The stone is taken from the quarry in huge room-sized blocks called tables, then sawed into slabs and polished. It is graded for flaws every step along the way. Each table is too heavy for the cranes to raise so they are cut into from 25 to 30 smaller blocks and brought to the surface. There are about 35 workers on each of the 2 shifts per day. They work 10 months a year. The mine closes down in January and February due to the cold weather and snow.

Looking around in this picture you can see the 12 flights of stairs on the back wall leading down to a level where there is some equipment and buildings. This will give you an idea of how big the quarry is.

The workers are transported into and out of the mine with this yellow skip. They also come back up at lunch time. It was lunch time when we were there so we saw this transportation take place.

Holes are drilled vertically about 4 inches apart using a water drill and then a special side drill cuts across the bottom. Then the huge table is divided into smaller blocks called tables, that the cranes are able to bring out of the quarry. This is the size the blocks are.