China bears the best slate deposit in the world, dating back 4 million years. Yet for generations, its only use has been for roof covering in remote villages. It is due to inaccessibility and lack of infrastructure that the export of Chinese slate to the western market only began 2 decades ago.

In China, the local traders knew very little about the technicalities of slate and even less about their target markets. Westerners that travelled to explore the Chinese slate quarries were faced with cultural and political obstacles. Together with an unfamiliar geological and geographical situation, their best effort was to improve local mining and slate production skills. They failed to develop a successful business.

The founders helped the Chinese producers and export of China in the early 90s.

Since then, the quality of Chinese slate improved gradually, China Slate Consortium was formed to manage and co-ordinate the Chinese slate business to ensure the right quality slate for the right projects.