PRESS RELEASES
LABRADORITE PEACOCK BLUE QUARRY UPDATE: JAN, 2017
SUN MINERALS MADAGASCAR Sarl camp almost complete.
LABRADORITE PEACOCK BLUE QUARRY UPDATE: APRIL, 2016
SUN MINERALS MADAGASCAR Sarl, along with NORCROSS MADAGASCAR GROUP (NMG) will be the exclusive suppliers of blocks and slabs from their Peacock Blue labradorite quarry in Maniry. In May, Sun Minerals plans to start opening the second quarry in their joint venture, with hopes the new area will produce a new color.
LABRADORITE PEACOCK BLUE QUARRY UPDATE: JAN 7, 2016
NMG Group is pleased to announce plans to develop the open side of their labradorite quarry near Maniry. NMG entered into a potential 20-year joint venture with their new partner, SRE (India). The new mining company is named Sun Minerals Madagascar. Production is planned to begin in March. NMG owns and operates the Peacock Blue Labradorite claim now with two separate joint ventures, and into two different quarries.
TUMBLING FACTORY UPDATE: JAN 15, 2015
Norcross's new tumbling factory has entered into its second successful production year. All stones are now in production. New machinery arrived last spring, and a new crusher is arriving later this month. Due to high demand, and limited available production back at the Denver Show in September, larger preorders for Tucson were canceled. Production was sold at the show. Norcross plans to test the market this upcoming Tucson show, and accept larger orders now. Current production capacity is 5 tons per month, with a average of 2.5 tons per month. Production capacity can be scaled at a rate of 100% increase per year to match demand.
A challenge for the NMG tumbling factory has been maintaining inventories of abrasives that are imported from overseas. There were political challenges (ex-explosion in a port in China) which caused a two-month delay in a necessary supply shipment, resulting in decreased production. It was also difficult to predict abrasive consumption while tripling production, and doubling machinery. Now, the tumbling team can plan ahead more accurately with 1.5 years of operating experience.
NMG is proud of this achievement, and plans to develop into a tumbling leader of its own stones. A fundamental difference between Norcross, and other traditional tumbling companies, will be production costs. Norcross tumbles stones from its own quarries, unlike others that require purchasing the stones and, shipping the stones overseas. This means tumbling costs are lower. Also, NMG believes the traditional benchmark quality of tumbled stones to be low, and in September presented the market with a superior product, including stones that had never before been seen tumbled.
NMG president Robert Grant explains "when you purchase rough, the cost for higher grades prevents quality tumbled stones from entering the market. As a quarry operator, our costs are the same for all qualities." Norcross has established a factory that consumes hundreds of tons of rough in general production, and exports more than 1000 tons of rough each year. Grant continues, "Our limiting factor is running our business in Madagascar. This limits the speed at which you can grow. In addition, if anything can go wrong, you prepare for it to go wrong in your plan, in advance."
NORCROSS LAND DEVELOPMENT PLAN: AMBOHIBOB - JAN 15, 2016
The future NMG factory headquarters and land development. NMG group first located the land in 2006 and has been working with the local government since that time. Unfortunately, in 2009, government land office shut down until 2015. NMG has been finally been granted the rights to the land. On Jan 15, NMG held a tree planting ceremony, and worker picnic. 200 trees were planted. The land is large, and can be accessed from the main road via bridge that will be constructed, and will span across a rice paddy.
New factory construction is planned to begin in 2016.
