Our pioneering employees, some of whom are still working with us today, recognised the potential in the garnet sand deposits found in the dunes at Port Gregory as an industrial mineral abrasive. Thanks to their observation, innovation, and persistence, GMA commenced its long journey in the supply of abrasive garnet for blasting and waterjet cutting.
The first major sale of GMA Garnet™ was the supply of more than 2,000 tonnes used to clean the pipe joints on the 1,600km Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline project in Western Australia. Today we produce and supply more than 600,000 tonnes of the highest quality garnet to the waterjet cutting and protective coating industries around the world each year.
From this beginning, we started our growth from a simple processing operation with a small suburban office to operating two mines, eight processing plants and 13 offices with over 430 dedicated employees located around the world.
From those first pioneering days over 35 years ago, we have constantly set ourselves the highest standards and have led the way in innovation and improvement across the industry.
We have been contributing to the advancement of waterjet cutting technology and have pioneered the widespread use of garnet for blast cleaning. Our focus on product quality and service has improved the production, safety and environmental impact of abrasive blasting, and through process innovation, we have led the industry in environmentally sustainable production, including the development of recycling technologies.
Importantly, we remain the only garnet supplier to own the source, processing and distribution of our products. This ensures that we can not only provide security of supply of the best product possible, but also to work with, understand and help our customers through to their end use.
We can provide the product, service and expertise to enable our customers the freedom to operate and do their job well.
All of us at GMA, be it the past or present are immensely proud of our achievements over the last 35 years. However, this milestone would not be possible without the support of our customers, so I personally thank all our customers, partners and communities for your support throughout our journey.
While it is wonderful to take a moment to celebrate the proud history of GMA, I can assure you that we are continuing to focus our efforts on forging an even brighter future. We are committed to continuing the growth of our business globally, to the advancement of garnet recovery and reprocessing, and to the constant pursuit of quality products and service.
We look forward to continuing our work together with you, and by putting our customers first, being passionate and hands on, creating change through our pioneering spirit and innovation, we will continue to demonstrate that at GMA we are more than just garnet.