Natural Stone Company
Testimonials
Canadian Shield Aggregate Ltd.
Steve Bigelow, President
I was introduced to the Natural Stone Company management team while attending the Marble Exhibition in Rajasthan, India in February 2017. I listened to their plans to create a state-of-the-art stone processing facility and followed with keen interest, from concept to completion, the development and construction of their two modern stone slab and tile processing factories located in Kabul, Afghanistan. I visited and toured the Kabul Natural Stone Company headquarters in November 2019 to observe their production line mechanization, discuss marketing logistics planning and corporate readiness for export market sales development. I was impressed by what I observed in Kabul and inspired knowing the production capabilities and quality products these two modern Natural Stone Company slab and tile facilities will enable. This factory tour allowed me to personally inspect these two modern stone processing facilities and to learn the objectives and corporate vision of the Natural Stone Company. Planning with attention to detail was evident with the installation of superior new and energy efficient Italian fabrication machinery. The facilities were designed with a dedicated environmental impact awareness. The ecological footprint has been minimized by incorporating proper waste management planning and engineering. The Corporate philosophy is emphasized by the professional employee etiquette that has been instituted using sophisticated world standard employee training programs for a modern health and safety workplace environment. These facilities will allow The Natural Stone Company to process Afghanistan Marble and Travertine stone blocks which are extracted from their own three quarries. International third-party engineering has identified and laboratory tested samples to confirm these stone products harvested are amongst the highest quality of reserves found throughout the World. The company has secured reliable and economical logistics services to allow their stone products to be shipped to international markets at a cost competitive to other similar leading brands. Warehousing and distribution channels are now being established by management. The Natural Stone Company professional approach, detail to planning, management capabilities and corporate vision will ensure a future success for the Natural Stone Company. The most notable impact this visit left on me is the reality of the hundreds of skilled job positions these production facilities create which will be offered to the people of Afghanistan. It is an impressive and monumental economic development in a country with such rich natural resource mineralization. “Congratulations to what has already been accomplished and the future success to all on the team at the Natural Stone Company.”
Ph.D. in Structural Geology - Dimension Stone International Consultant
Dr. Piero Bettini
My first contact with the President of Natural Stone Company, Eng. Asif Stanekzai, dates back to 2017. Later, when I joined the DAI team of the INVEST / Afghanistan Project, I was able to visit his processing factories in Kabul in August 2019. What I saw really impressed me: two large industrial buildings, well designed and rationally built, which house two Italian cutting and polishing lines for slabs and tiles with remarkable monthly productions. A very large block warehouse equipped with an efficient handling system with a modern gantry crane. And then the recycling of slurries produced during manufacturing, which is quite rare in the country. The stone materials available, to which new and extraordinary quality marble, onyx and travertine are being added, have perfect calibration and polishing, suitable for a variety of applications in every part of the world thanks to a modern and reliable packaging and shipping system. I can therefore certainly affirm, having visited the country since 2011 and personally witnessing the local development of ornamental stone during the last ten years, that Natural Stone Company is the only reliable dimension stone company in Afghanistan able to offer large quantities of high quality finished products at qualitative levels that can easily satisfy the highest market demands.