How kaolin is mined

Kaolin is named after a Chinese hill, and the English word traces to a 1712 report on making porcelain.

stations: 3
things downstream: 41

The short version

Kaolin, also called china clay, is a soft, white clay rock made mainly of the mineral kaolinite, which forms when feldspar weathers. Miners dig it from open pits, then slurry and refine it into a bright white product. It is shipped as powder, lumps, semi-dried noodles or slurry for paper and porcelain.

Strip the white clay

Kaolin lies in thick beds formed by the chemical weathering of aluminum silicate minerals such as feldspar. Open pits remove the overlying soil and cut into the clay.
Slurry and screen

The clay is mixed with water into a slurry and screened to remove sand and rock. Iron oxide can tint it pink, orange or red, so purity is judged by how white it is.
Dry and ship

After dewatering, kaolin ships as powder, lumps, semi-dried noodle or slurry, depending on what the customer will do with it.

End of the lineKaolin Next it goes into ceramic, porcelain, toilet and 2 more.

Worth repeating

The English word kaolin was borrowed in 1727 from a 1712 French report on how Jingdezhen made porcelain.
The Chinese name gaoling means high ridge and comes from a village near Jingdezhen.
Sandersville, Georgia, calls itself the Kaolin Capital of the World.