Bicol University

College of Engineering
Legazpi City

Research in Metallurgical Analysis

Clays

Submitted by:

GROUP 8
Julius Banez
Renier Villar
Sarah Mae Ajon
Dailyn Nivero
BSEM – 3

Submitted to:

Engr. Victor Florece

Professor
I. Introduction

Clay is a common name for a number of fine-grained, earthy materials that become
plastic when wet. Chemically, clays are hydrous aluminum silicates, ordinarily containing
impurities, e.g., potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, or iron, in small amounts.

The term 'clay' has been used in several ways: (1) to designate very fine grained
particles of less than 0.004mm diameter, (2) as a rock composed essentially of clay minerals
and (3) as a mineral group known as 'clay minerals'. As a rock, it is composed of materials
which are earthy in appearance and composed mainly of extremely fine grained mineral
particles.

Chemical and Physical Properties

Properties of the clays include plasticity (malleable and capable of being molded into
any form when moistened with water), shrinkage under firing and under air drying, fineness of
grain, color after firing, hardness, cohesion, and capacity of the surface to take decoration.
Most have the ability to soak up ions from a solution and release the ions later when conditions
change.

Water molecules are strongly attracted to clay mineral surfaces. When a little clay is
added to water, a slurry forms because the clay distributes itself evenly throughout the water.
This property of clay is used by the paint industry to disperse pigment (color) evenly throughout
a paint. Without clay to act as a carrier, it would be difficult to evenly mix the paint base and
color pigment. A mixture of a lot of clay and a little water results in a mud that can be shaped
and dried to form a relatively rigid solid.

Another important property of clay minerals, the ability to exchange ions, relates to the
charged surface of clay minerals. Ions can be attracted to the surface of a clay particle or taken
up within the structure of these minerals. The property of clay minerals that causes ions in
solution to be fixed on clay surfaces or within internal sites applies to all types of ions, including
organic molecules like pesticides. Clays can be an important vehicle for transporting and widely
dispersing contaminants from one area to another.

Individual clay particles are always smaller than 0.004 mm. Clays often form colloidal
suspensions when immersed in water, but the clay particles flocculate (clump) and settle quickly
in saline water. Clays are easily molded into a form that they retain when dry, and they become
hard and lose their plasticity when subjected to heat.

Commoner Varieties

The commoner varieties of clay and clay rocks are china clay, or kaolin; pipe clay,
similar to kaolin, but containing a larger percentage of silica; potter's clay, not as pure as pipe
clay; sculptor's clay, or modeling clay, a fine potter's clay, sometimes mixed with fine sand;
brick clay, an admixture of clay and sand with some ferruginous (iron-containing) matter; fire
clay, containing little or no lime, alkaline earth, or iron (which act as fluxes), and hence infusible
or highly refractory; shale; loam; and marl.

Formation

Clays and clay minerals occur under a fairly limited range of geologic conditions. The
environments of formation include soil horizons, continental and marine sediments, geothermal
fields, volcanic deposits, and weathering rock formations. Most clay minerals form where rocks
are in contact with water, air, or steam. Examples of these situations include weathering
boulders on a hillside, sediments on sea or lake bottoms, deeply buried sediments containing
pore water, and rocks in contact with water heated by magma (molten rock). All of these
environments may cause the formation of clay minerals from preexisting minerals. Extensive
alteration of rocks to clay minerals can produce relatively pure clay deposits that are of
economic interest (for example, bentonite ‹primarily montmorillonite ‹used for drilling muds and
clays used in ceramics).

Clay consists of a sheet of interconnected silicates combined with a second sheetlike

grouping of metallic atoms, oxygen, and hydroxyl, forming a two-layer mineral such as kaolinite.
Sometimes the latter sheetlike structure is found sandwiched between two silica sheets, forming
a three-layer mineral such as vermiculite. In the lithification process, compacted clay layers
can be transformed into shale. Under the intense heat and pressure that may develop in the
layers, the shale can be metamorphosed into slate.

Uses

The plastic clays are used for making pottery of all kinds, bricks and tiles, tobacco pipes,
firebricks, and other products. As a building material, it is used in the form of brick , either sun-
dried (adobe) or fired. Clays are also of great industrial importance, e.g., in the manufacture
of tile for wall and floor coverings, of porcelain, china, and earthenware, and of pipe for drainage
and sewage. Highly absorbent, bentonite is much used in foundry work for facing the molds and
preparing the molding sands for casting metals. The less absorbent bentonites are used chiefly
in the oil industry, e.g., as filtering and deodorizing agents in the refining of petroleum and,
mixed with other materials, as drilling muds to protect the cutting bit while drilling. Other uses
are in the making of fillers, sizings, and dressings in construction, in clarifying water and wine, in
purifying sewage, and in the paper, ceramics, plastics, and rubber industries.

Clay as a Soil

Clay is one of the three principal types of soil, the other two being sand and loam. A
certain amount of clay is a desirable constituent of soil, since it binds other kinds of particles
together and makes the whole retentive of water. Excessively clayey soils, however, are
exceedingly difficult to cultivate. Their stiffness presents resistance to implements, impedes the
growth of the plants, and prevents free circulation of air around the roots. They are cold and
sticky in wet weather, while in dry weather they bake hard and crack. Clods form very often in
clayey soils. Clays can be improved by the addition of lime, chalk, or organic matter; sodium
nitrate, however, intensifies the injurious effects. In spite of their disadvantages, the richness of
clay soils makes them favorable to the growth of crops that have been started in other soil.
II. Types and Classifications of Clay

On the basis of such qualities clays are variously divided into classes or groups; products are
generally made from mixtures of clays and other substances.

Mineral contents of Clay:

The dominant minerals in a clay are usually layer silicates and fine silica (quartz),
together with smaller amounts of iron sulphides and oxides, titanium minerals, various
carbonates, and organic matter. The layer silicates (phyllosilicates) can be classified into
various groups, according to their chemical composition and the layer structure of their crystal
lattice. The layers are composed of various combinations of tetrahedral silica sheets and
octahedral hydrated aluminium oxide sheets, frequently with appreciable amounts of potassium,
calcium, magnesium, sodium, and iron.

™ Kaolinite Al2Si2O5(OH)4

It is a white mineral consisting of a hydrous silicate of aluminum that constitutes the

principal mineral in kaolin.

Figure 1: Authigenic kaolinite plates covering a quartz grain overgrown with authigenic quartz. SEM image of a core
sample.

Physical Properties of Kaolinite

Cleavage: {001} Perfect
Color: White, Brownish white, Grayish white, Yellowish white, Grayish
green.
Density: 2.6
Diaphaneity: Transparent to translucent
Fracture: Earthy - Dull, clay-like fractures with no visible crystalline
affinities, (e.g. howlite).
Habit: Earthy - Dull, clay-like texture with no visible crystalline affinities,
(e.g. howlite).
Hardness: 1.5-2 - Talc-Gypsum
 Luminescence: Non-fluorescent.
Luster: Earthy (Dull)
Streak: white

Figure 2: White chalky ammonioalunite on darker kaolinite.

™ Montmorillonite (Na,Ca)0,3(Al,Mg)2Si4O10(OH)2•n(H2O)

- a soft clayey water-absorbent mineral that is a hydrous aluminum silicate.

Figure 3: Authigenic smectite (montmorillonite) overgrown on pore spaces and authigenicly-overgrown quartz grains in a
sandstone. SEM image of a core sample.

Physical Properties of Montmorillonite

Cleavage: {001} Perfect
Color: White, Gray white, Yellow, Brownish yellow, Greenish yellow.
Density: 2 - 2.7, Average = 2.35
Diaphaneity: Translucent to Opaque
Fracture: Earthy - Dull, clay-like fractures with no visible crystalline
affinities, (e.g. howlite).
Habit: Earthy - Dull, clay-like texture with no visible crystalline affinities,
 (e.g. howlite).
Hardness: 1.5-2 - Talc-Gypsum
Luminescence: Non-fluorescent.
Luster: Earthy (Dull)
Streak: White

Figure 4: Bright pink chalky massive montmorillonite.

™ Attapulgite /Palygorskite (Mg,Al)2Si4O10(OH)•4(H2O)

- is a kind of crystalloid hydrous magnesium-aluminum silicate mineral.

Figure 5: Compact massive palygorskite.

Physical Properties of Palygorskite

Cleavage: {110} Good
Color: White, Gray, Brownish white.
 Density: 2.1 - 2.2, Average = 2.15
Diaphaneity: Translucent
Fracture: Uneven - Flat surfaces (not cleavage) fractured in an uneven
pattern.
Habit: Earthy - Dull, clay-like texture with no visible crystalline affinities,
(e.g. howlite).
Habit: Massive - Fibrous - Distinctly fibrous fine-grained forms.
Hardness: 2-2.5 - Gypsum-Finger Nail
Luster: Earthy (Dull)
Streak: white

™ Illite (K,H3O)(Al,Mg,Fe)2(Si,Al)4O10[(OH)2,(H2O)]

- any group of clay minerals having essentially the crystal structure of muscovite. Its
other names were Gumbelite, Hydromica and Hydromuscovite.

