Fox Marble begins commercial extraction of 'Alexandrian Blue' marble

Fox Marble announced the start of commercial extraction of Alexandrian Blue from its Prilep quarry in Northern Macedonia on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said Alexandrian Blue had dense blue-grey banding with smaller bands of white, which produced a marked blue tone and was akin to the “highly desirable” Zebrino marble from Northern Italy.

It said the quarry, which was already producing the “highly sought after” white marble marketed as Alexandrian White, was now also producing substantial quantities of Alexandrian Blue from a newly-developed section on the east side of the quarry.

Fox Marble sold, and received payment for, 441 tonnes of Alexandrian Blue extracted in December 2018 to a single customer.

That material complimented the Alexandrian White from the same quarry, the board said, as well as the highly popular Illirico Selene from the Maleshevë quarry in Kosovo.

Following the order, the firm entered into a sales agreement with the customer to purchase Alexandrian Blue, with an expected value in excess of €1m over the next 12 months.

Under the sale-and-purchase deed, the company said it had agreed to supply a minimum monthly quantity of Alexandrian Blue blocks for a 12 month period, beginning on 16 January.

The indicative value of the agreement was dependent on the company making available sufficient material to the client to meet the minimum monthly commitment.

Fox Marble was now focussing on penetrating the markets in Italy, India, China, Turkey and Dubai, where it had established a base with its most popular marbles - the Alexandrian White and Illirico Selene - with material from the Cervenilla quarry including Argento Grey, Rosso Cait and Flora, and Syriganë quarry which contained Breccia Paradisea and Etrusco Dorato.

“Orders of our premium material are gaining traction and we expect to see growth in our sales in 2019,” said chief executive officer Chris Gilbert.

“This will produce a corresponding increase in our revenues during the year as a result, and l look forward to updating the market accordingly.”