Quarrying in Hong Kong since World War Two

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Quarrying in Hong Kong Since Second World War
Ir Dr. S.W. Poon, Ir K.Y. Ma, Ir K.F. Man, Mr. T.W. Tsin, Dr. Y. Deng
1. Introduction
Hong Kong is a small place with a land area of about 1,100 square kilometers and a total
combined sea and land surface area of about 2,700 square kilometers. The topography is
rugged and hilly with slopes rising steeply from the sea with little coastal plain. Much of the current urbanized flat coastal fringe is the result of various stages of man made reclamation in the past years. The quarrying industry is one of the oldest industries in Hong Kong, dated back to the early period of Qing Dynasty. In the past 170 years the quarrying industry has made valuable contributions to the development of Hong Kong by providing the materials for construction of a metropolis with its vast infrastructure. At present, although there are less than a hundred workers in two active quarries, its contribution to the development of Hong Kong still continues.
The geology of Hong Kong is predominantly volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks (Figure 1).
The igneous rocks, mainly fine to medium grained granites, are an excellent stone for building.
Granite has been used as the basic raw material for the territory construction and building
industries since the 1840s; originally as dressed stone for building blocks and latterly as
aggregates in concrete. Construction of warehouses and residential houses for overseas