Geochemical assessment of the contaminant potential of granite fines produced during sawing and related processes associated to the dimension stone industry J. Delgado * , A. Va ´zquez, R. Juncosa, V. Barrientos Civil Engineering School, University of A Corun ˜a; Campus de Elvin ˜a s/n; 15192, A Corun ˜a, Spain Received 2 April 2005; accepted 19 August 2005 Available online 25 October 2005 Abstract Granite fines are inorganic wastes produced in the elaboration of dimension stone. Because of the increasing development of that industry in NW Spain, some concerns related to their classification as type of waste and their environmental impact have been raised. We have performed a detailed physicochemical, mineralogical and geomechanical characterization of the fines and the results make up the basis of several modeling exercises addressed to give answers to particular topics: the impact of high pH waters on the environment and the mobility of some toxic metals. Based on our analyses, we conclude that granite fines do not constitute a significant hazard to the quality of natural waters. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Dimension stone; Granite fines; Alkaline waters; Metals 1. Introduction Dimension stone industry is one of the leading economic potentials of Galicia. This autonomous com- munity in the NW of Spain is the largest ornamental granite producer of the country and their products (elaborated or raw materials) are renowned worldwide. Most of the dimension stone activity in Galicia is concentrated in a series of workshops around the town of Porrin ˜o. This locality is also famous by the quarries of a pink monzogranite marketed with the name of Rosa Porrin ˜o . Workshops are labor centers where rock blocks coming either from local or world- wide quarries are elaborated before their commercial- ization. The elaboration of dimension stone typically includes mechanical processes like sawing of size- normalized rock blocks, polishing of the sawed slabs and a number of finishing operations addressed to change the surficial appearance of the rock and/or to improve selected properties (for instance, slippery). Because the frictional nature of all these operations, each one of them produce variable amounts of dusty material (granite fines) whose environmental impact needs to be addressed. Only in the Porrin ˜o area, the current generation of granite fines adds up to about 3.5 Â 10 5 m 3 /year. The main volume of the granite fines are produced in the sawing processes. This operation is done with large gang saws where a single rock block is eroded by the action of steel blades mounted in a heavy frame which is moved back and forth at high speed by a transmission 0375-6742/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2005.08.009 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 981 167000, fax: +34 981 167170. E-mail address: jdelgado@udc.es (J. Delgado). Journal of Geochemical Exploration 88 (2006) 24 – 27 www.elsevier.com/locate/jgeoexp