Grade determination from systematic color and fracture mapping enables smart quarrying of dimension stone

The dimension stone industry lacks a quantitative, real-time grade equivalent to that used in metallic mining, resulting in suboptimal resource utilization and production planning. This study proposes an operational grade for dimension stone defined by two intrinsic characteristics: color quality and structural integrity. Through a year-long case study at a marble quarry, these variables were systematically mapped in 205 large primary blocks, and a spatially explicit block value (BV) map was generated. The calculated BV ranged from 1 to 5 across the bench, with a mean of 2.8; only 6% of blocks attained the highest BV category, while 12% fell into the lowest. Discontinuity analysis revealed that the cutting direction could be aligned with the dominant joint set to improve block recovery. By applying this information to adjust the extraction sequence, the quarry achieved a 14% higher marketable block productivity and a 14% reduction in waste volume relative to the quarry-wide average. The BV grade map served as an internal benchmark, enabling real-time production decisions without requiring a pre-existing baseline. This framework provides a quantitative grade metric for dimension stone, filling a long-standing gap, and demonstrates how site-specific geological intelligence can drive more efficient, sustainable, and smart quarrying.