Aggregates are among the most common natural resource used in everyday's life, having enhanced life quality. They are essential for construction, being utilized in nearly all residential, commercial, and industrial building construction and most public work projects such as roads, highways and bridges, railroad beds, dams, airports, tunnels, and many others. In the future, the rebuilding of deteriorated roads, highways, bridges, airports, seaports, and private and public buildings will require vast amounts of aggregate. Although it is almost impracticable to know the total amount of aggregates extracted every year globally, it is roughly estimated that annual aggregate production totals about 25 billion tons. Both developed and developing nations require extensive use of aggregates.

Manuel Bustillo Revuelta is a Professor at the Faculty of Geology, Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), teaching Mineral Resources, Industrial Rocks, and Construction Materials for more than 40 years. He has published numerous books about the topics mentioned before, already both in English and Spanish. Professor Bustillo has also collaborated with different mining companies.