The region

The Blanco Macael is mostly extracted around the town of Macael, which is located in the southeastern province of Almeria - Spain. The history of this town is directly related to its major wealth, the marble, from where the town's denomination of White Gold Town comes from. History says that there were many people using this natural resource in the past. Initially it were the Phoenicians that used the marble to build coffins. The Muslims followed, where quarries gained great fame and large quantities of marble were extracted in order to supply large construction projects such as the Alcabaza in Almeria or the Pateo de los Leones in Alhambra.


During the 17th and 18th centuries Macael started to see a progressive population growth, mainly due to the economic prosperity generated by the marble. Today, the local economy still relies heavily on this natural stone, which has seen an enormous process of industrialization and mechanization in order to improve the marble's extraction and handling. This has allowed the large scale commercialization of the marble and its diverse applications in monumental constructions, interior decoration, cladding and flooring, among many others.

The marble

The Blanco Macael marble is explored by a large number of companies around the town of Macael, with some exploration taking place around El Chive (a town located located south of Macael). The quarries are considered of large dimension, where the blocks extracted are mostly of medium dimension and limited height. It is estimated that there are considerable reserves of this marble, despite the well established traditional industry that is extracting this stone for a long time.

The Blanco Macael is a marble with a great tradition and history in Spain, where it is associated with the development of a high standard stonework (found in many historical buildings). And despite the strong competition of similar marbles from other Mediterranean countries, the Blanco Macael manage to be a reputable natural stone throughout the World, with an interesting market acceptance in different countries.

Overall analysis

Some of the most positive aspects of the Blanco Macael marble are the reputation and recognition that it has gained in the past. It is a very hard and compact stone that can be found in very good condition in historical buildings throughout Spain. Its beautiful white uniform colour does an amazing work in combination with other stones. In addition, it is a stone with future, due to its considerable reserves.

On the other hand, it is important to say that most Blanco Macael blocks do not have a large dimension and it is difficult to find the pure white coloured Blanco Macael with no veinage. For these reasons, the pure Blanco Macael has become quite an expensive and exclusive stone. And for instance, for the feasability of large scale projects, it is necessary to blend different qualities of the same stone.