Narrator: In Carrara, Italy, extracting calacatta marble
doesn't always go as planned.
Narrator: It'll take more work to fix,
but luckily, it's still usable.
And in four days, it'll be processed
into one of the most expensive marble slabs in the world.
Just one slab can cost over $10,000.
So how is calacatta mined from mountains?
And what makes it so expensive?
Marble has been used for centuries
by artists and designers.
But calacatta marble isn't just any kind of marble.
A square foot of some calacatta can cost over $400,
more than four times the price of high-end Carrara marble,
which is mined in the same mountains.
Its warm, ivory-white background
and thick gold or gray veins
set calacatta apart from other marbles.
But the key to calacatta's price is its rarity.
It's found only in the Apuan mountains
of Carrara, Italy.
Marble has been mined here for over 2,000 years.
Extracting calacatta marble from the mountains
requires decades of experience.
Enrico has been a miner for 40 years.
He learned from his father,
who worked at the same quarry.
Narrator: It's important that miners have a trained eye
and are precise.
They need to work around the mountain's defects
to avoid the risk of the marble breaking.
These flaws affect where the miners can extract,
how much they can extract,
and, eventually, how much they can sell.
Narrator: Despite Enrico's care and attention,
he doesn't always get the result he wants.
Narrator: But before they can detach the block,
they have to drill and saw.
In the first stage of extraction,
miners use drills to make strategic holes in the mountain.
They then run diamond braid cords through these holes,
cutting the marble into a block.
The machinery is kept wet to protect the marble
as chainsaws help detach the block from the mountain.
An average block is 12 cubic meters
and can weigh 36 metric tons.
It's then carefully loaded into a truck,
which brings it to a processing facility.
Here, the calacatta marble blocks are sliced into slabs.
At this stage, processors can't afford to make a mistake
and risk ruining the rare marble delivered to them.
They mount over 100 very thin blades onto a wet saw,
and the cutting begins.
The saw cuts slabs as thin as 2 centimeters.
Then they're prepared for shaping and polishing.
The slabs are first sanded and pre-smoothed.
Then they're prepared for resination,
or the application of resin
to fill any cracks or holes in the slab.
It's also used to attach broken pieces,
like the ones that cracked at the quarry.
Narrator: And with marble as rare as calacatta,
one mistake can have a big impact on the quality
and final price of the slab.
Narrator: After Sergio checks that the resin
was applied evenly,
he moves it under UV light to dry.
These steps ensure that the slab has no flaws.
Narrator: Then the calacatta slab reaches its final stage.
It's honed and polished until it almost sparkles,
becoming, as Sergio says, shiny to the eye.
It's now ready to be sent to the buyer.
Calacatta is extracted and processed on a per-order basis.
Producers consult the customer every step of the way.
This way, the calacatta is perfectly customized
to the client's needs.
Because once it's fully processed, there's no going back.
Even with these risks and high costs,
customers still want calacatta.
Our customers prefer calacatta because it's a luxury,
it's a high-end product,
it's timeless, and it's classical.
It fits very well with any kind of furniture.
Narrator: White marbles like calacatta are more desirable
because they have fewer flaws than darker marbles,
so they require less maintenance and repairs.
Calacatta is in even higher demand
than other white marbles, like Carrara.
The veins look crisper, less faded.
There are generally fewer veins in calacatta,
making it easier to incorporate
in exterior and interior design.
And it has a softer contrast than other high-end marbles,
like Statuario, which has a milky background,
darker gray veining, and fewer changes in color.
Memo: This is a typical use of calacatta.
It is made in this case to make kitchen countertop.
And you can see the typical calacatta vein.
Narrator: But certain calacatta is even more expensive.
Calacatta gold, referring to the vein color,
is especially hard to find.
While standard calacatta can cost over $10,000,
a calacatta gold slab can reach
more than $29,000.
And while specific pricing is considered an industry secret,
Memo says selling isn't an issue.
Memo: In the last 40 years,
demand for calacatta has actually increased.
And even during times of crisis,
people have had a big desire for this type of material.
Narrator: But this growing demand isn't welcomed
by everyone, especially Carrara locals.
Sawing extraction techniques have led to slurry and waste
being carried to nearby environments through runoff water.
This has impacted local groundwater
and the people who need it.
And environmentalists warn the overexploitation
of the mountains will only make things worse.
But that hasn't shaken demand for calacatta,
or marble in general.
The global marble market is estimated to grow
to $68.5 billion by 2027,
so calacatta will likely remain
one of the world's priciest natural resources.