A Marble Sawmill

The Estremoz Borba Vila Viçosa region hosts numerous quarries which extract marbles renowned throughout the world, and particularly the pink marble, which rarity turns into a highly demanded product.

This sawmill transforms marble blocks of several dozen tons into laminas which are shipped to all countries. It has been operating for around thirty years on a fenced plot of 2,625 hectares on the edge of Vila Viçosa. We find there :
An office of 12m x 5m, composed of 2 rooms and a bathroom
The industrial building, composed of restrooms / locker room, an office and a large space where 2 huge machines are installed for sawing large blocks: Mapor Engenio range 70 blades from 1985 and range 60 blades from 1990
At the front of the building, there is the marble storage space (for products before and after cutting) ; a 22m long Mapor gantry from 1990, allowing large blocks (maximum 22 tonnes) to be moved ; and a high-speed (1m/hour) Mapor Monoblade industrial saw from 1990, allowing them to be cut to the dimensions required for their sawing (maximum 3m X 1.70m X 1.75m).
At the rear, the various decantation basins for the water used by the industrial saws, with a capacity of 340 m3. Their cleaning is ensured by a powerful pump and an Atlascopo compressor.
The residue (marble powder) is stored on the adjacent land.

The sawmill is connected to the main electricity network and has its own transformer station. The water necessary to run the sawmill is supplied by 2 boreholes of 30,000 litres / hour.

The small town of Vila Viçosa is renowned for its pink marble which covers the streets and the facades of the houses, for its castle and its Palace which was the residence of the Dukes of Bragança until the proclamation of the Republic. It is located in the Alentejo countryside, in the middle of undulating fields dotted with oaks and olive trees. It is 10 minutes from the motorway which connects Lisbon (2 hours) to Madrid. The Spanish border is 45 minutes away.