Figure 6: Wispy, authigenic illite crystals lining a pore space in sandstone. SEM image from a core sample.

Physical Properties of Illite

Cleavage: {001} Perfect
Color: White.
Density: 2.6 - 2.9, Average = 2.75
Diaphaneity: Translucent
Habit: Aggregates - Made of numerous individual crystals or clusters.
Hardness: 1-2 - Between Talc and Gypsum
Luster: Earthy (Dull)
Streak: white
 Figure 7: light green Illite with Albite, field of view 6 mm, photo and collection Joachim Esche

Some phyllosilicate particles are composite alternations of different clay minerals. When
mica occurs in fine-grained form in a clay it is usually referred to as illiteor clay mica and is
similar in composition to muscovite, but there is usually some substitution of hydroxyl ions into
the lattice. There are many other clay minerals, including chlorite, vermiculite, and various
chain silicates such as pyrophyllite, some of which are valuable industrial materials.

Types of Clay:

™ Residual clay comes directly from gradual weathering of rock into very fine particles.
The particles become mixed with water and material from the surrounding soil. Residual
clays are most commonly formed by surface weathering, which gives rise to clay in three
ways:

¾ chemical decomposition of rocks, such as granite, containing silica and

alumina;
¾ solution of rocks, such as limestone, containing clayey impurities, which, being
insoluble, are deposited as clay; and
¾ disintegration and solution of shale.

One of the commonest processes of clay formation is the chemical decomposition

of feldspar .

™ Sedimentary clay is formed when particles of weathered rocks are carried from the
place in which they were formed, usually by streams of water, and deposited in another
place. It occurs in layers.

Classification of Clay according to their general composition and properties:

1. Kaolin is a fine white clay consisting chiefly of the mineral kaolinite. The purest clays are
the china clays and kaolins.
Figure 8: Washed Kaolin Clay

Figure 9: Raw Kaolin Clay

The kaolin group of clay minerals includes kaolinite and halloysite, both of which
are hydrated aluminium silicates. Kaolinite has a simple layer structure; a kaolinite layer
is composed of one tetrahedral sheet combined with one octahedral sheet. Clays
predominantly composed of kaolinite are commercially known as ‘kaolin’.

The name comes from the Chinese “Gaoling,” a reference to a mountain which
provided a source of the raw mineral. The Chinese used this mineral to produce their
famously fine porcelain, and when European explorers were introduced to Chinese
ceramics, many of them remarked on the delicate quality of Chinese ceramic work. This
was made by possible by kaolin, a material that Europeans were not familiar with, and
European ceramicists spent centuries trying to replicate the techniques used in China to
produce porcelain.

Applications

Today, the secret of Chinese

ceramics is out, and manufacturing
companies all over the world utilize
kaolin in their ceramics. In high
concentrations, the mineral produces
fine white pieces with a high level of
tensile strength, and it can be used to
produce several styles of ceramic.
Kaolin clay can also be blended with
other clays to create specific blends.

The mineral also has an ancient

use as a skincare product. Like other
clays, kaolin is very absorbent, and it
can pull oils and dirt out of the skin. It is
commonly used in clay masks or as an
additive to baths to sooth the skin, and it
is also included in numerous cosmetics.
Powdered forms may be dusted on the
Figure 10: Chinese pottery made from Kaolin clay face to absorb oil and reduce
greasiness, while mineralized creams
can be used to soothe dry skin or to reduce oiliness, depending on how they are
formulated. Companies which carry natural skin care products often stock pure kaolin
which people can use to make their own cosmetics and skin care products.

Another historic use of this mineral is as a remedy for gastrointestinal upset.

People once ate kaolin because the clay coated the stomach to soothe irritation, and it
absorbed bacteria and viruses which caused disease, as well as absorbing loose water,
which caused the stools to firm. Some cultures continue to eat clays for stomach pain,
and the mineral has also been integrated into many stomach care products, such as the
liquid suspensions people take to treat diarrhea.

One of the most widespread uses of kaolin today is in paper manufacturing. The
mineral is used to coat and fill paper, and the paper industry demands huge volumes of
it annually. Varying levels of kaolin can be used to change the texture and appearance
of paper products.

Extraction and Processing

The raw china clay is subject to a refining process including spiral classification,
hydrocycloning, deflocculation, bleaching and finally drying, micronizing, air-classification
and surface treatment.

The extraction and processing of kaolin in south-west England involves the

production of large quantities of arisings much of which has previously been discarded
as waste. The arisings produced are of two main types: coarse material comprising sand
(mainly quartz); and rock, otherwise known as ‘stent’. Much of this material is processed
and sold as aggregate or stockpiled. Lower quality material is disposed of in large tips
or, increasingly, backfiled into pit voids, where sterilisation of unworked reserves will not
result. A fine slurry called mica residue is disposed of in large lagoons and abandoned
kaolin pits. In the lagoon the mica settles out and the water is pumped off for reuse.
Some older mica lagoons have been reworked to recover coarser kaolinite formerly lost
in processing.

Figure 11: Hydraulic excavators, bucket-wheel excavators and wheel loaders are used in the excavation process.
The unrefined soil is transported to the refinery or to the slagheaps by means of dumper trucks, conveyor belts
or winches.
 Kaolin extraction has traditionally been by hydraulic mining in which high
pressure jets of water are used to disaggregate the weak, kaolinised granite and
dispersed the Kaolinite particles, together with the other components of the granite into a
slurry. Ripping, drilling and blasting of the granite are also used to improve yields and
unkaolinised material is removed for tipping, although some is processed into aggregate.
More recently, ‘dry’ mining has been introduced. This allows more selective extraction
and improved yields. The kaolinised granite is extracted by shovel and truck and is
transported to a primary screening process to remove large oversize material. The
undersize is disaggregated by high pressure jets of water for subsequent processing in
the conventional way.

Separation of the fine kaolinite particles from the coarser waste, consisting
mainly of quartz, unaltered feldspar and mica, is by a series of wet refining techniques.
Additional techniques are used to improve the brightness (whiteness) and particle size of
specific grades of clay. These include blending, fine grinding, chemical reductive
bleaching and/or the removal of iron-bearing impurities using superconducting magnets.
Some clays are also calcined at specific temperatures to give different products.

Finally the clay is dried to a powder or pellets, or supplied in slurry form as a

suspension of clay in water.

The ultimate disposal of the waste products has been a major problem because
of the large areas that are required and the visual impact. However, about 40
abandoned pits have been backfilled where this has not affected researves or the
requirements for water holding areas. As the surface extent of workings reach their
practical limits surface tipping is giving way in favor of backfilling.

2. Ball clay contains kaolinite and certain micas, and has strong bonding properties. It is a
name for a group of plastic, refractory (high-temperature) clays used with other clays to
improve their plasticity and to increase their strength.

Ball clays are sedimentary rocks, usually laid down in fresh water, which are
composed of a special type of kaolinite known as b-axis disordered, together with clay
mica (illite), which gives the clay good plasticity and strength, making it particularly
suitable for ceramics. Fireclays have a similar mineral composition to ball clays, but are
generally less pure and lack plasticity and strength. Large quantities of fireclay were
formerly used in the iron and steel industry, but nowadays their main use is for making
bricks and sanitary ware. Halloysite has the same basic layer configuration as kaolinite,
but the layers are rolled up into scrolls. Deposits of halloysite are valued for use in high-
quality ceramics, such as porcelain.

Ball clay is an extremely rare mineral found in very few places around the
world. Its name dates back to the early methods of mining when specialized hand tools
were used to extract the clay in rough cube shapes of about 30 cm. As the corners were
knocked through handling and storage these cubes became rounded and ‘ball’
shaped. It also is sometimes referred to as plastic clay.
Figure 12: Ball Clay Ore from Turkey

Applications

A vital material in ceramics - Ball clays are used in many different industries, but in
particular form a vital component in ceramic manufacturing. Kaolin (‘china clay’)
produces a very white color when it is fired, but used alone it is brittle and weak and
must be mixed with ball clay to produce a workable, malleable raw material. As a result
of their sedimentary origin, raw ball clays have a wide range of colors. However, many
of them are valued by the ceramics industry for their white-firing properties, which are
determined by the levels of iron and other coloring/fluxing oxides within the clay.

Sanitaryware: A ‘ceramic body’ for sanitaryware

typically includes 30% ball clay to provide plasticity
and workability, 20% kaolin, 30% feldspar and 20%
quartz/silica.

Tableware: Ceramic tableware utilizes ball clay to

provide high plasticity and a good white-fired color,
Figure 14: Wash 
Basin  Figure 13: Ceramic Plates
combined with kaolin, feldspar and quartz.

