Key characteristics of quarry fines from granite and basaltic rocks, and alluvial sand were studies, as well as mortars prepared using these three types of aggregates. In the civil construction industry, there are two basic materials used in large-scale volumes: concretes and mortars. Aggregates are used in the preparation of these materials - they are of a fundamental importance, since they impact from preparation process to both short and long term performance of these materials. Traditionally, mortars are prepared with fine aggregate, the natural sand, that comes from river beds and margins, concretes are prepared with this same fine aggregate and also with coarse aggregate, crushed rock, resulting from the crushing process. In this process the quarry fines are generated, comprising grains not bigger than 5mm in diameter. Nowadays, there are researches in progress that aim at evaluating the performance of mortars prepared with quarry fines instead of natural sand. Such replacement induces many benefits: for the producer of crushed rock which will not see fines as rejects from its mining anymore but as a byproduct and/or product, for the environment, the impact caused by the huge open-cut stockpiles of fines in the yards of rock crusher producers will decrease or even be eliminated. Sand extraction from river beds and margins will decrease, and this will bring benefits to the environment as, for example, reduction of rivers' silting up, mortar's cost will be reduced making it more affordable to the unprivileged.
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