Position of the “Noir belge“
marble underground quarry.

Most belgium marble deposits belongs to Palaezoique period around Devonian and Carboniferous eras and their black color is due to a high contain of unaltered organic matter.

The Noir belge marble deposit belongs to a fine-grained calcareous sedimentary formation dated Frasnian era (Upper Devonian – around 360 millions years ago) and located on the northern border of Namur sedimentary basin.

 

Figure 2  : Geological cross-section of the Meuse river and position of the black marble formation.

 

The marble is bedded in thin layers from 15 to 55 cm thick gently dipping toward south around 20°. While block thickness is limited so are not lenght and height. Large sizes are available on requirement.



Originally worked on open ground, the quarry is operated since beginning of XXth century in mines with the rooms ans pillars methods. Exploration is today occuring at a medium depth of 75 meters underground. Very specific equipment are required for the exploration. As the recovery is very small, annual production doesn’t excess 500 cubic meters.

The five main marble layers being exploited are named U, C, D, E and F. Their thickness is given as follow :





U Layer : +/- 40 cm

C Layer : +/- 34 cm

D Layer : +/- 40 cm

E Layer : +/- 55 cm

F Layer : +/- 36 cm