Wall and floor tiles: Combined with talc, feldspar, quartz/silica and kaolin, ball clays are
utilized for their plasticity and bonding properties.
 Glazes and engobes: Ball clays are also used in the
production of coatings for ceramic products to ensure the
perfect finish.

Refractory clays: An ability to resist the effects of extremely

Figure 15: Floor Tiles  high temperatures makes ball clay ideal for use in refractory

products such as kiln insulation and furniture.

Construction ceramics: Building materials such as bricks,

clay pipes and roof tiles all contain ball clay.

Electrical porcelain insulators: You will find ball clays in the

electrical porcelain components that provide insulation from
Figure 16: Brick Tiles
high voltage currents.

Non-ceramic applications: These include the construction industry; horticulture,

agriculture and amenity industries; use as fillers and extenders in polymers, adhesives,
plastics, sealants, fertilizers and insecticides.

How the Ball Clay Deposits Occurred

A rare coincidence of geological conditions was required to form and preserve the ball
clay deposits:

1) suitable kaolinite-rich source rocks largely free of iron oxides;

2) erosion of these rocks into fresh or brackish water 'traps' for the ultra fine particles
before they could be washed out to sea;

3) little subsequent erosion or deep burial of the resultant sedimentary deposit.

Ball Clay Production

Over the centuries there has been an evolution in the methods used to extract
the valuable seams of ball clay. The methods varied slightly between the three areas of
production. They are summarised below and then described in more detail.

Shallow trenches - from the 1600s

Small open pits - the natural development of shallow trenches, which grew in size when
pumping techniques improved in the 19th century.

Square pits - a development of small open pits in South Devon, England enabling clays
to be worked at a greater depth

Shaft mining (underground) - widely adopted from the second half of the 19th century
Inclined shafts (underground) - a variant of shaft mining adopted in North Devon,
England from the end of the 19th century until the 1960s

Adit or Inclined tunnel mining (underground) - came into use in the 1930s and
adopted in place of most shaft mining from the 1950s to the 1990s

Large scale opencast working - progressively replaced all underground mining during
the second half of the 20th century: the only method after 1999.

Figure 17: Methods of Clay Ore Extraction

A. Shallow Trenches

The tenant farmers who first found clay under their fields dug it with whatever
farm implements came to hand. As time went by special techniques and tools were
developed to work the clay. Despite some local variations, they were broadly similar in
each of the three production areas.

The basic system was to dig a shallow trench. After removing unwanted
overlying material called 'overburden' (or 'head' or 'ridding'), the 'claycutters' cut the
exposed floor of clean plastic clay into a criss-cross pattern of 9 inch (23 cm) squares
using heavy iron spades with 4 inch (10 cm) wide blades known as 'thirting' (or
'thwirting') irons. Following this, another claycutter used a weighty, ash-handled tool like
a wide-bladed pick or mattock called a 'lumper' to undercut each square to a depth of 9
inches (23 cm) and lever out the resultant cube of clay weighing about 36lbs (16.3 kilos):
70 balls made a 'tally' of 221/2 hundredweight (1.14 tonnes). The claycutters dipped their
tools into a bucket of water to lubricate the cutting. A tool called a 'poge' - a curved iron
spike set into a stout pole - was then used to pitch the cubes up the stepped sides of the
pit to the surface and onto a packhorse or cart. A lighter version of the lumper known as
a 'tubil' or 'tubal' was used to trim the working. In this way the whole floor area was
removed to reveal the next layer for extraction.

B. Small Open Pits

As trenches widened they developed

into open pits, which, although of some size
considering the manual labour involved, were
small by the standards of today. These
remained the most economical way of
extracting seams of clay that were close to the

Figure 18: An open pit showing cubes of ball clay 
being cut vertically using a thirting iron (central 
figure), undercut using a lumper (right figure, 
partly concealed) and loaded into a wagon using a 
poge (left figure), c. 1930
surface and not overlain by too much overburden. Neatly terraced slopes were a feature
of the best of these pits. However percolating groundwater and rainwater tended to
cause open pits to flood, and their depth and area were therefore limited by the capacity
of pumps to dispose of the water. Hand operated elm-barrelled pumps with a maximum
lift of 15 feet (4.6 metres) were used originally, and although it was possible to have a
series of pumps each with such a 'lift', it was not until the introduction of Cornish plunger
pumps towards the end of the 19th century that open pits were developed to any great
depth.

C. The Square Pit System

The ground water and rain that tended to cause open pits to flood also caused
their soft sides to subside. To control subsidence timber began to be used. This
developed in South Devon into a system of excavating a sequence of 'square pits' that
were timber lined and braced. After trial and error
the optimum size was found to be 18 to 24 feet
(5.5 to 7.3 metres) square. These square pits
could then be dug to a depth of 50 feet (15.2
metres) with a series of pumping 'lifts' and ladders,
but for a long time only the clay within the pit area
was worked. About 12 feet (3.7 metres) of solid
ground was left unworked between them and the

Figure 19: Diagram showing timber supports 
for a square pit  waste from one pit was used to backfill another.

To relieve the strenuous labour of manually lifting the clay and waste to the
surface, a wooden crane of a type unique to the ball clay industry called a 'crab' would
be erected beside the square pit to hoist the clay and waste to the surface in an elm
bucket. The crab was a pivoting 'gallows' type crane held in place by two legs called 'tie
backs'. Hand winches or horse drawn winches (known as 'whims') were used to raise
and lower the buckets.

Each square pit produced a few hundred tonnes of the several types of clay
through which the pit was sunk. Most were worked for just a few months until incoming
water became too much for the hand pumps. Whilst shallow open pits remained the
principal means of extracting stoneware clays, the square pit system was used to win
the more valuable potters' clays that were typically found at a greater depth.

D. The Evolution of Underground Mining: Vertical Shafts

In South Devon the square pit system

evolved by stages into true underground mining.
First the claycutters started to rob a small area
of the seam adjacent to the bottom of the pit -
giving the pit a bell-like shape. Then short
timbered levels were driven out from the base of
the pit. This focused the operation on extracting
a particular seam and on minimising the amount

Figure 20: Head of shaft mine showing a 'crab' 
crane and an elevated timber ramp known as a 
'high back'. The pivoted arm with a ring at the 
end, called a 'mouse', is a safety device to prevent 
the bucket being 'overwound', c. 1950 
of material to be dug to reach it, which meant changing from digging a wide square pit to
digging a vertical shaft wide enough simply to accommodate the bucket, ladders and
pump lines.

By the 1870's underground shaft mining was enabling large quantities of deeper
clays to be worked in all three production areas. By the end of the century the availability
of Cornish pumps did away with the depth limitations of hand pumps. As a result, shafts
could then be used to extract potters' clays at a depth of 50 to 150 feet (15 to 46 metres)
- the greatest depth reached being 200 feet (61 metres) - whilst square pits and open
pits remained in use to work the shallower stoneware clays.

Typical cross section dimensions of the shafts were 9 feet x 4 ½ feet (2.75 x 1.37
metres) and 13 feet x 6 feet (3.96 x 1.83 metres). The horizontal frames of larch
supporting the sides of the shafts were separated vertically by timber 'studdles' between
which boards and 'vraiths' or 'wreathes' of sedge grass or heather were rammed to hold
back the sands through which the shafts were frequently driven. The shafts were divided
into two compartments, one for hoisting by means of a crab and one for the access
ladders and pump lines.

Having reached the desired seam

and established a sump at the base of the
shaft two side drives (tunnels) supported
by closely set green round larch timbers
would be driven up to 100 feet (30
metres) in opposite directions from the
base of the shaft through the level 'strike'
of the seam. Traditionally, the seam
would then be worked in a 'fan' shape by
cutting further timbered drives from the
base of the shaft, predominantly on the
'rise' side (where the seam sloped
upwards). The drives were usually only 5
½ feet (1.68 metres) high and 4 feet (1.22
metres) wide. Clay would squeeze Figure 21: Diagram of an Underground Clay Mine
through the timber supports, and a
worked out drive would soon collapse under pressure from the ground above when the
timber was withdrawn for re-use. The life of a shaft was rarely more than two to three
years.

Because of the poor ventilation, normally only four miners at a time worked
underground. A miner at each of two 'headings' cut the clay with a tubil. Another miner in
each heading barrowed the clay down the drive to the base of the shaft using a heavy-
duty elm wheelbarrow, typically carrying about 3 hundredweight (136 kg). The miners
worked in what were, by modern standards, appallingly unsafe conditions - by
candlelight and sometimes ankle deep in water. In many mines there was the ever-
present threat of a sudden water inrush and the ignition of 'fire damp' methane gases.
Nevertheless, records of serious accidents (as distinct from singed eyebrows!) are
surprisingly rare.

