir White, Rose Wood, Shivakashi and Vyara as well as many others. Also, it offers an assortment of slate such as Black Rustic, Indian Autumn, Multi Color, Raja Red and Vijaya Gold.

Cutting granite slabs

Kuntal Granite Pvt. Ltd., a company within Gandhi Mining Group, was founded in 1988 to focus on exporting granite slabs worldwide. The company, which is a major granite slab producer in the northern region of the state of Karnataka, has made a large investment in state-of-the-art fabricating equipment.

Among the equipment in the plant are four jumbo-sized Barsanti gangsaws, an 18-head fully automatic Barsanti polishing line, two bridge saws and several other pieces of handling equipment, which were also imported from Italy.

Currently, the production capacity at the plant is about 45 containers per month. Of this material, 83% is slabs, 10% granite tiles and 7% slate tiles. Approximately 63% of the stone is exported to the U.S., 20% to Europe, 5% to Canada, 2% to South Africa and 10% to other countries, including Australia.

The U.S. operation

Stone Park, Inc. is the U.S. sales office of Gandhi Mining Group. The company supplies containers of granite slabs and tiles as well as slate tiles to wholesalers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. office handles all the logistics of importing - arranging freight rates, custom clearance, duty payments and inland rail/trucking to warehouses. Additionally, Stone Park maintains two warehouses in the Philadelphia Metro area and distributes granite slab bundles and tile crates. “The emphasis is on providing the finest quality granite slabs and tiles with a quick turnaround time at a competitive price to ensure customer satisfaction,” states the company.