Shandong Laizhou: The "green pace" of stone industry

Workers are cutting stone in the cutting workshop of Cheng Jinshi Industry. Photo by Zhang Wuyue/Xinhua News Agency

       Laizhou is one of the granite and marble producing areas in China, with a total proven stone reserves of about 6 billion cubic meters, with sesame white, gold hemp, cherry red, crystal white jade and other varieties, stone products are exported to more than 20 countries and regions. The local stone industry in its heyday has an annual output value of more than 35 billion yuan and employs more than 100,000 people.
       Laizhou plans to build a green building materials industrial park with an area of 19.2 square kilometers, and has taken strong steps in the integration and transfer of stone mining rights, green mining, and standardized industrial park construction.
       In recent years, Global Stone (Shandong) Co., Ltd. has focused on green mine planning, design and mining, industrial park operation, design and development and other business sectors. "An important business segment of our company is green mine planning, design and mining." Sheng Gaobin, general manager of the company, said that with the transformation and upgrading of the local stone industry and the promotion of the construction of green building materials industrial park, their business has expanded from engineering projects to the field of home improvement, strengthening the stone decoration application design service ability, and providing customers with decorative stone system solutions.
       Not long ago at the Laizhou International Stone Exhibition, energy saving, environmental protection and innovation became the key words of the exhibition. Laizhou Municipal government also cooperated with all parties, involving projects such as Laizhou green building materials intensive processing industrial park, supporting facilities construction, and mine ecological restoration, with an investment scale of 6.8 billion yuan.
       "The stone industry should not only create new development space, but also explore new ideas and new methods in expanding the application of stone products and improving product quality, and exert force on both sides of supply and demand." China Stone Association president Chen Guoqing said.