The 'top-ganger' - who was in charge of the gang working in the mine - operated
the crab at the top of the shaft. The buckets carrying about 7 hundredweight (317 kg) of
mined clay or waste were hoisted by wire ropes connected via overhead pulleys to
steam engines or, later, DC electric motors in remote winch or drum houses that served
several mines. Water wheels and turbines powered some Cornish pumps and hoists.
The ganger controlled his rope hoist by means of a lever and long pull wire connected to
a drum in the winch house, which he could engage against a continuously revolving
shaft. Clay from the hoisted bucket was discharged into wagons. A 'top trammer' was
responsible for the haulage of the wagons (by wire ropes from the winch house) up
elevated timber ramps known as 'high backs' and the discharge of the clay and waste
into separate heaps. The screeching of the ubiquitous wire ropes in their pulleys was the
characteristic noise of the ball clay works.

Several companies established their own sawmills (replacing earlier saw pits) for
the specialised cutting of the considerable quantities of mining timber that were required.
One company even became involved in forestry. Skills such as those of the blacksmith
(who forged the claycutters' tools), carpenter and rope splicer were essential in support
of the claycutters. The claycutters' work - both in the pits and underground - was
extremely arduous. Considerable physical strength was required to extract and man
handle the clay, often in soaking wet conditions. A miner's pay depended on the tonnage
produced by him and his gang (so-called 'piecework'), but the pay was generally good so
that, for generations, sons followed their fathers down the mines. Strength of character,
prodigious cyder consumption and powerful tug of war teams were characteristic of the
claycutters - as was rheumatism!

E. Inclined Shaft Mines

By the end of the 19th century shafts in North Devon were being sunk with a
steep incline of 75 degrees from the horizontal, enabling wagons to run underground
and be hauled to the surface on rails in the shafts. The tunnels of the North Devon Clay
Co. were lined with bricks made at the adjacent Marland brickworks.

Figure  22:  This  photograph  shows  the  inclined  shafts  at  Peters
Marland, North Devon c. 1900, showing head frames, mining wagons
and stockpiles of clay adjacent to the three foot gauge railway. 

F. Underground Mining and Opencast Workings

 In the early 1900's steam generated DC electricity was introduced. Rail-mounted
wagons hauled by wire ropes and discharging from 'high backs' were being widely used
in open pits.

In the 1920's and 1930's some of the clay companies experimented with new
working techniques and equipment. Advances were made by The Devon & Courtenay
Clay Co. in the technique of sinking shafts through waterlogged sands, using techniques
developed in the trenches of the First World War. This permitted hitherto inaccessible
reserves to be worked. Devon & Courtenay in South Devon and the Meeth Clay
Company in North Devon drove the first primitive 'adit' mines to follow seams from the
bottom of existing pits. Steel arches were introduced in Meeth to support the main
drives. In 1929 The Newton Abbot Clays introduced the first steam excavator. Draglines
were also introduced, potentially allowing the removal of greater thicknesses of
overburden.

In the early 1930's, Newton Abbot Clays,

followed by Devon & Courtenay and The North
Devon Clay Co. introduced the first (very
heavy!) hand-held pneumatic spaders to
replace the thirting spade in the cutting of clays
in open pits. Newton Abbot Clays experimented
with a china clay-type 'sky tip' for waste (using
an inclined railway), and, in 1937, introduced
the first 2-3cu yard Muir Hill dumpers in their
Figure 23: Extracting clay from an open pit in 
North Devon in the 1930s. The traditional  open pits.
system of cutting clay into cubes is still being 
used, but pneumatic spaders have been  Although the benefits of draglines,
introduced to replace thirting irons for making 
vertical cuts.  mechanical excavators, dumpers, pneumatic
spaders and adits would later prove to be enormous, the depressed state of the industry
between the Wars meant that little progress had been made in their adoption by 1946. In
that year a Board of Trade Inquiry reported that: '….it would be difficult to find any
industry in this country where there has been so marked unawareness and such lack of
initiative on the part of many producers to modern industrial change'. One of the Board
of Trade's principal recommendations to increase productivity was to fit rubber tyres to
the wheelbarrows used underground! The industry's problems were compounded by a
shortage of manpower as a result of many able miners having been called up for military
service, and the difficulty of recruiting
ex-servicemen into such a backward
industry.

This situation was soon to

change remarkably, so that by 1969 one
of the clay companies, Watts, Blake,
Bearne & Co., was to be a recipient of
the Queen's Award for technical
innovation in underground mining. Figure 24: Ruston Bucyrus 19‐RB face shovel loading a 
In the open pits, diesel powered Dennis Pax lorry from a sockpile at White Pit, Preston 
face shovels, dumpers and lighter Manor works, Kingsteignton, c. 1950. 
pneumatic spaders became commonplace during the late 1940's and early 1950's,
relieving the workers of the hardest physical labour. Newton Abbot Clays - which had the
problem of bringing clay out of constricted, steep-sided pits - installed 'Blondin'
suspended wire rope systems to lift the clay out, but the company suffered a disaster in
1961 when one of its pits flooded, and the Blondins were subsequently replaced by
dumpers.

In the 1960's bucket wheel

excavators were introduced but were
phased out in favour of hydraulic
excavators that had the power and
accuracy, in the hands of an
experienced driver, to extract the most
plastic seams to within a few inches of
Figure 25: Open pit mining at WBB's Southacre pit, Preston  the bottom of the seam - minimising
Manor, Kingsteignton, c. 1960, using pneumatic spaders  waste.
and 3 cu. Yard Muir Hill dumpers running on timber railway 
sleeper roads.  Underground, the lighter (but still
heavy!) pneumatic spaders also
became standard in the late 1940's, largely replacing the tubil.

G. Adit Mining

'Adit' or 'Inclined Tunnel' mining, which had been introduced in the 1930's, largely
replaced vertical shaft mining during the 1950's and 1960's. Pairs of tunnels in South
Devon and single tunnels in Dorset were driven into the ground at a shallow angle
following a particular seam from close to its outcrop to a considerable depth. A retreat
method of working was then followed. Rails were laid in the drives so that wagons
winched from a surface gantry could be used to haul the clay underground - replacing
wheelbarrows - up to the surface.

To maintain ground support over the years and in view of the increased tunnel
size, the main drives were supported either by squared timbers or by steel arches or
rings with timber backing boards. During the 1960's, leading up to the Queen's Award for
technical innovation, the adit system was greatly improved with the introduction in South
Devon of hydraulic mining machines (that greatly reduced the use of pneumatic
spaders), of submersible pumps and of steel wagons with automatic tipping at the
surface.

The longest adit drives extended

underground for over half a mile (0.9
kms) to a depth of up to 450ft (137
metres). Individual adits in South Devon
sustained an annual production of up to
25,000 tonnes for much of their 25-year
lives.

The inherent greater safety of twin adit

tunnels compared with a single mine
shaft was augmented by the
implementation of the 1954 Mines and
Figure 26: WBB mining machine operated by Ivor Basset in 
Figure 27: WBB mining machine operated by Ivor Basset in 
Quarries Act, the banning of smoking
an adit tunnel supported by steel arches. 
an adit tunnel supported by steel arches. The machine had  and naked lights underground (ending
a cutting boom with rotating knives and a loading conveyor  the miners' traditional candle-heated
feeding finely cut clay into a wagon in the foreground, c. 
1967.
fried breakfast) and the training of mines rescue and first aid teams.

H. Underground Mining Gives Way to Opencast Working

Due to its labour- and timber-intensive nature and the high cost of safety
measures, underground mining was very expensive. As the mechanisation of opencast
working progressed, underground mining became increasingly uneconomic, except to
extract seams of the highest value that lay too deep for current opencast workings to
reach.

Having been the principal means of working for most of the industry's history,
underground production was completely replaced by opencast working in North Devon
by the mid 1970's and reduced steadily in South Devon and Dorset during the 1980's
and 90's when the company sawmills were closed, until the last ball clay mines closed in
1999. Nowadays all production is from progressively larger and deeper pits using
powerful hydraulic excavators and dumpers.

Figure 28: Systematic opencast working in Westbeare Pit, North Devon in 1989 using hydraulic excavators and
articulated dumpers running on movable concrete sleeper roads. The clay seams are being individually selected
and taken by dumper to separate lump clay storage bays.

Processing

Traditionally, ball clays were

sold 'as dug' in lumps or 'balls' - the
'potters'' clays usually being
'weathered' for several months in
outside heaps. The clay producers did
some very crude selection and mixing
of what they perceived to be good and
bad examples of individual clay types.
The potters often bought in a variety
of clays and mixed them together to
their 'secret' formulae to make the Figure 29: 'shredding' of clay into small pieces 
pottery body they wanted.

This procedure continued virtually unchanged until the widespread adoption in

the 1950's of the 'shredding' of clay into small pieces - a process first introduced in
the1930's that originally used mobile turnip cutting machines (see photograph, left).
Shredding makes handling much easier and, most importantly, enables the clay
producers to blend together up to 20 or more
different seams of clay, often from different
production areas. This has helped them to
compensate for the natural variation in individual
seams and to produce blends that are consistent
and meet their customers' specifications,
especially for faster casting and faster firing.

