CLAYS
INTRODUCTION
HAYDN H. MURRAY
The term clay is somewhat ambiguous unless specifically de-
fined, because it is used in three ways: 1) as a diverse group of
fine-grained minerals, 2) as a rock term, and 3) as a particle size
term. As a rock term, clay is difficult to define because of the wide
variety of materials that comprise it; therefore, the definition must
be general. Clay is a natural, earthy, fine grained material comprised
largely of a group of crystalline minerals known as the clay min-
erals. These minerals are hydrous silicates comprised mainly of
silica, alumina, and water. Several of these minerals also contain
appreciable quantities of iron, alkalies, and alkaline earths. Many
definitions state that a clay is plastic when wet. Most clay materials
do have this property, but some clays are not plastic, e.g., halloysite
and flint clay.
As a particle size term, clay is used for the category that
includes the smallest particles. The maximum size particles in the
clay size grade are defined differently on various grade scales. Soil
investigators and mineralogists generally use 2 pm. as the maximum
size, whereas the widely used scale by Wentworth (1922) defines
clay as material finer than approximately 4 pm.
Some authorities find it convenient to use the term clay for any
fine-grained, natural, earthy, argillaceous material (Grim, 1968).
When used this way, the term includes clay, shale, or argillite, and
some argillaceous soils.
Even though no standard definition of the term clay is accepted
by geologists, agronomists, engineers, and others, the term is gen-
erally understood by those who use it. Clay is an abundant natural
raw material, and it has an amazing variety of uses and properties
which will be discussed in this chapter.
Clays rank among the leading industrial minerals in both ton-
nages produced and total value. Their importance is indicated in
Table I, which lists the 1988, 1989, and 1990 productions according
to the US Bureau of Mines (Ampian, 1992).
As industrial minerals, clays are a complex group that consists
of several mineral commodities, each having somewhat different
mineralogy, geologic occurrence, technology, and uses. In this
section these commodities are organized as follows: I) bentonite,
2) common clay, 3) hormites, and 4) kaolin. Fuller's earth is dis-
cussed in both the bentonite and hormite chapters. Fuller's earth is
a term based on use, and both bentonites and hormites are sold as
fuller's earth. The overlapping is particularly evident where both
bentonite and non-bentonite fuller's earth are used for the same
purposes or products, such as in drilling mud, bleaching or clari-
fying fats and oils, and carriers for insecticides and fertilizers.
Kaolin, ball clay, halloysite, and refractory clays are grouped to-
gether because they consist mainly of minerals of the kaolin group.
Common clay is a grouping of several fine-grained materials, in-
cluding shale, sometimes referred to as miscellaneous clay.
The scientific and technological publications pertaining to clays
are so numerous that to cover all the material in the format used for
other chapters would require a book. Therefore, the author has
attempted to summarize the subject matter and wherever possible
has indicated by bibliographic reference where more detailed in-
formation is available. For example, the reference to Bicker (1970)
is to a bulletin containing only brief summary information on the
economic geology of bentonite in Mississippi, but that bulletin
contains references to virtually all published reports on bentonite in
that state.
The remaining parts of this introduction will be mainly an
outline of some of the major advancements in the broad field of
clays since the 5th edition of Industrial Minerals and Rocks (Patter-
son and Murray, 1983). The intent is to note where some of the
contributions, mainly in clay mineralogy, have been made, so that
those who are interested can find detailed information not included
in this report.
A vast amount of new information on the mineralogy, geology,
and technology of clays has become available in recent years. One
of the principal sources is The Clay Minerals Society. This pro-
fessional and scientific society was organized in 1963 from an
informal group sponsored and partially supported for the preceding
years by the National Academy of Sciences-National Research
Council. For five years after that date, the papers presented at the
Society's annual meetings were published in volumes by Pergamon
Press. Since 1968, The Clay Minerals Society has published its own
journal under the title Clays and Clay Minerals. A second major
source of information on clays is the publications of the Association
International pour l'fitude des Argiles (AIPEA); these publications
are principally volumes containing the papers presented at the
meetings of the association. A third excellent source of information
on clays is Clay Minerals, the journal of The Clay Minerals Group
of The Mineralogical Society (London). In addition, clay mineral
groups or societies in France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Argentina, Ger-
many, and other countries have periodic publications. Considerable
information on kaolin resources in several countries is available in
three volumes resulting from a symposium held at the International
Geological Congress in Czechoslovakia in 1968 (Malkovsky and
Vachtl, 1969a. 1969b) and in the report of another symposium on
kaolin held at the 1972 International Clay Conference (AIPEA) in
Spain in 1972 (Serratosa, 1972). In 1968 the International Geo-
logical Correlation Program (IGCP) sponsored by UNESCO or-
ganized project 23 on the genesis of kaolin. Ten kaolin symposia
were held in various parts of the world and proceedings were
published on each.
