Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).

The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, in which water erodes the limestone over thousands to millions of years. Most cave systems are through limestone bedrock.

Limestone has numerous uses: as a building material, an essential component of concrete (Portland cement), as aggregate for the base of roads, as white pigment or filler in products such as toothpaste or paints, as a chemical feedstock for the production of lime, as a soil conditioner, or as a popular decorative addition to rock gardens.

Limestone is a sedimentary rock comprising at least 80% calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Limestones can be deposited in both marine and fresh water environments, the former being more common, and can take many forms most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera. These organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts, and extraclasts.

Limestone is very common in architecture, especially in Europe and North America. Many landmarks across the world, including the Great Pyramid and its associated complex in Giza, Egypt, were made of limestone. So many buildings in Kingston, Ontario, Canada were, and continue to be, constructed from it that it is nicknamed the ‘Limestone City’

We have over 1000 metric tons of Limestone in stock.

For purchase enquiries and free sample request please contact us sales@extcl.com

Talc is a mineral substance used in a variety of cosmetic and personal care products from baby powders to eye shadows. It is added to absorb moisture, smooth or soften products, prevent caking, and make makeup opaque.

Talc is a clay mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula H2Mg3(SiO3)4 or Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. In loose form, it was one of the most widely used substances known as baby powder, along with corn starch. It occurs as foliated to fibrous masses, and in an exceptionally rare crystal form. It has a perfect basal cleavage, and the folia are not elastic, although slightly flexible.

Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on scratch hardness comparison, defines value 1 as the hardness of talc. As such, talc can easily be scratched by a fingernail. Talc has a specific gravity of 2.5–2.8, a clear or dusty luster, and is translucent to opaque. Talc is not soluble in water, but is slightly soluble in dilute mineral acids. Its color ranges from white to grey or green and it has a distinctly greasy feel. Its streak is white.

Talc is a common metamorphic mineral in metamorphic belts that contain ultramafic rocks, such as soapstone (a high-talc rock), and within whiteschist and blueschist metamorphic terranes. Prime examples of whiteschists include the Franciscan Metamorphic Belt of the western United States, the western European Alps especially in Italy, certain areas of the Musgrave Block, and some collisional orogens such as the Himalayas, which stretch along Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bhutan.

We have over 1000 metric tons of Talc (Soap Stone) in stock the grades shown in pictures.

For purchase enquiries and free sample request please contact us sales@extcl.com

Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word “granite” comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Strictly speaking, granite is an igneous rock with between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, and at least 35% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar, although commonly the term “granite” is used to refer to a wider range of coarse grained igneous rocks containing quartz and feldspar.

The term “granitic” means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of intrusive igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition and origin. These rocks mainly consist of feldspar, quartz, mica, and amphibole minerals, which form an interlocking, somewhat equigranular matrix of feldspar and quartz with scattered darker biotite mica and amphibole (often hornblende) peppering the lighter color minerals. Occasionally some individual crystals (phenocrysts) are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks. Petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids.

Naturally it forms from the slow crystallization of magma below Earth’s surface. Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica, amphiboles, and other minerals. Granite is nearly always massive (lacking any internal structures), hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history as a construction stone. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa. The average hardness is 7 and above.

At Excellent Trading, we have unlimited quantity of granite in stock in various finishes, colors, shapes and sizes including large boulders, 2cm and 3cm thick slabs, tiles, paving stones and small unfinished pieces as per the customers’ requirements.

For purchase enquiries and free sample request please contact us sales@extcl.com