This has been a common theme with some types of quartzite. Here's two threads that may help you but there are many others. Some people were able to get the staining out and reseal only to have it return.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5485633/quartzite-advice-the-counter-is-staining#n=344

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4862644/white-macaubus-quartzite-stained#n=52

So, with quartizite, is this just destined to happen you think?

@Business_Name_Placeholder - no, not if what you have is real quartzite. For example, what you are experiencing would not happen with a quartzite like Taj Mahal quartzite. A real quartzite should not need sealing. Unfortunately, marbles and sandstones are often mislabelled as quartzite. But marbles and sandstones are quite porous, while quartzite is not.

Here is a link to article to read on this topic. It also talks about how to test a stone to see if it is real quartzite.

http://usenaturalstone.org/definitive-guide-quartzite/

It looks like marble. What was the name they gave you for it?

Your quartzite looks very similar to mine (fantasy macaubus/infinity white/florida wave are the various names I’ve seen this stone called). Mine is a true quartzite and not a marble as it passed all of the quartzite tests. The whiter quartzites can be very porous (that doesn’t define whether they’re a true quartzite, per numerous threads by our resident geologist) and this edge staining has been theorized to be either silicone bleed or water during fabrication that’s trying to push its way out months later, or a combo of both.

I personally lean toward silicone bleed because it seems to happen to some installed slabs and not others. I have what I think is the identical stone but I do NOT have this edge staining. Our fabricator was very experienced working with quartzite and HAD heard of this happening within the industry (I ran from one fabricator who claimed he’d never heard of it and denied it was a risk). We had multiple discussions with our (amazing) fabricator about how best to mitigate silicone bleed and he confirmed that they use high quality non-bleeding adhesive. We also did not have mitered edges (3cm stone), and we had them seal our faucet hole after drilling it out. So far, so good, but who knows if our luck will eventually run out a few years down the road. But we have very realistic expectations about the potential for it to occur and we know we did everything possible to minimize it.

I’m very sorry this took you by surprise and I hope you’re able to lessen the edge staining using many of the techniques in the threads linked by @vinmarks. Your counters are drop dead gorgeous and I hope you can continue to love them. Good luck!

Mitered edges are adhered with a methacrylate or polyester, not silicone. So what you're seeing is probably adhesive bleed. Silicone bleed happens around sinks.

There are plenty of genuine quartzites that are porous and bleed, however, there are adhesives that don't bleed.

Thank you for the corection, Joseph - I should have been referring to it as ADHESIVE bleed, not silicone bleed.

I have the same issue with my stone…a true quartzite. silicone bleed/adhesadhesive bleed. always seems to be the quartzites that resemble this stone. i have it around my sinkks, my rangetop and my mitered edge island. Disgusting and irritating.

confident that my stone will have to be replaced.

Forgive the typos. some glitch in my ability to post on this site.

ILoveRed:

Post pictures with dimensions please. Maybe your edges can be ripped off, reprofiled, polished, and your sinks replaced.