SMEDG – Notice of Meeting

{Click here to download this notice in Adobe .pdf format}

DATE: Thursday 24th May 2001, 5.30pm for 6pm

VENUE: Rugby Club, Crane Place, Circular Quay

SPEAKER: Sue Border – GEOS MINING

TOPIC: “Skardon River Kaolin Project” (Image files below)

Kaolin is no longer just an indigestion remedy, but is a vital ingredient in the paint, paper and rubber industries. Kaolin is not just boring white overburden concealing a potential orebody, but can be a valuable resource in its own right. Sue will review the history of the resurrected Skardon River kaolin project, and discuss the geology and the features which make this project unique. The genesis of commercial kaolins will be discussed with comparisons between Skardon River and some major world kaolin deposits. The talk will also cover kaolin properties and use, and some of the new markets emerging for calcined kaolin products.

Sue Border is a geologist with over twenty years experience in the minerals industry. She has worked in mining and exploration of both metals and industrial minerals in Africa and Australia. She was exploration manager for Minerals Corporation Limited where she built up a portfolio of industrial mineral properties for their IPO which raised $15m. She supervised the discovery and development of the Staurolite Ridge garnet mine at Broken Hill. Sue has been working on the Skardon River project for 15 months, supervising the exploration, resource update and preparation for mining later this year.

The images presented by Sue to accompany this presentation are now accessible as a web page or an MS Power Point file.

Cay’s notes / links to items of interest for Skardon River Kaolin subject:

The international magazine on the nonmetallics and their markets

Ceramics.com – resource for those interested in ceramics, industrial minerals, and related topics

European Industrial Minerals Association

China Clay Producing Association (Georgia, USA)

Industrial Minerals Exchange – developing an online industrial minerals marketplace and trading exchange for industrial minerals

SME Industrial Minerals and Rocks – online publication includes chapters on both clays and kaolin. Kaolin chapter has an extensive list of references.

SME Industrial Minerals and Rocks – table of kaolin quality factors

Peter Harben, author of “The Industrial Minerals Handbook” and industrial minerals consultant based in New Mexico. Site includes lists of publications, useful links, & page on derivation of mineral names such as “kaolin” which is from the Chinese Kau-ling = high ridge, a village in northwest Jiangxi Province, China, where deposits of white kaolin have long been exploited to make fine white porcelain known as china (see china clay)

NSW Government – Industrial minerals information page

South Australian Government – SA Kaolin resources

Kaolin summary part of Saskatchewan Govt (kaolin producing state)

Serina Kaolin – kaolin producer from South Africa includes specifications of products.

Industrial Minerals – list of interesting links compiled by University of Florida