Editing Slate (section)

==Extraction==
{{Main|Slate industry}}
[[File:bergwerk-fell-hoffnung.jpg|thumb|The [[Fell Exhibition Slate Mine]] in [[Rhineland-Palatinate]], Germany]]
[[File:bergwerk-fell-stollen2.jpg|thumb|The historical Vogelsberg 1 pit at Fell Exhibition Slate Mine]]
[[File:Mules carrying slate. Dharamsala.jpg|thumb|Mules carrying slate roof tiles on their backs in [[Dharamshala]], India, in 1993]]Slate is found in the [[Arctic]] and was used by [[Inuit]] to make the blades for [[ulu]]s. [[China]] has vast slate deposits; in recent years its export of finished and unfinished slate has increased. Deposits of slate exist throughout Australia, with large reserves quarried in the [[Adelaide Hills]] in [[Willunga, South Australia|Willunga]], [[Kanmantoo, South Australia|Kanmantoo]], and the [[Mid North]] at [[Mintaro, South Australia#Slate and Flagstone|Mintaro]] and [[Spalding, South Australia|Spalding]]. Slate is abundant in [[Brazil]], the world's second-largest producer of slate, around [[Papagaios]] in [[Minas Gerais]], which extracts 95 percent of Brazil's slate. However, not all "slate" products from Brazil are entitled to bear the [[CE marking|CE mark]].<ref>Fundación Centro Tecnológico de la Pizarra. Report into the "Technical properties of Bambui Slate from the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil) to ascertain its compliance with the Standard EN12326". {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100214213924/http://www.spanishslateuk.com/pdf/Brazilian_slate_summary.pdf Brazilian Slate Report]}}, retrieved on 27 January 2010</ref>[[File:Mintaro Slate Quarry 1880.jpeg|thumb|Workers mining slate at Mintaro Quarry in [[Mintaro, South Australia]], {{Circa|1880}}]]
Most slate in Europe today [[Slate industry in Spain|comes from Spain]], the world's largest producer and exporter of natural slate, and 90 percent of Europe's natural slate used for roofing originates from the slate industry there. Lesser slate-producing regions in present-day Europe include [[Slate industry in Wales|Wales]] (with UNESCO landscape status and a [[National Slate Museum|museum at Llanberis]]), [[Cornwall]] (famously the village of [[Delabole]]), [[Cumbria]] (see [[Burlington Slate Quarries]], [[Honister Slate Mine]] and [[Skiddaw Slate]]) and, formerly in the West Highlands of Scotland, around [[Ballachulish]] and the [[Slate Islands, Scotland|Slate Islands]] in the [[United Kingdom]]. Parts of [[France]] ([[Duchy of Anjou|Anjou]], [[Loire Valley]], [[Ardennes]], [[Brittany]], [[Savoie]]) and [[Belgium]] (Ardennes), [[Liguria]] in northern [[Italy]], especially between the town of [[Lavagna]] (whose name is inherited as the term for ''chalkboard'' in [[Italian language|Italian]]) and Fontanabuona valley; [[Portugal]] especially around [[Valongo]] in the north of the country. [[Germany]]'s [[Moselle River]] region, [[Hunsrück]] (with a former mine open as a museum at [[Fell Exhibition Slate Mine|Fell]]), [[Eifel]], [[Westerwald]], [[Thuringia]] and north [[Bavaria]]; and [[Alta (town)|Alta]], [[Norway]] (actually [[schist]], not a true slate). Some of the slate from Wales and Cumbria is colored slate (non-blue): purple and formerly green in Wales and green in Cumbria.

In North America, slate is produced in [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], eastern [[Pennsylvania]], [[Buckingham Slate|Buckingham County, Virginia]], and the Slate Valley region in [[Vermont]] and [[New York (state)|New York]], where colored slate is mined in the [[Granville (town), New York|Granville, New York]], area. A major slating operation existed in [[Monson, Maine]], during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where the slate is usually dark purple to blackish, and many local structures are roofed with slate tiles. The roof of [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York|St. Patrick's Cathedral]] in [[New York City]] and the headstone of [[John F. Kennedy]]'s gravesite in [[Arlington National Cemetery]] are both made of Monson slate.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110108054330/http://www.granville-ny.com/facts.htm Granville: Facts]}} accessed 23 March 2011</ref>