The development of powdering during

the 1950's facilitated the sale of ball clays into
non-ceramic applications such as rubber,
fertilisers and animal feeds. Shredded clay is fed
into an 'Atritor' mill together with hot air. The mill
contains rotating shafts with pegs that break up
the clay pieces. The hot air stream dries the Figure 30: Filling 50 kg‐paper sacks with clay that 
feed clay from its natural 15-18% moisture has been dried and pulverised to a fine powder, 
down to a 2% moisture powder. The product is
passed through an air classifier to remove any coarse particles and is then either
bagged in paper sacks or delivered in bulk powder tankers.

The desire to produce controlled products for particular applications whilst

optimising the use of marginal clays led in the 1970's to the development of ball clay
refining using automated computer-controlled process equipment. Clays with too much
lignite are made into a wet slurry and the excess lignite particles are removed by fine
screens (sieves); clays with too much quartz sand are powdered and the excess silica
removed by air separation. The resultant refined slurry and powder are mixed together
into a paste, extruded in 'noodles' and dried for bulk handling. The product is also sold in
a liquid or 'slurry' form.

For many years ball clay

companies produced 'prepared
bodies'. These are the various
mixtures of minerals (such as ball
and china clays, silica, feldspar
etc.) that normally the potter
prepares and then shapes,
decorates and fires. WBB also
produced 'calcined' clays -
pelletised ball clays fired in a
Figure 31: The East Golds processing site at Newton Abbot in 2000  rotary kiln and then ground down
showing ball clay refining plants and product storage in the 
and incorporated in a pottery
foreground, powdering plant at upper centre and a lignite 
processing plant for horticultural applications on the upper right.  body. Having already been fired,
calcined clays reduce the
expansion and contraction of the body when it is fired as a finished ceramic.

At the beginning of the 21st century, about 75% of ball clay production is sold in
shredded and blended form, almost 10% in powdered form and over 15% is refined.
Less than 1% is sold 'as dug'. Process control has become an essential skill of ball clay
production.

Employment Relationships
Enormous changes in working methods
occurred in the ball clay industry in the second
half of the 20th century - especially during the
1960's. Highly regarded 'productivity
agreements' provided for these changes to be
accompanied by the adoption of progressive
employment practices, for which the
companies became well known. These
included the replacement of piecework and
overtime pay systems by 'staff' conditions of
Figure 32: An X‐ray diffractometer being used to 
employment for all employees, with fixed rates indentify the minerals, such as kaolinite, illite and 
of pay and hours of work, pensions and sick quartz, in a sample of ball clay. This and other 
pay. They were combined with systematic chemical and physical tests are carried out to 
monitor the properties of each seam of clay 
training and great emphasis both on health and
safety and on employee communication and
involvement. The success of these arrangements depended on the high degree of trust
that developed between management and employees.

The development of these progressive employment practices created an

environment in which the workforce was willing to respond positively to the changes
taking place and to develop their skills through the training opportunities offered. As the
physical demands on the workforce diminished, the roles of maintenance fitters and
electricians became more important. Production increasingly required the close
collaboration of multi-skilled teams of geologists, drillers, surveyors and quality control
chemists working closely with process engineers, ceramists and technical sales
personnel to assess how best to fulfil customers' needs with the complex sequence of
clay seams in the ground and use of the appropriate processing facilities.

Ball Clay Transport

The history of ball clay is bound up with the development of canals, railways and
shipping which have all played a vital part in transporting clays economically to
customers.

Packhorses and, later, horses

and carts were the only methods of
getting clay away from the pits until the
advent of railways and lorries. However,
it was only practical to use packhorses
and carts over short distances.
Fortunately, each of the ball clay
deposits is reasonably close to a port
from which the clay could be transported
by vessel to such ports as London,
Bristol and Liverpool and Runcorn on
Figure 33: Amos Hewings with J. Vallance's horse and cart  the Mersey (for the Staffordshire
at Teignbridge loaded with ball clay en route to Teignbridge 
clay cellars on the Stover Canal, 1906. 
potteries via the Bridgewater Canal and
Josiah Wedgwood's Trent & Mersey
Grand Trunk Canal), as well as continental European ports.
 In South Devon the port for ball clay was Teignmouth. The first recorded
shipment from Teignmouth was to Plymouth in 1691, shortly after William of Orange was
proclaimed king in Newton Abbot in 1688. Originally, packhorses carried the clay from
the pits to Hackney quay at the head of the Teign estuary where it was either loaded
directly into small sailing vessels or taken by barge to larger sailing vessels moored in
Teignmouth harbour.

The high cost of the packhorse

journey was greatly reduced by the
construction of the Stover Canal from the
Teign estuary to Teigngrace by James
Templer II in 1790-1792 and of the
Hackney Canal from Hackney quay into

Kingsteignton for Lord Clifford in 1843. Figure 34: Barges at the Teignbridge clay cellars on the 

Clay cellars were built on both canals for Stover Canal waiting to be moved to Teignmouth, c. 1920. 
the storage of clay prior to shipment. At
about this time the Earl of Devon's 'Devon Wharf' (now the 'Town Quay') in Newton
Abbot started to be used to load barges with clay from his newly opened Decoy pits. The
barges had characteristic square 'Viking' sails but were latterly towed in the estuary by
the steam tug 'Kestrel' and finally by the paraffin engine tug 'Heron'.

The construction of the

Moretonhampstead branch railway line
in 1867, with sidings at Teignbridge
and East Golds, enabled the railway to
be used increasingly to supply
domestic customers. However, the
introduction of lorries, enabling clay to
be carried far more economically than
Figure 35: Falke loading clay from barges at Teignmouth in  by cart and barge, led to use of the
the 1920s 
canals ceasing in the 1930's and of
the railway in the 1980's.

The main outlets for ball clay in North Devon were Bideford Quay and, for a
period, Fremington Quay on the Taw estuary. The first recorded shipments of tobacco
pipe clay from Bideford were in the 1650's. However, after the initial century or more of
activity, the high cost of the packhorse journey from the pits at Peters Marland (relative
to transport costs in South Devon and Dorset) seems to have led to the closure of the
works in the early 19th century. The situation was improved by the construction in 1827
of Lord John Rolle's Canal up to Torrington. It was transformed in 1881 when the
eminent railway engineer, J.B. Fell, commissioned by Marland Brick & Clay Works Ltd.,
completed a 3-foot (91cm) gauge light railway from Peters Marland to Torrington -
including a remarkable wooden viaduct over the River Torridge.
Figure 36: Three foot gauge North Devon railway at Peters Marland in the 1920s, alongside the headgear of
inclined shafts. The Fletcher Jennings locomotive came from a breakwater scheme at St Helier in 1908

Eventually, in 1925, a standard gauge railway was built along the course of the
narrow gauge one, enabling clays from both Peters Marland and Meeth to be shipped
out of the rail-connected
Fremington Quay until the
closure of the line to clay traffic
in 1982. Now, once again,
Bideford Quay is regularly used
for clay shipments.

The harbour at Poole

was used for the shipment of
ball clays from Dorset. Until the
Figure 37: Poole Quays, clay being loaded into vessels for the Mersey 
and other ports. Late 19th century.  19th century the clay was
carried by packhorse or cart to
Wareham Quay on the river Frome or a loading point on the edge of Poole Harbour.
From there it was barged to Poole where it was transferred to sea-going vessels for
shipment to Runcorn, London and other ports. In 1805-6 Benjamin Fayle built the first
railway in Dorset: a pioneering cast iron 'plateway' along which horses hauled wagons of
clay from his pits at Norden to Middlebere Pier. In 1907 'Fayle's Tramway', a 3 foot 9
inch (114 cm) gauge railway from Newton to Goathorn Pier using steam locomotives,
was extended to Norden and the plateway was closed. The other producers, Pike
Brothers, operated a 2 foot 8 inch (81 cm) gauge railway from Furzebrook to Wareham
Quay. From its arrival in 1884 the main line LSWR line was used to transport clay to
domestic customers. The private narrow gauge railways continued until 1954 when the
two companies were amalgamated and transferred all local movements to road
transport.

Nowadays ball clay for European and Mediterranean markets is generally

hauled by lorry to the ports of Teignmouth, Bideford or Poole, whilst clay for other parts
of the world is generally shipped in containers that are filled at the clay works and
transported by lorry to deep-sea container ports such as Southampton, Felixstowe and
Thamesport.