Several major textbooks and reference volumes on clays have
been published in the last four decades. They include one concerned
mainly with mineralogy and another on applied mineralogy of clays
by Grim (1962, 1968). The Clay Minerals Group of the Mineral-
 INDUSTRIAL MINERALS AND ROCKS
Table 1. Clay Tonnages (thousand tons) 1988, 1989,
and 1990
-
1988 1989 1990
Kaolin 8 080 8 080 8 790
Ball Clay 890 810 71 0
Fire Clay* 720 740 560
Bentonite 2 580 2 800 3 130
Fuller's Earth 1610 1 690 2 080
Common Clay 26 190 23 900 23 350
Total 40 100 38 000 38 600
'Refractory uses only
ogical Society (London) has a classic series on clay minerals,
including a volume concerned with differential thermal analysis,
edited by Mackenzie (1957), one on the X-ray identification and
crystal structures of clay minerals edited by Brindley and Brown
(1980), and a third on the electron-optical investigation of clays
edited by Gard ( 1971). A volume on the electron microscopy of clay
minerals has been prepared by Beutelspacher and Van Der Mare1
(1968), and in 1967, Zvyagin published a book concerned with the
electron diffraction analysis of clays. A Special Paper of The Geo-
logical Society of America by Carroll (1970) outlines guides to the
X-ray identification of clays. An excellent volume on colloid chem-
istry of clays has been authored by Van Olphen (1977). Gillott's
1968 volume outlines the role of clays in engineering geology.
Volumes concerning clays used in ceramic materials include books
by Grimshaw (1972) and Clews (1969). An excellent volume on the
geology and origin of clays is one by Millot (1964), which has been
translated from French into English. A Special Paper of The Geo-
logical Society of America by Weaver et al. (1972) contains con-
siderable information on the geochemistry of clays related to di-
agenesis and metamomhism. Another volume by Weaver and
~Gllard(1973) contains information on the chemistry of clays,
including oxide data and structural formulae, as does a volume by
Newman (1987). Other volumes of note are the SEPM Petrology
Atlas (Welton, 1984) with excellent electron micrographs of clays;
the Mineralogical Society of America volume on Hydrous Phyl-
losilicates (Bailey, 1988); Velde's (1985) volume on clay minerals
explaining their occurrence from a physical-chemical standpoint; a
book on the formation and properties of clay-polymer complexes
by Theng (1979); an understandable and well written book on
the identification and analysis of clay minerals by X-ray diffraction
by Moore and Reynolds, Jr. (1989); a book on clay sedimentology
by Chamley (1989); and a history of fuller's earth by Robertson
(1986). There are many other excellent books on clays that could
be mentioned. A great deal of information on the geology, tech-
nology, and uses of clay has also been published by various pro-
vincial. state, and federal geological surveys, bureaus of mines, and
other agencies.
Many changes have taken place in the various clay industries
in recent years. Several of these have come about because of
technological advancements, changing economic conditions, new
uses, shifts in demand, and increases in both domestic and export
markets. The changing conditions, particularly increasing freight
rates, the energy crisis, other production and marketing costs, and
the pressures brought about by governmental controls and mining
laws resulting from requirements and restrictions related to envi-
ronmental considerations, etc., have motivated the formation of
organizations to look after the interests of some of the clay pro-
ducing industries. One of these organizations is the Sorptive Min-
erals Institute. This institute was formed mainly to represent the
producers of absorbent granules and other fuller's earth products.
A similar organization, the Bentonite Producers Association was
organized in 1971 in Casper, WY. and represents the interests of the
producers of bentonite. The kaolin industry organized the US Clay
Producers Traffic Association which was incorporated in 1953 in
New Jersey. In addition to these organizations dealing specifically
with clays, the clay industry and other mining industries formed
mining associations in many states, including Georgia and Texas in
1972, in order to protect their interests against restrictive state and
federal legislation.
GOVERNMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
MINERAL OWNERSHIP
In the United States and the United Kingdom, minerals are
owned by the owner of the land, who must be dealt with by mineral
lease, inground mineral purchase, or land and mineral purchase.
