The company is strong in the French market, where it accounts for 10% of the total tempered characters and nerves.
So polite that it is difficult to say no to what he suggests.
He knows how to listen and argue. Santiago Vázquez León (Casaio, 1 January 1968), manager and shareholder of Pizarras Los Tres Cuñados (the trademark is K08), insists from the outset that he does not like to speak in the first person singular, preferring the plural. “We are a team”, whose managers represent the second generation of the founding partners. Each family branch holds 33% of the capital. Mr Vázquez is fluent in Galician (his mother tongue and the language spoken in the company), Spanish, French and English (“although less so”). As part of the company’s social responsibility, he highlights the futsal school in which 150 children from the region are trained.
What a marketing vision! Who were the three brothers-in-law?
-The company has its roots in a family consisting of two sisters (Manuela and Josefa León) and a brother (Manuel). The two sisters married Emiliano Vázquez and Rogelio Arias, respectively. Both of them, as well as Manuel León, the other brother, started working on the slate on the family farms. In the 1950s or 1960s, slate was a subsistence crop. Most families were involved in farming or ranching, and when slate surfaced on a farm, they worked it whenever there was a building construction in the area that required it. When the work was finished, they continued their farming or ranching. To be able to work the slate, all you need is being the owner of the land. This created a large and small operation until 1973, when the Mining Act was published. Land ownership and administrative concessions were required. These concessions established where you could work and the boundaries were set by your squares. These are negotiable rights. That’s how the sector developed.
-You are SMEs, but a big one.
-Turnover and human resources are on the same line, in a sector where there are many employees. Our sector is quite special. The production of each company is different from the others. The markets are the same for all of them, but within them each customer has his own preferences and each slate company has its own suitability.
-What reserves do you have?
-The quarries are concessions. They are measured in mining squares. Our quarries have about 14 to 15 mining squares. What we have worked today, after about 40 years of existence, is equivalent to three grids. We know, like the rest of the sector, that here in Valdeorras the reserves are very abundant. We are not working with a renewable resource, but perhaps the sector’s concern for the future is not the reserves, but the profitability of the reserves.
-Do you have a concession until…?
-Concessions, according to the mining law, have a duration of 30 years, renewable after 30 years until they reach 90 years. All the quarries are currently in their second renewal (they have been exploited for 40-50 years). We do not know what will happen after 90 years either. The law does not provide for this. It would not be logical to think that it will stop, because alongside the concession there are other investments.
Have I understood correctly that not all slates are the same?
-To say that all slates are the same is like saying that all wines are the same. Each has its own characteristics in terms of texture, planimetry, thickness. Therefore, the demand varies.
-How are the slates from Los Tres Cuñados?
-In general, Valdeorras slates have very high quality levels. In France, the smallest thicknesses, 3.8 millimetres, are more in demand. Those of 5 or 6 mm. are more in demand in Germany or England. We work with a slate whose destination countries are generally France and the Benelux countries. We represent 10% of the total French market, with 20,000 tonnes (750,000 square metres per year, equivalent to the roofing of 4,000 average-sized houses of 190 square metres each). Our slate is not fine-grained, it is structured, a bit rough, but it allows us to produce fairly thin thicknesses, from 3.8 millimetres. If you are working on the French market, it is compatible with the slate required in the Pyrenees or the Alps (with more unfavourable climates) or in Normandy, Brittany.
-You are SMEs, but a big one.
-Turnover and human resources are on the same line, in a sector where there are many employees. Our sector is quite special. The production of each company is different from the others. The markets are the same for all of them, but within them each customer has his own preferences and each slate company has its own suitability.
-What reserves do you have?
-The quarries are concessions. They are measured in mining squares. Our quarries have about 14 to 15 mining grids. What we have worked today, after some 40 years of existence, is equivalent to about three squares. We know, like the rest of the sector, that here in Valdeorras the reserves are very abundant. We are not working with a renewable resource, but perhaps the sector’s concern for the future is not the reserves, but the profitability of the reserves.
-Do you have a concession until…?
-Concessions, according to the mining law, have a duration of 30 years, renewable after 30 years until they reach 90 years. All the quarries are currently in their second renewal (they have been exploited for 40-50 years). We do not know what will happen after 90 years either. The law does not provide for this. It would not be logical to think that it will stop, because alongside the concession there are other investments.
Have I understood correctly that not all slates are the same?
-To say that all slates are the same is like saying that all wines are the same. Each has its own characteristics in terms of texture, planimetry, thickness. Therefore, the demand varies.
–How are the slates from Los Tres Cuñados?
-In general, Valdeorras slates have very high quality levels. In France, the smallest thicknesses, 3.8 millimetres, are more in demand. Those of 5 or 6 mm. are more in demand in Germany or England. We work with a slate whose destination countries are generally France and the Benelux countries. We represent 10% of the total French market, with 20,000 tonnes (750,000 square metres per year, equivalent to the roofing of 4,000 average-sized houses of 190 square metres each). Our slate is not fine-grained, it is structured, a bit rough, but it allows us to produce fairly thin thicknesses, from 3.8 millimetres. If you are working on the French market, it is compatible with the slate required in the Pyrenees or the Alps (with more unfavourable climates) or in Normandy, Brittany.
COMPANY
Who are we?
Slate company. Very strong on the French market. Its production reaches 22,000 tons.
Turnover: 14 million euros.
Employees: 80
Headquarters: Casaio (Carballeda de Valdeorras)
Source: La Voz de Galicia – 07 May 2022