GMA GARNET™️

40 years of innovation

GMA Garnet is building on our legacy of innovation as we create new possibilities for the world’s best garnet.

GMA GARNET™️

40 years of innovation

GMA Garnet is building on our legacy of innovation as we create new possibilities for the world’s best garnet.

Driven by innovation. Engineered to perform.

From the very beginning, GMA has strived to deliver exceptional performance, and in our pursuit, we reshaped industries worldwide. In celebration of 40 years of innovation, our leaders reflect on the moments that define us — and what is shaping the future of GMA, our products and our people.

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Our story

Reimagining possibilities

An unshakable belief in the potential of garnet brought our founders together, who went on to change industries forever.

Over 40 years ago, a rich garnet deposit was discovered near the coastal town of Port Gregory in Western Australia. There was no known use for the mineral or interest in its potential. Yet a visionary few became captivated by the tiny red grains’ remarkable properties.

Our founding team knew garnet abrasives would redefine sandblasting performance while minimising costs to business and community. The trouble was the magic mineral was unheard of. Minds and habits needed changing. It would take years of perseverance to pay off — but quality prevailed.

Today, GMA Garnet™ continues to solve complex problems in unexpected ways. Our garnet restores the architectural beauty of some of the world’s most historic landmarks, and creates new and iconic structures for our most progressive visionaries. It moves projects and industries forward. All this is the work of one mineral.

Much has changed since GMA’s humble beginnings, yet we remain focused on a single goal: to maximise our customers’ performance. Looking ahead, we will continue to lead the way in the spirit of our founders — because garnet can redefine possibilities for us all.

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Innovation defines our legacy.

Abrasive blasting changed forever when our visionary team uncovered the remarkable potential of garnet. Innovation is GMA’s legacy, and 40 years on, we are still redefining what’s possible.

Engineered to perform.

Whether you are blasting or cutting, performance is everything. For 40 years, GMA has helped achieve results on every single job, and we remain committed to maximising your performance.

One mineral. Infinite possibilities.

Innovation is more than imagining possibilities — it’s creating them. GMA steps up to take industries forward, and beyond 2023, we envision a bold new era redefining the potential of garnet.

Torsten Ketelsen

‘I was fascinated when I saw this pink mineral, but nobody wanted it. The big miners considered it a nuisance because its abrasiveness messed up their equipment. But I felt there must be a market for it.’

Torsten Ketelsen

GMA Founder & Former Executive Chairman

Flynn Cowan

‘Being part of a global future-focused business is exciting. We are transforming and focusing on sustainability as the world turns its attention to that space. We want to be there as we innovate.’

Flynn Cowan

GMA General Manager, International Sales & Marketing

Andreas Horn

‘Our goal has always been to increase our customers’ productivity. The future for GMA is about developing new products to support improved performance while ensuring they are safe to use.’

Andreas Horn

GMA General Manager, Global Mining & Production

Milestones behind the world’s best garnet

What became known as GMA Garnet Group established

A large unique deposit of hard, tough, dense, subangular alluvial garnet was discovered on the coast of Western Australia. No viable commercial use for such a quantity of garnet existed at the time, however our founders saw the potential in the mineral and started searching for opportunities.

GMA founded

1983 is considered GMA’s founding year, when a small production facility was built and marketing placed industrial garnet on the global stage. A dry processing plant was established at Narngulu in Geraldton, Western Australia. Container shipments to Europe and the Middle East commenced.

GMA opens in the Middle East

GMA Garnet Middle East was established with a bulk handling and packaging plant in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai. Five years later, the Jebel Ali waste management recycling plant was established in the United Arab Emirates.

GMA extends to the U.S.

GMA gained a foothold in the Americas by establishing GMA Garnet USA in Houston, Texas, with loose bulk handling plants and warehouses throughout North America. Four years later, GMA Americas opened a recycling, bulk handling, and packaging plant near New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.

Next Generation abrasives

The Next Generation abrasives range took shape in 2011 with the significant development of engineered blends for the blast abrasives market. Engineered blends, a non-conforming grade, had a wider distribution of both cutting and cleaning grain sizes.

Garnet sales exceed 650,000t annually

GMA Garnet™ is a trademarked product recognised globally as the standard in quality. Our operations comprise 15 processing plants serving 100 countries. Today, more than 500 GMA employees maximise our customers’ performance and help build a sustainable future for all.

The GMA difference

Innovation Performance Reliability Sustainability

Pioneers of innovation

From pioneering the use of garnet in blasting and waterjet cutting to developing our engineered blends, innovation has always been at our core. That means we pursue exceptional performance with an unwavering commitment to quality, which flows onto our customers.

Engineered for performance

At GMA, we believe performance is everything. We engineer garnet abrasive products that deliver exceptional speed and cleanliness and meet safety and environmental standards to help you optimize any blasting or waterjet cutting application.

Unmatched reliability

You can count on GMA for secure supply that ensures seamless operations. We pride ourselves on consistency as the only garnet supplier to manage the entire supply chain, including the highest quality control standards — from start to finish.

Leading sustainability

Our team is committed to developing a sustainable future for our business, our customers, our employees, and the communities and environment we live and work in. That leadership is what has made the safest abrasive products in the industry possible.

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The future of innovation

Reshaping industries

Blasting abrasives changed forever when our founders uncovered the remarkable potential of garnet. Today, GMA continues to redefine possibilities with our high-performance engineered blends.

Unexpected applications

Our founders took an extraordinary mineral, developed, tested and persevered until garnet abrasives became standard in blasting and waterjet cutting. We continually explore unique avenues in research and development to maximise the performance of garnet within existing and emerging industries.

Stewards of sustainability

Challenges in worker health and safety, and the environment drive us to create better solutions. We continue to lead positive change, championing sustainability through our garnet reprocessing programs.

Discover the GMA Garnet™ range

Find the right garnet abrasive for your project to maximise performance and minimise risk.

Blasting abrasives range

Create the specified surface profile up to 70% faster than slag abrasives.

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Waterjet garnet range

Achieve a precise cutting edge with high speed and low abrasive consumption.

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