Rocks & soils
The rocks and soils are an important commodity group for Switzerland. This includes raw materials for the brick-and-tile industry, lime and marl for the binder material industry, gravels and sands as well as dimension stone and rock for construction purposes.

Summary
Rocks and soils are designated as bulk raw materials of the construction industry; in a geological sense they occur as rock (hard or unconsolidated rock) and as mineral mixtures. Examples are:
- dimension stone
- imestone and marl
- sand and gravel
- clay
- crushed stone
- hard ashlar
Rocks and soils belong, together with the industrial minerals, to the non-metallic natural resources. Their application in the tile-and-brick, binder material or construction industry is diverse. At the same time, the requirements for the exploration of deposits, processing, refining and market research are particularly high. Unlike with ores, the utilization potential of a deposit can often only be evaluated by means of a feasibility study including industrial-scale production trials. The majority of the locally needed rock and soil is mined and processed inside Switzerland.
Who is who
The Georesources Switzerland Group is the official contact with respect to rock and soil resources in Switzerland. It undertakes investigations of the usable raw materials of our country on behalf of the federal government. In addition, there are various professional associations and societies in this field.
- Georesources Switzerland Group
- Schweizerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Steine und Erden (SASTE)
- Verband Schweizerischer Hartsteinbrüche (VSH)
- Ziegelindustrie Schweiz
- Naturstein-Verband Schweiz (NVS)
- Fachverband der Schweizerischen Kies- und Betonindustrie (FSKB)
- Verband der Schweizerischen Cementindustrie
- Mineral resources network
Data
Publications
- Contributions to the geology of Switzerland – Geotechnical Series
- Reports of the Swiss Geological Survey (new reports on mineral resources: Nr. 11 and 13)
- “Geotechnical Maps“
Geodata
Several extensive collections in the field of Swiss rocks and soils (hand specimens and rock thin sections) are maintained by the Georesources Switzerland Group and can be viewed by prior appointment.

Georesources Switzerland Group
NO F35
Sonneggstrasse 5
CH-8092 Zurich
- Tel.
- +41 44 632 37 28
Rocks & soils
Cement mineral resources