Photo is for reference only. Color, veining, and shading vary between slabs. This stone is brought in per order, so tell us your full run and we will source slabs from the same block.

Nero Marquina

Quarry: Spain
Surface Finish: Polished
Edges: Natural (Unpolished)
Thickness: 18 mm
Requires Sealing: Yes

Low light across a bathroom vanity picks out every white line running through the black. Nero Marquina Marble is crossed by calcite that followed ancient fractures, it stays cool under the hand, and CDO brings it in slab by slab.

Quarry	Spain
Surface Finish	Polished
Edges	Natural (Unpolished)
Thickness	18 mm
Requires Sealing	Yes

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Indent order: brought in for your project rather than held in the yard. Ask your branch about the current lead time.

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Why Choose Nero Marquina

Provides an Upscale Look Deep black under lightning-white calcite, used in Spanish architecture since the sixteenth century and on the CDO indent list today.

Unique Appearance Those veins followed ancient fractures, so the pattern on your slab exists nowhere else.

Feels Cool to Touch Marble draws heat off the hand rather than holding it, which suits baking and gives a bathroom a distinct quality.

Increases Your Home’s Resale Value Buyers across Northern Mindanao register real stone. Marble is read as a permanent upgrade rather than a coating over something cheaper, so it earns its keep again at resale.

What Is Nero Marquina Marble?

A deep black ground under lightning-white veining.

Nero Marquina is black marble out of Spain, recognised by a dense, near-uniform dark ground cut across by sharp white veining. Most marble trades in soft gradation; this one deals in hard edges and high drama.

Those white lines are calcite, laid down along fractures in the original limestone before metamorphism squeezed and recrystallised the lot. That history is why the veins read crisp instead of diffuse.

The fractures that became veins were random, so no two slabs carry the same pattern.

Where Does Nero Marquina Come From?

The quarries lie in the Basque Country of northern Spain, clustered around Markina in the province of Biscay, and the town is where the name came from.

Working there goes back to at least the sixteenth century, and the stone turns up throughout Spanish ecclesiastical and civic architecture. That heritage travels with the material.

Is It Really Marble?

Yes, in the full geological sense. Metamorphosed limestone means calcium carbonate, and calcium carbonate means acid gets to it.

This matters more than it sounds. The slab reads as a hard black surface, people treat it as granite, and that is precisely how a Nero Marquina counter in CDO is wrecked inside its first month.

Should You Choose Slabs or Tiles?

Counters, vanity tops and tabletops all want slabs, because fewer seams let the veining keep running. Continuity is the entire point of a stone this theatrical.

Tiles suit floors and walls, where the smaller format is easier to handle. Tiling a countertop only introduces grout lines that trap dirt and interrupt the veining you paid for.

How Much Does a Nero Marquina Countertop Cost in Cagayan de Oro?

Figures shift without notice, so read the table as a starting point.

Item	Starting Rates
Nero Marquina slab	Quoted per project
Fabrication	₱500 per lm
Installation	₱500 per lm
Sink or hob cut-outs	₱500 per set

Marble is an indent line at the CDO branch, which is why the slab row shows no rate: it is priced against your drawing. Cut-outs are billed only where the installation is ours, and delivery across Northern Mindanao is worked out by distance from the CDO yard.

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Why People Mistake Nero Marquina for Granite

It looks hard. It is not.

Almost every CDO buyer reads a black polished surface as granite. Buyers see depth and gloss, assume the durability that goes with them, and use the counter accordingly.

The material is calcium carbonate. Calamansi, suka, wine and tomato each dissolve a microscopic layer on contact and leave a dull mark no sealer prevents.

Etching shows here more clearly than on any other marble, because a dull spot on high-gloss dark stone catches the eye at once.
Granite is the harder material, so knives and grit mark this where they would leave Absolute Black alone.
Sealing answers staining and does nothing for etching, since etching is a chemical reaction at the surface.
Heat matters less here than acid, though thermal shock can still crack a slab.

For a black counter that shrugs off a busy kitchen, Absolute Black granite gives the same depth at ₱4,200 per sqm, sits in stock rather than on indent and asks for nothing. If the white veining is what you came for, this is the only route to it and the care comes attached.

Put honestly, Nero Marquina is a decorative stone that can serve as a work surface, rather than a work surface that happens to be decorative.

How Do You Clean Nero Marquina Marble?

Three habits, and speed counts for most.

Blot Spills and Drips Promptly

Etching starts in seconds, so calamansi, suka, wine and tomato have to come up the moment they land. Blotting beats wiping, because a wipe widens the contact area.

Use Only Marble-Safe Cleaner

Anything acidic etches the face of the slab, which rules out suka, calamansi and most general-purpose sprays on a CDO supermarket shelf. A pH-neutral marble product is the only safe daily choice.

Always Keep the Surface Dry

Water spots stand out on a black polish, and so does any residue left behind. A dry pass with a microfibre cloth is what holds the contrast sharp.

Our CDO yard carries specially-formulated marble cleaners, so add one to the same order and it arrives with the job.

How Do You Care for Nero Marquina Marble?

Three habits that decide how a slab ages.

Reseal as Needed

Wear finishes a sealer off, not the calendar. Leave a little water on a hidden stretch for fifteen minutes and wipe it away; darkening underneath means the slab is drinking and wants another coat.

Always Use Coasters and Trays

At 3 on the Mohs scale, marble loses to the foot of a ceramic mug. A ring or a chip catches the light on dark polished stone, so coasters and trays count for more here than on a pale CDO counter.

