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News Briefs - Sept. 23, 2008 |
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Tuesday, 23 September 2008 |
• Electric-power problems are hurting Pakistan’s dimensional-stone industry, according to an industry representative. Pakwatan.com reported claims from Sanaullah Khan, former chairman of the All Pakistan Marble Mining Processing Industry and Exporters Association (PMMPIEA) that the Karachi Electric Supply Co. is carrying out 10-12 hours load shedding daily. Interruptions in supply, along with a 31-percent increase in power rates, are factors in a 50-percent decline in domestic stone consumption and a drop in exports, Khan added.
• Among the newest companies earning certification from the Marble Institute of America as Accredited Natural Stone Fabricators are Marble Emporium, Northbrook, Ill.; Innovative Surfaces, Hastings, Minn.; Ferazzoli Imports of New England, Middletown, Conn.; MARBLEX, Fairfax, Va.; Johnson Granite, Mt. Airy, N.C.; and Creative Countertops, Las Vegas.
• CCS Stone is now the exclusive supplier of Glassos™, a crystallized glass panel with 6.5 hardness and zero porosity, with a pure white finish resembling White Thassos marble. The Moonachie, N.J., company stocks the materials in tiles and slabs, and can be cut to size.
• Pietro Milani, the director of Walker Zanger’s Italian operations since 1971, received the Maestro del Lavoro (Master of Work) for the Stella al Merito del Lavoro (Medal for Excellence in a Profession) from the president of the Italian Republic in a May 8 ceremony in Florence. The title denotes that Milani is seen as one of the country’s most-respected workers in his industry; Milani’s been with the Sylmar, Calif., stone producer and distributor for nearly 40 years, and he began working with stone in Carrara quarries in 1956.
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