definition
strict definition
slate quarry
A site where rock from metamorphized clay is extracted from the earth in large blocks or sheets.
A slate quarry is a place where large blocks or sheets of naturally occurring metamorphic rock formed from clay or ash deposits are cut from the earth, mainly for use in construction. Slate is an occasional material for facades and flooring, and is often used as a paving stone.
Slate is recovered as blocks or sheets of metamorphic rock. This differs from digging the fine-grained clay deposits from which some slate originally formed.
The quarry supplies the stone for later use or processing. A place that lays slate paving or cuts delivered slate does not thereby become an extraction site.