Ball Clay and the Environment

Old ball clay workings often

show an astonishing biodiversity that is
far greater than existed on the farmland
before the ball clay working began.
When - in the past - the old, shallow

Figure 38: Clay being loaded into the hold of a vessel at 
Teignmouth c. 1985. The lorry tips the clay onto an enclosed 
conveyor to minimise dust. For many years Teignmouth has 
been the major port for ball clay shipments. 
workings were finished the land was either restored to farmland or it was abandoned. In
the latter case the pits themselves quickly filled with water and the surrounding areas
soon re-vegetated. This resulted in the creation of havens for many species of
increasingly rare flora and fauna - notably dragonflies and butterflies. Several of the old
workings have become nature reserves managed by the Devon Wildlife Trust and have
been the subject of TV films by Peter Scott and Andrew Cooper. Others have become
ponds and lakes for amenity, coarse fishing and boating. The best examples are the
famous 'Blue Pool' near Wareham and Decoy Lake in Newton Abbot, which also have
nature trails open to visitors.

Since the merging of the 15 ball clay companies into two by the end of the
1960's, workings have been rationalised and fewer, much larger, pits have been
developed. The industry was amongst the first to take measures to mitigate the
inevitable impact that its workings have on the environment, and tip design and
landscaping continue to improve within the framework of long term plans agreed with the
local planning authorities.

In far-sighted recognition
of ball clay's national importance
and scarcity, special planning
safeguards against the
sterilisation of ball clay reserves
by housing and other
development have been in place
since 1953. However the
balance to be struck between the
interests of working an
internationally rare and useful
mineral where it lies and Figure 39: The Blue Pool at Furzebrook, near Wareham a tourist 
preserving the existing local attraction for over 60 years based on a ball clay pit started by Pike 
Brothers c.1840. Image courtesy Miss Jenner Barnard 
e
n
vironment has become an increasingly
prominent issue, especially in Dorset,
where the deposits lie in areas with some of
the highest landscape and nature
designations.

With annual ball clay production at

the beginning of the 21st century running at
over one million tonnes, and with the
enormous deposits, particularly in the
Bovey Basin, able to sustain production for at
Figure 40: Visit by pupils of All Saints Marsh 
Primary School, Newton Abbot to WBB's Preston  least another 50 years, this debate is set to
Manor Works, Kingsteignton in Industry Year, 1986 continue.

The Widespread Use of Ball Clay

Earliest Uses
 It is generally accepted that Dorset ball clays - and probably Devon ball clays too
- have been used since Roman times to make crude pottery. However it was the
introduction of tobacco to England in the 16th century by Sir Walter Raleigh and the
need for a suitable clay with which to make tobacco pipes that led to the start of the
modern ball clay trade.

Although the highly plastic ball clays were ideal for tobacco pipe manufacture,
their expansion and contraction during firing made them difficult to control in tableware
manufacture. Most pottery was made with easy-to-use local coloured clays. By the 17th
century it was common for jugs, bowls and other tableware made with these clays to be
covered with either a thick white glaze (as in Delft ware) or a white clay slip coating.
From at least the 1650's potters in Bideford were using a white slip of North Devon ball
clay and scratching designs through the white slip, exposing the coloured body beneath.

Shipments of Dorset tobacco pipe clays from Poole were significant by the
1630's and were the port's most important cargo for most of the 17th and 18th centuries,
especially to London and many south coast ports. By 1662 the trade had become
sufficiently important for an Act to be passed forbidding the export of pipe clays to
foreign countries. Shipments of North Devon clay through Bideford were also important
in this period, especially to pipe manufacturers in Bristol, but shipments of South Devon
clays seem to have been relatively small until the middle of the 18th century.

Important 18th Century Developments

Whilst the Chinese learnt how to make fine white porcelain many centuries ago, it
was only in the 18th century that European potters learnt how to make good quality
white-bodied pottery. They had to overcame the difficulties of using white firing plastic
'tobacco pipe' clays, and had to both discover and learn how to use china clays with little
plasticity.

It was the achievements in this area by

the famous early potters in Stoke-on-Trent such
as Wedgwood, Astbury and Spode that caused
the demand for ball clays to take off - along with
the demand for china clays. They all needed ball
clays from Devon and Dorset - as well as china
clays from Cornwall and Devon - to make their
fine 'cream wares', 'Queen's Ware' and so on.

A typical recipe for such pottery could

have included equal quantities of ball clay, china
clay, flint (a form of silica) and Cornish Stone (a
source of feldspar). Between 1765 and 1785 - at
the same time as the industrial revolution in the
manufacture of pottery and the associated 'canal
mania' - the annual shipments from South Devon
quadrupled to almost 10,000 tons.
Figure 41: Josiah Wedgwood's most famous 
achievement in 'Queens Ware' was the 952 
piece dinner and dessert service with 'Frog' 
crests made for the Empress Catherine the 
Great of Russia in 1774. [Image courtesy of the 
Trustees of the Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston, 
Staffordshire (England).]  

Coade Stone

One of the lesser-known early applications of ball clay was in the production of a
high-grade ceramic known as Coade Stone. This was first produced in London in 1770
 by a Mrs Coade from Lyme Regis. It was an architectural ceramic of high artistic and
technical quality that has been found to be an exceptionally durable, artificial 'stone' for
building decoration and statuary. Examples include friezes on Buckingham Palace, fan
vaulting in St George's Chapel, Windsor and the Lion Statue on Waterloo Bridge. A
recent detailed scientific analysis of the 'stone' has confirmed that ball clays from Devon
or Dorset were the major component, together with pre-fired clay. Mrs Coade died in
1825 and production had ceased by about 1840.

3. Fireclay is basically kaolinite with some iron oxides, magnesia, and alkalies. It can resist
high temperatures. Because of the abundant supply of fireclay and its comparative
cheapness, the refractory bricks made out of it are the most common and extensively
used in all places of heat generation.

Fireclays are sedimentary mudstones that occur as the ‘seatearths’ that underlie
almost all coal seams. Seatearths represent the fossil soils on which coal-forming
vegetation once grew and are distinguished from associated sediments by the presence
of rootlets and the absence of bedding. Fireclays are, therefore, mainly confined to coal-
bearing strata and are commonly named after the overlying coal seam. The term
‘fireclay’ was derived from their ability to resist heat and their original use in the
manufacture of refractories for lining furnaces. Today the term ‘fireclay’ is used to
describe seatearths that are of economic interest, irrespective of their refractory
properties. They are mainly used in the manufacture of structural clay products,
principally high-quality facing bricks. Fireclays are typically thin (normally <1 m, although
rarely >3m) and are composed of the clay minerals kaolinite and hydrous mica (illite),
together with fine-grained quartz in varying proportions; kaolinite is the key component.
Typically these three minerals make up some 90% of the rock and their relative
proportions, together with the amount of and type of impurities present (carbon, sulfur
and iron), greatly influences their ceramic properties. Fireclays are similar in basic
composition to ball clays. However, because of their much greater geological age they
are not as plastic as ball clays and they are also not as light-firing, because of a higher
iron content. These are two principal properties for which ball clays are valued.

Applications

Fire clay is a type of clay which is used in the production of heat resistant clay
items, such as the crucibles used in metals manufacturing. This type of clay is commonly
mined from areas around coal mines, although other natural deposits are also available
as potential sources, with many nations having deposits of clays suitable for use in high
temperature applications. Fire clay can also be refined and treated to make it suitable for
specialty applications.

This type of clay has a very high fusion

and melting point. Once it is worked and fired, it
will hold up to extremely high temperatures such
as those found in kilns, furnaces, and retorts, in
addition to the high temperatures of some
production lines. Fire clay can also be used to
create fire resistant chimney and flue liners, and
fire resistant pads for safety, as seen when a
hearth in front of a fireplace is made with fire

Figure 42: Fireclay Ore 
clay to reduce the risk of fire. In many settings where there are concerns about fire, fire
clay can be used.

This clay contains high percentages of alumina and silica, with minimal amounts
of trace impurities. It tends to be pale to creamy yellow in color, due to the balance
of minerals in the clay, although it can also be colored for various applications. Although
fire clay will grow sooty with use, underneath the layer of soot, the clay will remain intact.
Damage to fire clay can occur when it sustains trauma or when temperatures climb
outside its safety range.

Numerous companies make bricks and other products out of fire clay. They
specify the tolerances of their products so that people know which settings they are
appropriate for, and to help potential consumers make the best purchasing choices.
These companies can also make custom products by request for people who need
objects of a particular shape and size. For example, a metalworker might need a custom
crucible for a project.

Like other clays, this clay is highly malleable in raw form. It can be molded,
extruded, shaped by hand, and stamped. Various additives can be mixed in to make it
more coarse, and it can be ground to be smoother. Slip and scraps for fire clay
manufacturing can also be recycled, as long as they are not fired, and worked into new
batches of clay for use. Fire clay also shrinks after it has been molded and during the
firing process, which is something to be aware of when working with raw clay.

Figure 43: Fireclay Bricks

Extraction and Processing

 Fireclay extraction is not normally commercially viable on its own and almost all
production (except that recovered from existing stockpiles) is as a co- or by-product of
opencast coal production. However, only a small proportion of opencast coal sites will
have associated fireclay recovery. Fireclays (except that beneath the lowest excavated
coal) form part of the over-burden in opencast coal operations and have to be removed
whether they are marketed or not. Where fireclay is recovered for sale it must be worked
carefully to ensure there is no contamination with associated rocks. Under favorable
conditions fireclay can be worked down to bed thicknesses of 0.3 m.

