Taiwan's serpentine is originally formed from basic or ultrabasic rocks within the oceanic crust. These rocks are formed by metamorphism or displacement of geologic processes. They are categorized as metamorphic ultrabasic rocks. All raw material mines are open-pit mines using the bench-cut method. Dimension stone mines are open-pit mines using the bench-cut method, then extracted by drilling splitting method, diamond wire saws or chain saws. Serpentine is normally used for making building materials, fluxes for steel making, artifacts, agricultural fertilizers and environmental engineering.