Almost all of the kaolin producing areas of the United States are in
private ownership, so the government is not a prominent owner of
kaolin mineral rights. In the Western United States the government
owns the land so claims must be staked and assessment work done
to keep the claims in force. However, most other nations of the
world have very different mineral law, and the government is the
owner of many or most types of minerals regardless of surface land
ownership. It can be very time consuming to acquire mining rights
in many nations. It is usually also necessary to pay surface damages,
or even to buy the land where kaolins, bentonites, or hormites are
intended to be mined.
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS
LAND RECLAMATION
In the United States reclamation of land mined for coal is
regulated by the federal government, but other mining reclamation
is determined by laws of the individual states. In Georgia, where
most US kaolin is mined, the 1968 Surface Mining Act requires that
all land disturbed by mining be reclaimed to a completely vegetated,
non-eroding condition. In order to obtain a permit to open a surface
mine, it is necessary to:
1. Identify the mining company, the mineral to be mined, mining
methods intended, present land use, boundaries of the pit,
location of the overburden dump, haul road, and other areas to
be disturbed.
2. Delineate erosion and sedimentation control to be used, the
catchment basin where runoff water is to be discharged from
the mine, and a settlement basin to impound and clarify runoff
from a 50-year storm. Show the size and type of impound dam
planned for review of dam safety.
3. Describe any pit backfilling intended, highwall reduction, grad-
ing and sloping, lake development, site cleanup, cover crops
planned, intended land use after completion of reclamation, etc.
4. Provide approval from county and/or city authorities for the
new mine.
5. Have public notice of intent to mine sent out to interested
organizations throughout the state to enable public comment.
6. Post bond to assure money is available to complete reclamation
in case of default, or apply for bonding exemption.
7. Provide assurance of the right to enter leased property for a
minimum of three years after completion of mining in order to
complete reclamation.
Within 18 months after completion of mining each individual
1 it, reclamation work must be under way. Release from bond and/or
obligation will not be made until the disturbed area is leveled to
blend with the surrounding topography, with a total, permanent
cover crop of grasses or trees, and in a no-erosion condition. Many
tens of thousands of hectares disturbed since 1969, when the law
took effect, have been successfully reclaimed. Most of this recla-
mation has used grasses which are good wildlife foods and fix
nitrogen naturally into the soil. Much of this acreage was planted
in select pine seedlings after the grass had become established.
Hundreds of lakes and ponds have been made from deep kaolin
mines and stocked with sport and food fish. In addition, most of the
large kaolin mining companies have voluntarily completed recla-
mation not required by the state of all their land which had been
mined before the law was passed. Current cost for reclaiming land
disturbed by kaolin mining in Georgia is estimated to be from $1500
to $3500 per acre. Bentonite, commom clay, and hormite mines are
reclaimed according to the state regulations in which the particular
mine is located.
WETLAND ACCESS
The type of terrain and topography on which major kaolin
deposits are found in the Georgia-South Carolina mining district is
such that many millions of tons of kaolin reserves are in areas that
could be considered wetlands, swamps, etc. Wetlands (even though
private property) are now protected from most types of development
by the federal government in the United States, by Section 404 of
the 1972 Clean Water Act. This legislation requires that anyone
interested in depositing dredge or fill material must apply for and
receive a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers. Activities
covered include, but are not limited to, placement of fill material,
ditching by sidecast, levee and dike construction, landclearing in-
volving relocation of soil, land leveling, most road construction, and
dam construction. This regulation has been interpreted with in-
creasing rigidity recently. There have been many definitions pro-
posed for what wetlands covered by Section 404 may be. The US
Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection
Agency have jointly defined wetlands as: "Those areas that are
inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency
and duration su.cient to support, and that under normal circum-
stances do support, a prevalence if vegetation typically adapted for
life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include
swamps. marshes, bogs, and similar areas. " (Anon., 1987). How-
ever, since 1987 many new criteria for wetland recognition have
been proposed, and the regulatory status of wetland permitting is
most unclear.
Several wetland brick clay, peat, and sand and gravel mines
near the Georgia-South Carolina kaolin district have received 404
exemptions from the Corps to mine in river swamps, but the writer
knows of no permitted kaolin mines in wetlands since section 404
passage in 1972. Perhaps the effect most felt in the kaolin industry
so far has been the difficulty of obtaining permits to construct water
treatment impounds in stream bottoms. These impounds are re-
quired by the federal government, under NPDES point and non-
point source regulations, to avoid water pollution. Bentonite and
hormite mining permits are also affected by the wetlands issues.
PROCESSING AND MINE
WASTEWATER CONTROL
Kaolin refining plants are required to flocculate suspended clay
from their wastewater and neutralize to an acceptable pH level.
