Fassa Bortolo’s quarrying activities are guided by a strong commitment to environmental management.
We operate with care for natural resources, respecting the surrounding environment and aiming to reduce the impact of our extraction activities.
We carefully select quarries and extraction sites according to practices designed to minimise disturbance and visual impact on the landscape. After use, we are committed to restoring and redeveloping extraction areas, helping to enhance the value of the surrounding environment.
We regularly monitor specific environmental indicators within our production processes, promoting initiatives aimed at the efficient use of resources, reducing water and energy consumption, and limiting emissions associated with production activities.
Our approach integrates environmental, social and economic aspects into the planning and management of our activities, taking into account the geomorphological, hydrogeological and landscape characteristics of the territories in which we operate.
Gypsum quarries
An irreplaceable material
An ancient building material, gypsum is still irreplaceable today. Its quality is essential to ensure the best performance applied to building systems.
We began underground mining of the first gypsum quarry in 1993 in Moncalvo (AT), an experience that we later consolidated and tested with other activities also in the province of Asti. Underground mining makes it possible to get to the best part of the deposit, helping to extract gypsum ore that is not contaminated by clays, marls or altered gypsum, as is often the case with opencast quarries.
Underground gypsum mining
For underground gypsum mining we mainly use the chamber and diaphragm method, which involves creating chambers separated by rock diaphragms. The residual chambers are actual tunnels that can be created by means of explosives or mechanical excavation (e.g. borers).
This type of mining allows a limited exploitation of the deposit, but enables a high degree of stability to be maintained at the end of the mining activity and facilitates dust extraction operations during mining, thus guaranteeing a healthy environment for underground workers. The use of innovative technologies for the sector, i.e. drilling using roadheaders, favours the organisational set-up of the mining site, safety for quarry personnel and, above all, considerably reduces the visual impact.
Limestone quarries
Quarrying patterns
We have acquired several decades of experience in operating limestone quarries, managing several different types of activities. Underground crushing best represents our ongoing commitment to rational exploitation of mineral deposits with a limited impact on the surrounding environment. In this case, a tunnel connects the crushing chamber to the outside, where the limestone is transported on conveyor belts for further crushing, screening and finished product storage.
Currently, the limestone quarries operated and managed directly by Fassa are located in Cuneo, Lecco, Brescia, Lucca and Pescara provinces. The extracted material, following a process of crushing and subsequent screening, is used for the production of premixed plasters, lime and other building products.
The example of the Botticino site
The continuous pursuit of quality products led Fassa Bortolo to acquire, in 2009, a crushing and grinding plant at the Botticino marble deposit (Brescia province), where the limestone rock from ornamental stone quarries has a very high calcium carbonate content.
The Botticino site, adapted to meet Fassa’s requirements and standards, can now produce ventilated, micronized and granulated calcium carbonate, graded limestone, limestone for agglomerates and bulk stone.
Its high calcium carbonate content allows it to be used in sectors other than building construction, such as:
- Animal husbandry for the production of animal feed
- Agri-food for calcium supplementation and sugar processing
- Manufacturing, e.g. glassworks, paint production, paper mills
- Chemical industry
- Pharmaceutical industry
- Ecology, for water and fume treatment
In 2016, the Botticino site was awarded internationally-recognised GMP+ certification, a standard that applies to the production, transport and marketing of animal feeds and in particular to the production of their ingredients. Adhering to this standard enables a relationship of trust to be established with customers and all stakeholders, demonstrating that feed ingredients are produced using safe and high-quality processes.
We design our quarrying activities by taking into account the characteristics of the local area, with the aim of ensuring their compatibility with the environmental context throughout the different phases of the project.
Proper planning helps mitigate the impact of operations on the landscape, flora and fauna, and enables the restoration of the site to be planned once extraction activities have been completed.
The restoration project does not necessarily restore the area to its pre-existing condition; rather, it may promote new ways for the community to use the site (for educational and scientific, environmental, sporting, and other purposes) or contribute to its redevelopment.
The case of the Moncalvo (AT) quarry
Acquired in 2000 by Fassa Bortolo, the former “Gessi” quarry in Moncalvo, formerly open-cast and already exploited by other activities, has undergone major environmental remediation. Today, the area appears completely re-landscaped and reveals a gentle morphology with widespread, uniform grass cover over the entire surface. The planting of trees and bushes in 2016 contributed to the vegetation recovery process and has established vegetation similar to that of the surrounding hills.
Quarry report
Example of best practice
We have been selected by Legambiente as one of the examples of best practice in quarrying management. The Legambiente Quarry Report provides an objective snapshot of quarrying activities in Italy, with a special focus on the resulting economic and environmental impacts.