Always Use a Cutting Board

Knife steel outranks the stone, and scratches on a dark polish catch the light and turn obvious. A board is worth the habit, and so is a trivet, because a sudden, extreme temperature change can crack any stone.

Is Nero Marquina Good for Kitchen Countertops?

Only with your eyes open about what it actually is.

Yes, provided you treat it as marble. The failures we see in Cagayan de Oro come from people treating it as granite, which the black polish rather invites.

Handled as marble it performs the way any good marble performs. Blot acids fast, reseal whenever the water test says so, keep boards and coasters in use, and the counter still looks superb decades on.

Treat it as granite and it collects a scatter of dull etch marks inside the first month, and on black gloss those marks show more plainly than on any other stone. A few decisions make the difference between those two outcomes.

A honed finish is the single best call available, because it conceals etching where polished puts it on display.
An island or a feature run suits it better than the working stretch beside the hob and sink.
Pairing it with a harder stone along the prep area buys the drama without the daily risk.
Bathrooms suit it well, since a vanity meets far less acid than a CDO kitchen counter.

Plenty of owners take the patina as character, which is a legitimate and traditional position. Where a pristine surface matters more, buy Absolute Black granite instead and spend the difference somewhere else in the house.

Does Nero Marquina Marble Need Sealing?

Yes, and the slab will tell you when.

Yes. Let the stone set the timing rather than a date. Drop a little water somewhere out of sight, give it fifteen minutes, wipe it off and check underneath. Darkened stone means the sealer has given up and another coat is due. A hard-worked kitchen run can come round as often as every six months, while vanities and floors stretch well past that, and any interval is a guide only.

Pores run right through the stone, and oil, coffee and wine will travel into an unsealed face. Against black, a stain reads as a darker patch rather than a coloured one, which makes it harder to catch early and harder to lift late.

Test whenever you are unsure. A small pool of water, fifteen minutes, then a wipe: a darker patch where it sat means the sealer has worn through and we can supply the replacement.

Sealing cannot touch etching, and that is the limit worth knowing. A sealer stops liquid soaking in; etching is acid dissolving the face of the slab, and the two faults call for different responses. Both are repairable, and CDO can arrange either.

What Colors Go With Nero Marquina Marble?

The contrast is already high, so let everything else stay quiet.

Drama is built into the slab, which means the room around it should step back. Plain cabinetry in white, cream or a pale gray lets the veining do all the work.

White remains the classic pairing and still the strongest. Cabinet white echoes the white in the veins, and the black ground reads as a graphic band drawn between upper and lower runs.

Warm timber softens it considerably, oak and walnut especially. Against stone this stark, warmth is what stops a scheme feeling clinical.

Brass and gold fixtures suit it beautifully, and this is one of the rare stones where they read as deliberate rather than fussy. Chrome and matte black both work in a cooler register.

Leave the backsplash plain, or take the same marble up the wall so the veining carries on. A patterned tile set beside Nero Marquina is a fight nobody wins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Nero Marquina marble or granite?

Marble, in the full geological sense. Metamorphosed limestone means calcium carbonate, and calcium carbonate means acid gets to it.

The confusion is understandable, since a black polished surface reads as granite to most people. Treating it as granite is the commonest way these counters are ruined.

Why the mistake matters

Does etching show badly on black marble?

Yes, worse than on any other marble. A dull spot on high-gloss black catches the eye immediately, where the same mark on a beige stone such as Crema Marfil would barely register.

Honing solves most of it. With no mirror gloss left to interrupt, etch marks become far harder to pick out.

Can etch marks be taken out of Nero Marquina?

Shallow ones, yes. Marble polishing powder buffs the dull spot away and brings the surface back to an even sheen, and most owners manage that themselves on a small mark.

Deeper etching wants a fabricator to hone and re-polish, which CDO arranges. On a heavily marked black counter it is usually simpler to hone the whole top, which also stops the problem recurring.

How does it compare with black granite?

Absolute Black granite gives a similar depth of black at ₱4,200 per sqm, never needs sealing and does not etch. What it has no answer for is the veining.

That is the whole trade. Accept the upkeep and the higher figure if the white lines are the point, or take the granite off the CDO racks if you want a black counter that looks after itself.

Is Nero Marquina good for bathrooms?

Yes, and it is arguably the better room for it. A vanity meets far less acid than a kitchen counter, so the main risk largely disappears.

Watch the cosmetics. Some cleaners, toners and acidic products go after marble as hard as calamansi does, and they get spilled on a vanity more often than people expect.

Will the white veining stain or yellow?

Yes. Calcite veining is more porous than the black ground around it, so it takes up staining more readily, with oil and coffee the usual culprits in a CDO kitchen.

Resealing whenever the water test calls for it is what prevents that. On an unsealed slab the veins are the first place a stain will show itself.

Can Nero Marquina be used for flooring?

Yes, and Spanish architecture has used it that way for centuries. Floors meet less acid than counters, and honed is normally specified.

Honed is also less slippery underfoot. Expect to seal a floor as and when it asks, and bear in mind that black shows dust where a mid-tone stone would not.

Where can you buy Nero Marquina marble in Cagayan de Oro?

Stone Depot brings Nero Marquina in through our Cagayan de Oro yard. It is the only branch we run anywhere in Northern Mindanao. Marble is an indent product: the slab is ordered against your project rather than kept as standing stock, and nobody selects one off a rack in person. Raise lead time with us at enquiry stage.

Veining differs considerably from slab to slab, so give us the full run at order and we will bring them in from one block. The CDO yard opens Monday to Saturday, 8 AM to 5 PM, and you can message us or write to email@stonedepot.com.

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