Quarrying is closely allied to mining. Indeed, it is not always easy to establish the difference between these two forms of mineral extraction. Usually quarrying describes the work of extracting from the Earths crust the various kinds of hard stone or rock required for building, for road-making and for general industry.

The art of quarrying is one of the oldest skills of mankind. It became well established in the stone age when early man dug shallow quarries for the flints and the stones he needed for his tools. The quarrymen became especially skilful about 5,000 years ago when they were able to quarry the large, regular-shaped blocks of stone that were used for building the pyramids in Egypt. In fact, the name "quarry" comes from the Latin verb "quadrare" meaning to make something square. Similar skills in cutting and squaring huge blocks of stone were shown by quarrymen in Pembrokeshire when they quarried the massive pillars now at Stonehenge.

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