Fireclays are then normally stocked by seam, although subsequent blending with
other clays (both fireclays and other brick clays) to provide a range of properties, as well
as feedstock with consistent and predictable properties, is normal commercial practice.
For this reason it is highly desirable that a range of clays are available to the brick maker
so that bricks with different colours and textures can be produced.

Fireclays undergo processing other than blending.

Transport

All fireclay is transported by road to brick/pipe manufacturing plants. Because of

the higher intrinsic value of fireclay compared with most other brickmaking raw materials,
it is sometimes transported considerable distances with up to 120-140 km being
reported. Transport is thus an important element in the delivered price of fireclay. The
ephemeral nature of supply from most sites means that there is little alternative to road.
However, it is desirable, on economic and environmental grounds, that fireclay is
sourced from operations that are in close proximity to manufacturing plants.

Manufacturing Process of Fireclay Bricks

Manufacturing of refractory bricks from fire-clay is an interesting feature. The clay

mined is stacked in the factory yard and allowed to weather for about a year. For daily
production of different types of refractories, this weathered clay is taken and mixed in
different percentages with grog.

The mixture is sent to the grinding mill from where it is transferred to the pug mill.
In the pug mill a suitable proportion of water is added so as to give it proper plasticity.
The mould is supplied to different machines for making standard bricks or shapes.
Intricate shapes are made by hand. The bricks thus made are then dried in hot floor
driers and after drying they are loaded in kilns for firing. The firing ranges are, of course,
different for different grades of refractories. After firing, the kilns are allowed to cool; then
the bricks are unloaded. By burning fireclay is converted into a stone-like material, highly
resistant to acid, water and most other solutions. While manufacturing high aluminous
fire-bricks bauxite is added along with grog in suitable proportions.

4. Common clay contains more impurities than fire clay, and does not have as great
resistance to heat. Common clay is a mixture of kaolin, or china clay (hydrated clay), and
the fine powder of some feldspathic mineral that is anhydrous (without water) and not
decomposed.
Figure 44: Common Clay

Common clays are usually mixtures of clay minerals such as illite, smectite, and
kaolinite, together with fine silica and other minor constituents. Interlayered clay minerals
also frequently occur. Formations such as the Oxford Clay or the London Clay typify this
type of clay. Although widespread, these clay formations are important economically, for
they provide the basic material for brickmaking and for heavy clay products such as
sewer pipes and clay floor tiles.

Common clays occur in a variety of environments and in many

different rock types across all time periods of the geologic record. The
source material includes glacial clay, soils, alluvium, loess, shale,
weathered and fresh schist, slate, and argillite. Fireclay and kaolin are
sometimes considered common clays, particularly when used in the
manufacture of structural clay products. Mineralogically, common clays
are highly varied, although the most common constituent is usually one
of the members of the mica mineral group. Mica clays include illite,
sericite, muscovite, and biotite. Other frequently occurring clay mineral
components of common clays are kaolinite, smectite, mixed-layer clays,
and chlorite. Quartz and other detrital minerals are typically nonclay
minerals present in rock mined for common clay.

Production and Markets

Common clays are widely distributed,

usually easily located, and are often used in
products that do not require elaborate
processing. Typically, common clays and Figure 45: Process 
shales are dug from open pits, and these flow sheet for 
structural clay 
pits must be near the processing plants to products. 
minimize production costs. Usually both the
raw material and the finished products are
heavy and the profit margin is low, so production costs must
be controlled. Most products made from these materials are
processed and marketed in a similar manner to refractory

Figure 46: Common Clay Bricks  clays. Common clays and shale require little beneficiation.

 Typically they are crushed or ground only before pugging and extrusion. Physical
contaminants such as concretions are removed by dry screening. Beneficiation for clays
needed in ball clay or kaolin applications may occur in the form of drying or air flotation.
Clays used in refractories are often blended to meet product standards.

5. Bentonite consists largely of montmorillonite. Some types that contain sodium swell
when mixed with water. Bentonite beds usually form from altered volcanic ash, but other
types of rock may also serve as sources. They are valued for use in various applications
such as drilling mud, iron ore pelletizing and foundry use, and in civil engineering, as
well as for clarifying liquids used in the food and drink industry.

Bentonite is very unusual in the

fact that once it becomes hydrated, the
electrical and molecular components of
the clay rapidly change and produce an
"electrical charge". Its highest power lies in
the ability to absorb toxins, impurities,
heavy metals and other internal
contaminants. Bentonite clay's structure
assists it in attracting and soaking up
Figure 47: Bentonite Clay  poisons on its exterior wall and then slowly
draw them into the interior center of the
clay where it is held in a sort of repository. To state it another way…" Bentonite is a
swelling clay. When it becomes mixed with water it rapidly swells open like a highly
porous sponge. From here the toxins are drawn into the sponge through electrical
attraction and once there, they are bound.

The term bentonite was first proposed by Knight in 1898 after he head originally
named this clay taylorite after the site of the original mine at the Taylor ranch near Rock
River, Wyoming. The name bentonite is from the Benton Shale, the formation within
which the clay was thought to have occurred. The Benton Shale is named after Fort
Benton, Montana, located more than 640 km to the north.

Bentonites are found in both marine and nonmarine environments ranging in age
from Jurassic to Pleistocene. These beds can be very extensive geographically, range in
thickness from several centimeters to tens of meters, and are usually parallel with the
over- and underlying strata. Bentonites also occur as small, lens-shaped deposits, Other
less common types of bentonite deposits are those that grade into unaltered host rock.
Bentonites are found in a range of colors, the most common being gray, yellow,
olive green, brown, gray-blue, and white. Bentonites have a characteristic soapy texture
and waxy appearance. Sodium bentonites often display a typical “popcorn” texture on
weathered outcrops. Weathered calcium bentonites have an “alligator skin” texture.

History and Use

Most of today’s major uses of bentonite were developed in

th
the 20 century. In the United States bentonite finds major uses in
iron ore pelletizing, drilling muds, pet litters, and foundry sands.

 
Figure 48: Application of 
Bentonite Clay on the 
Face to Prevent Acnes 
Overall, global consumption follows similar trends to U. S. consumption, with the
exception that use in pet litters is less, especially in developing countries. Significant
secondary uses include water-proofing and sealing applications, animal feed additives,
oil and grease absorbents, agricultural carriers, and filtering, clarifying, and decolorizing
agents. Still, smaller specialty uses of bentonite include asphalt emulsions, catalysts,
paints, plastics, inks, greases, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.

In the United States, mining of natural sodium bentonite began in 1888 on the
Taylor Ranch near Rock River, Wyoming, and in 1903 a mine was opened in Upton,
Wyoming, within the bentonite beds surrounding the Black Hills.

Significant use of bentonite as a sand bonding agent in foundries and as a drilling

mud in the oil industry began in the late 1920s. The suspension and fluid loss control
properties of western bentonites make them especially suitable for water-based drilling
applications. As a bonding agent in greensand molding, bentonite has the advantage of
producing good compressive strengths when wet or dry. The natural sodium bentonites
from the western United States also perform well at the elevated temperatures
encountered during the pouring of molten iron and steel, resulting in good clay utilization
and fewer casting defects.

Figure 49: Bentonite clay is used for foundry sand binders

Extraction and Manufacture

Bentonite is usually quarry mined from deposits that can range anywhere from
100 feet to several thousand feet. This depends on the health and vitality of the land it is
processed from and how far a producer will go to find the right clay with the proper
characteristics and consistency.

The most common method of mining bentonite is the open pit method. This
involves removing overlying material to expose the desired commodity, in this case
bentonite. Bulldozers, scrapers, and excavators, and often a combination of these types
of equipment, remove the overburden. In a typical bentonite mine the topsoil and subsoil
 are first removed and stockpiled separately for redistribution during pit closure and land
reclamation, and the overburden is then removed. In a typical bentonite mine the topsoil
and subsoil are first removed and stockpiled separately for redistribution during pit
closure and land reclamation, and the overburden is then removed.

Although most bentonite mining uses open pit methods for extraction, some
underground mining is practiced. Underground mining methods are used extensively to
mine bentonites in Durango, Mexico, and in many locations in China.

From here it is mined from the earth and brought out into the sun to remove
excess water and moisture and, to make it easier to work with. After the initial drying
begins the final transformation. It gets processed (ground) with huge hydraulic crushers
and it then goes through the final process of micronization, or "fine granulating". This is
usually done with the assistance of sophisticated and expensive granulators. Upon
completion of this final process it gets inspected by a quality control team and is sent off
for consumer use.

