Mr Christos Gravalos spoke to Stonenews.eu about his work in the marble mining sector and his consulting office. With services such as licensing of quarry land, Marble Consulting aims to fill a gap that existed until now in the marble market.
Mr Gravalos, tell us about your role as a qualified engineer in the marble industry. What have been your main activities?
For the last ten years or so, I have been involved as a safety technician and supervising engineer of underground and surface quarry operations in the region of Drama, Kavala, Thasos and the neighbouring countries of North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Over the years, I had the opportunity to expand my responsibilities both in the field of the safe mining process, through geotechnical monitoring, and the bureaucratic procedures required for starting and operating a marble quarry. My primary objective as a site engineer was to explain to employees, managers, and operators alike that safety within quarrying operations can be achievable and meaningful as long as there is a willingness and organisational structure.
Having worked with some of the largest companies in Greece and abroad, you decided to open your own office. How did you make the decision?
As most fellow engineers implement medium- and long-term production plans on construction sites, it was a long-term goal on a personal level that I started implementing in the last few months. It was a decision towards fulfilling internal work and professional goals.
What services does your office offer?
My many years of involvement in different roles within a large quarrying operation was valuable and even more important was the experience gained. The primary services offered by our office are quarry land licensing, the preparation of environmental and technical studies, supervision of operations and most importantly, assistance in maximising extraction through the development of a production plan based on safety, efficiency, and cost in a common component.
In addition to the services available through your office, you also offer training seminars. Tell us about them.
The seminars are not another way to benefit the office. On the contrary, they are held to fill the apparent gap in the understaffing of marble companies, which is due both to the inadequate preparation of a new engineer in joining the construction site and to the lack of time and resources of the entrepreneurs to discover competent staff. The seminars are the distillation of experience and thousands of working days within quarry sites with the conditions and objectives that all your readers know are required. These training seminars are innovative and relevant and aimed at young colleagues who want to get involved in the exciting world of marble. Through them, the practical aspects of quarrying are conveyed in detail, rather than theoretical university knowledge so that potential candidates can cope with their first steps when joining the quarrying business.
Are there any thoughts of expanding the services provided by your office in the future?
Our office has expanded its services both in providing integrated solutions involving geotechnical monitoring equipment, geotechnical data evaluation and geohazard reporting and in the preparation of special periodic reports. These services include specialised software aimed at 3D quarry modelling – 3D quarry modelling. In this way, we encourage quarry companies to integrate it into their management system as the necessary tool for long term sales strategy through a realistic production plan, including stock assessment & production growth in a safe environment.
Soon there will be announcements of partnerships with specialised technical offices and marble industry professionals from Greece and abroad. More details about the services and partners of the office can be found on our website as well as on our social media Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