Plant discharge is regulated under the federal National Pollutant
Discharge System (NPDES) and Georgia's 1964 Water Quality
Control Act. Muddy water runoff from the entire area disturbed by
mining is also regulated under provisions of the NPDES. Such water
is caught in impounds before leaving the property mined and clar-
ified to meet standards.
AIR QUALITY AND DUST CONTROL
By their nature, kaolin, bentonite, and hormite plants which
produce dry products in powder form are prone to emit dust in the
atmosphere. Although clay dust is not toxic and is abundantly
present in the air along dirt roads and fields being plowed during
dry weather, it is regulated under federal and state law. The Georgia
Air Quality act of 1978 requires an extensive system of dust col-
lectors, which have greatly reduced unsightly white dust around
kaolin plants.
ZONING AND LAND USE LIMITATIONS
Zoning of land use is not applied to the rural areas where kaolin
and hormite clays are mined in the Georgia-South Carolina district.
However, recently regulations were put into effect which will re-
quire the approval of local officials (county commissioners andor
city government) in order for a Georgia mine permit to be issued.
It is not known at this time (1993) what effect this will have on new
mining.
SAFETY AND KEALTH REGULATIONS
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) of the US
Department of Labor has responsibility for regulating the clay
mining industry throughout the United States. MSHA programs
consist of setting standards for safe practices in mines, processing
plants, laboratories, and for exploration crews. Recent emphasis in
the kaolin industry has been on hazardous materials in the work-
place (chemicals in clay refining and laboratory testing) and on
training miners in safe operation of heavy earthmoving equipment.
DEPLETION ALLOWANCE AND TARXFZS
Kaolin has a depletion allowance of 14% domestic or foreign.
This is the same allowance as for other commercial clays, such as
ball clay, bentonite, fuller's earth, and common clay.
Tariffs are set in the United States on the basis of whether a
country is classed as a Most Favored Nation or not. At the beginning
of 1991, kaolin tariff for Most Favored Nations was $0.325/t, and
for non-Most Favored Nations it was $2.46/t.
REFERENCES
Anon., 1987, Recognizing Wetlands, US Army Corps of Engineers.
Ampian, S.G., 1992, "Clays," Mineral Commodity Summaries, 1992, US
Bureau of Mines, pp. 5C-51.
Bailey, S.W.. ed., 1988, Hydrous Phyllosilicates, Mineralogical Society of
America, Reviews in Mineralogy, Vol. 19, 725 pp.
Beutelspacher, H., and Van Der Marel, H.W., 1968, Atlas of Electron
Microscopy of Clay Minerals and Their Admixtures, Elsevier, Am-
sterdam, 333 pp.
Bicker, A.R., Jr., 1970, "Economic Minerals of Mississippi," Bulletin 112,
Mississippi Geological, Economic and Topographical Survey, 80 pp.
Brindley, G.W., and Brown, G., eds., 1980, Crystal Structures of Clay
Minerals and Their X-Ray IdentiJication, Mineralogical Society Mono-
graph No. 5, London, 995 pp.
Carroll, D., 1970, Clay Minerals: A Guide to Their X-Ray Identification,
Special Paper 126, Geological Society of America, 80 pp.
Chamley. H.. 1989, Clay Sedimentology, Springer-Verlay. Berlin, Germany,
623 pp.
232 INDUSTRIAL MINERALS AND ROCKS
Clews, F.H., 1969, Heavy Clay Technology, 2nd ed., Academic Press, New
York, 481 pp.
Gard, J.A., ed., 1971, The Electron-Optical Investigations of Clays, Min-
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Gillott, J.E., 1968, Clay in Engineering Geology, Elsevier, New York, 296
PP.
Grim, P.E., 1962, Applied Clay Mineralogy, McGraw-Hill, New York, 422
PP.
Grim, R.E., 1968, Clay Mineralogy, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 596
PP.
Grimshaw, R.W., 1972, The Chemistry and Physics of Clays and Other
Ceramic Raw Materials, 4th ed., rev., Wiley-Interscience, New York,
1024 pp.
Mackenzie, R.C., ed., 1957, The Differential Thermal Investigation of Clays.
Mineralogical Society (Clay Minerals Group), London, 456 pp.
Malkovskq, M., and Vachtl, J., eds., 1969a, Proceedings, Symposium I.
Genesis of Kaolin Deposits, 23rd International Geological Congress,
Prague, 1968 Report, Vol. 14, 135 pp.
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Moore, D.M., and Reynolds, R.C., Ir., 1989, X-Ray Diffraction and the
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Van Olphen, H., 1977, An Introduction to Clay Colloid Chemistry, 2nd ed.,
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