6. Fuller’s earth is composed of montmorillonite and attapulgite and is high in magnesia. It

is a type of clay mineral deposit that has high capacity to absorb water. These less pure
deposits of smectite were originally used for removing oil and grease from wool and
cloth. The formation of bentonite and fuller’s earth may occur primarily by diagenesis,
although some deposits may also form by hydrothermal processes. It is also called
calcium bentonite.

Fullers Earth was awarded its name

several hundred years ago when wool textile
workers or "Fullers" created a time-saving
concoction to remove the dense oils from
sheep's wool. This brew included water,
urine, soapwort and an abundant "clay" that
was in hearty supply. Because of its ability to
literally soak up oil and remove dense
properties from any given material, it was
 Figure 50: Fullers Earth  found to be a highly profitable and useful
product for modern manufacturers.

Uses

Because of its
absorptive abilities fuller’s
earth was once widely used to
remove oil and grease from
natural wool prior to weaving,
a process known as fulling.
Fuller’s earth is also used in
the chemical and

Figure 51: Cat Litter 
pharmaceutical industries, paper making, and agriculture (including extensive use as
animal litter.) It is also used in the manufacture of foundry mouldings and can be
processed into bentonite that has a number of applications, for example in the oil
industry. In the US, its also used to manufacture cat litters.

Clay Quality Characteristics

The fuller’s earth industry, particularly perhaps in North America, has become
accustomed to applying special terms to different properties of clays and their products.
These terms may not be familiar to those outside the industry, so some simplified
explanations may be helpful, as follows:

™ Clumping Clays are those clays with clumping agents or a high content of
western sodium bentonite; they have become very popular for clumping of
scoopable-type cat litter products. The bentonite absorbs liquid wastes, which
clump in discrete lumps that can be neatly scooped from the litter box, leaving
only clean litter behind. Bactericides are needed to improve long-term odor
reduction in western bentonite clumping cat litters.

™ Dusting Clays are those clays that are unsuitable for granular products because
they break down too finely upon crushing or during shipping, handling, or use. In
cat litters, a high dusting clay product causes mudding, tracking outside the litter
box, and a dirty cat.

™ Heavy or high-density clays is a term used for cat litter products that are
denser than about 40 lb/ft3. These products typically are lacking in absorption,
take up more room in the cat box, are inconvenient for the retail purchaser to
carry, and commonly do not control odors as well as lighter clays.

™ Gelling clays is a term for clay that have a high slurry viscosity at low percent
solids; these clays are used as thickening agent for wall-board type joint cement,
nondripping paints, drilling muds (especially palygorskite, used to maintain
circulation when drilling in brine formations), and liquid detergent, and as a fine
pulp retention aid in paper manufacture, liquid fertilizer suspensions, adhesives
and sealants, putties and glazing compounds, and other industrial applications.
Gelling viscosity is typically measured on Fann or Brookfield viscometers. Gelling
behavior and viscosity can be enhanced by extruding the moist clay to align the
needle-shaped crystallites or by adding calcined magnesium oxide.

™ Granular clays refers to products that are carefully crushed and screened to a
narrow range of chip sizes, often listed such as “4-20” (passing through a U. S.
Standard 4-mesh screen and retained on 20 mesh). The granule size controls
product surface area and liquid or gas absorption in the animal litter.

™ Slaking clays are those clays that, after drying, break down to mud when wetted
with water or oils. Slaking is a very undesirable quality in granular fuller’s earth
products because it decreases odor control and increases liquid buildup in cat
litter and causes unsafe slippery conditions when used as floor-sweep compound
type of oil absorbent product. Slaking is caused by dispersion of the surface of
the clay granules to form a slick surface, in which the clay crystallites are
uniformly negatively charged and consequently repel each other. Paradoxically,
 although slaking is undesirable behavior in granular fuller’s earth products, it is
essential in gelling clays.

Exploration method

Fuller’s earth exposed in superficial outcrops is commonly too weathered and

oxidized by soil-forming processes to have sufficient quality for industrial use. New
fuller’s earth deposits are often discovered by widely spaced core drilling near areas
where the clay was mined or near outcrop exposures that look promising.

Truck-mounted rotary drilling rigs of the type developed for placing explosive
charges for early oil-field geophysical exploration---such as the 500 and 1250 models
built by Failing, Gardner-Denver/Mayhew, and DSM---are used for the drilling depth of
100 to 200 ft common with water pressure from the drill rig’s mud pump or with
compressed air. Typically, NX-size core of about 2 1/8-in. diameter is recovered; rinsed
and trimmed; marked accurately by property code number, hole grid location, and depth
in the hole; and transported in boxes or bags to the company laboratory for extensive
quality testing.

When an area of core holes tests favorably in the laboratory, accurately spaced
core-drilling campaigns are begun on a surveyed grid of 400 to 800 ft. As the shape,
extent, and quality of new clay deposits are proven, grid drilling is narrowed to spacings
of 200 and 100 ft before overburden stripping is begun.

After the commercial clay surface is exposed, closer spaced drilling may be done
using air-pneumatic or auger methods, or the area may be sampled with a mining
backhoe. Regulated wetlands, endangered species areas, and archeological sites are
avoided wherever possible. Lately, however, mitigation is neede for wetland areas that
must be crossed by haul roads or those underlain by high-quality fuller’s earth that the
company wishes to mine.

Fuller’s earth quality is posted from drill and laboratory testing results on carefully
scaled grid maps, which are used for mine planning, government permitting, and future
clay reserve tonnage calculations. These mine planning maps show overburden
thickness and type, clay thickness and commercial quality, location of property
boundaries, and regulated wetland areas.

Mining

The deposits are worked by opencast methods. When quarried, the raw earth
contains up to 40% water (by weight). To produce natural processed fuller’s earth, the
clay is crushed, dried, screened and milled to produce material of appropriate size.
Fuller’s earth may be further processed by its treatment with a concentrated acid, hugely
increasing its absorptive capacity. This treated product is high value and worth
approximately three times that of natural fuller’s earth.

Fuller’s earth is mined by open-pit methods. Generally, mine planning and

permitting, followed by overburden excavation, are based of 50 to 100 ft and careful clay
quality testing. Overburden is, whenever possible, backfilled into nearby previously
mined-out pits and sloped to blend in with the original, premining terrain. After the
overburden is removed, closer spaced drilling using compressed air or auger sample
return is frequently done on 50 to 25 ft spacing for effective quality control.

Overburden is stripped with backhoe excavators and off-road haul trucks. The
itself is excavated with backhoes, frontend loaders, or scrapers. Because sedimentary
fuller’s earth was deposited in horizontal layers or strata, quality control is kmuch more
reliable if the clay is mixed during mining by vertical excavation (such as with hydraulic
backhoes). This vertical mining averages out the horizontal layering of quality variations
and delivers better-blended crude clay to the stockpile or processing plant. Acceptable
overburden thickness can range from only a few feet or meters to more than 100ft,
depending on the mining dstrict, ore zone thickness, clay quality, and the market value
of products produced.

Highway haul trucks transport the crude clay from the property; they must meet
complex state and interstate regulqtions for haul weight, individual wheel load bearing,
spillage, tracking mud onto the paved road surface, and so forth. Thus, there is a real
cost and efficiency advantage to mining near enough to the clay processing plant so that
mine-run clay can be hauled by very large off-raod trucks on privately owned roads,
where regulated load limits do not apply. After a fuller’s earth plant has operated for a
few decades, however, it is likely that most or all of the nearby acceptable quality clay
deposits have already mined out.

Mined Land Reclamation

Once mining is completed, the mined-pits are backfilled and leveled with
overburden from a nearby or adjacent cut, or developed into fishing ponds. The
disturbed land is restored to attractive, stable, noneroding, less than 3:1 slopes. Cover
crops of pasture grass and select tree seedlings are planted on the reclaimed land to
leave little or no hint that the property had ever been mined.

Product Processing

Fuller’s earth is an unusually versatile mineral that can be processed to meet a

rather bewildering variety of product specifications for sales to a wide rang of differing
market uses. Crude run-of-mine fuller’s earth is typically crushed and semidried with a
shredder or hammer mill, Raymond mill, Williams mill, or Imp mill for bleaching and
gelling products.

The clay may be dried to 10% to 50% moisture or semicalcined. Care is taken
not to overheat and reduce pore size, absorption, or CEC, and alter mineralogy to make
cat litter, bleaching and oil-absorbent material, agricultural chemical carriers (for
pesticide, herbicides, etc.), jet fuel filtration agents, or turf improvement products.

Various-sized granular products can be screened to make any product from 4 by

12 mesh, 30 by 60 mesh, or even as fine as 60 to 90 Tyler mesh specifications. Finer
clay products can be ground and air-float separated to finer than 200 mesh, 325 mesh,
or even ultrafine -6-µm material. MgO may be added to improve product viscosity and
gelling characteristics. There is not agreement in the industry on whether adding MgO
causes actual attapulgite needle growth after a few days’ residence in the clay product,
or if the MgO simply results in an improved surface charge on the existing clay
crystallites that results in better gel performance.
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