[La Tribune] Idle for seven years, the Cap Corse stone extraction site is starting up again
Dormant since 2018, the Petre Scritte quarry in Brando, a fishing village on Cap Corse ten kilometres north of Bastia, is due to restart this May.
Construction du Cap, a subsidiary of the Groupe Brandizi founded 40 years ago, has been granted its operating permit by the State following a public inquiry focused on the environment, whose conclusions were favourable.
Good news for the local economy, from which the municipality of Brando will benefit both in terms of image — the stone that bears its name is a precious heritage and historical asset — and economically. On the jobs front, some fifteen people will be hired in the first phase of the restart.
For its budget, in return for a 30-year lease, the municipality will receive an annual rent of €100,000, having already recovered the “tab” left unpaid by the previous operator, i.e. €500,000.
In addition, to calm things down after an outcry from several environmental associations, the mayor, Patrick Sanguinetti, has set up a monitoring committee to ensure strict compliance with all the environmental requirements imposed by the DREAL, the regional environmental authority.
Such a long wait
The prefectoral permit allows annual extraction of 200,000 tonnes on a 96-hectare sloping site — a balcony over the sea — of which the worked areas will not exceed 10% of the total surface.
The company is currently erecting a 2,000 m² building on site — a one-million-euro investment — to house the new cutting and shaping machines.
“After such a long break, we have a whole market to rebuild,” explains a rather confident Hugo Brandizi, the third generation of a family of quarrymen and stonecutters.
Despite the dramatic fall in public procurement, Pierre de Brando could break out… of the prevailing gloom. “Expectations are high. As soon as the reopening of the quarry was announced, we were contacted by the Corsican roofers’ association, which has been struggling for years with supply problems and counterfeit roof slates.
The enthusiasm is also palpable among local authorities, especially mayors with monuments and heritage buildings to restore, many of which were built in Pierre de Brando…”
Now endorsed by the Bâtiments de France for its physical and ornamental qualities, as well as by the regional scientific council for the natural heritage of Corsica, Pierre de Brando is a quartzite of the marble family, non-porous, unaffected by frost and salt, which once cut offers a palette of colours ranging from maquis green to Mediterranean blue.
It was used from the early 11th century for many Romanesque churches and reached its peak under the Second Empire. It paved the streets and avenues of major Mediterranean cities — Marseille, Nice, Livorno, Genoa… — but also the forecourts of memorials, harbour quays (once those of Cannes) and even the casino in Aix-en-Provence.
The company will also attend trade fairs dedicated to natural stone, in the hope of attracting national and international distributors and growing its exports again.
Winning back the market
Like the shelves of a supermarket, the quarry’s distinct strata open up three ways of winning back the market:
a “marble” branch producing art stones, used as a high-end material for kitchen worktops or to clad bathroom floors and walls;
a “building stone” line dedicated to restoring historic, public and religious heritage;
roof slates for traditional roofing, a craft handed down on the island since time immemorial.
The reopening of the Brando quarry has angered environmentalists, who fear excessive dust and noise, water consumption and heavy-goods traffic on the Cap road, which is very popular with tourists.
The prospect of the municipal elections is also, understandably, giving the opposition wings.
“The surfaced tracks will be watered, air quality and noise levels regularly measured, rainwater collected, and there will only be around ten extra lorries on the road each day,” Hugo Brandizi is keen to reassure, adding that activity will be suspended in summer.