Report from Latin America: A specialist in Brazilian granite slabs

Granitos Itapoama Ltda. processes blocks into granite slabs at its facility in Rio Novo Do Sul, Espírito Santo, Brazil.

Working in the granite-rich Brazilian state of Espírito Santo, Granitos Itapoama Ltda. of Rio Novo Do Sul was founded in February of 1990, and its principal owners are Elimario Peterle Fiorio and Estevan Antonio Fiorio, Jr. And over the past 16 years, the company has become a specialist in slab production.

Granitos Itapoama works exclusively with Brazilian granites, including exotic materials as well as the traditional stones of Brazil.

Given the vast deposits of granite in Brazil, Granitos Itapoama works exclusively with Brazilian granites. Exotic materials being fabricated include Victoria Blue, Copper Canyon, Star Beach, Laguna Golden, Persa Light, Endless Mountain and Super White, while more traditional colors include Palmares Black, Fiorito Yellow, New Fiorito, Humaita Yellow and Fox Yellow.

Equipment at the plant includes four jumbo gangsaws as well as two standard gangsaws.

Granitos Itapoama has partnerships with quarries for Palmares Black, Star Beach, Persa Light and Fiorito, and it purchases blocks of the other materials.

The jumbo gangsaws can process multiple blocks simultaneously.

The company’s factory covers an area of nearly 325,000 square feet (30,000 sq.m), and it produces slabs with a thickness of both 2 cm and 3 cm.

Slabs are polished on a slab-polishing unit from MGM, which features 20 polishing heads.

Equipment at the plant includes four jumbo gangsaws (three from MGM and one from Cimef) as well as two standard gangsaws from BECA. After blocks are cut into raw slabs, they are polished on a slab-polishing unit from MGM, which features 20 polishing heads. There is also a line for treating slabs with reinforcement resin as needed.

There is also a line for treating slabs with reinforcement resin as needed.

Material is maneuvered using gantry cranes, and the plant is also equipped with rolling cranes for slab transport.

In addition to the factory itself, facilities include two pavilions for storage of slabs.

In addition to the factory itself, facilities include two pavilions for storage of slabs. Overall, Itapoama’s plant has 80 workers, and it produces over 160,000 square feet (15,000 sq.m) of material per month. It exports between 40 and 50 containers each month, and 80% of production is shipped to the U.S. market. The remaining 20% is distributed in Canada, Mexico and Europe. Granitos Itapoama primarily sells to importers and warehousing distributors.