In Saxony, there are fewer and fewer companies that mine building materials such as sand, gravel or natural stone. The Free State is a state rich in raw materials, stated Bert Vulpius from the Mineral Building Materials Business Association (UVMB). However, for the past 5 to 10 years, there have been increasing signs of supply bottlenecks, especially for sand and gravel. This is leading to rising prices, more pollution from road traffic and a poorer CO2 balance as a result of longer transportation routes. "In Saxony, the prices for sand/gravel products rose by around 40 percent in the 2019/2023 comparison period," Vulpius calculated. This would make construction projects even more expensive.
According to figures from the Upper Mining Authority in Freiberg, there were still 285 open-cast mines in this country in 2010, in which around 37 million tons of building materials were extracted. In 2021, there were only 208 operations with an annual production of 32 million tons. "These figures reflect the ups and downs in the construction industry on the one hand and a steady decline in the number of operations on the other," stated Chief Mining Inspector Bernhard Cramer.
