This mine off Pine Log Road is one of 20 active kaolin mines in Aiken County alone. State law requires that sites be reclaimed once they're no longer being mined.Photo by Ron Cockerille/Staff

Substance left behind a million years ago by receding ocean is big business in Georgia and South Carolina

  Map: The kaolin belt

Web-posted Nov. 9, 1996

By Brian Neill
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN - It may be hard to believe that a lumpy, white substance buried deep in the ground for the past million years is present in the soles of your new sneakers.

The shiny cover on that magazine you bought in the grocery store checkout line has some in it also.

And remember the teaspoons of Kaopectate you belted back during that nasty bout of the flu? It was in there too.

The substance is kaolin clay, and it's big business in Georgia and South Carolina, which rank No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the nation in its production.

Aiken County alone has more than 20 active kaolin mines covering nearly 2,000 acres, according to data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Georgia's kaolin mining covers 13 counties extending along the ``kaolin belt'' from Macon to Augusta. The northeast tip of the belt touches Aiken, where some of the richest deposits are found.

Kaolin was formed more than a million years ago, during the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, when much of Georgia and South Carolina was covered by the Atlantic Ocean. Rushing streams carried kaolin and feldspar crystals seaward, where they formed large sedimentary deposits.

Those deposits along the coast, now called the ``fall line,'' eventually formed kaolin.

David Forrester, general manager of Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Co. in Langley, shows the finished product, in his left hand, and the kaolin that comes out of the ground, in his right.Photo by Ron Cockerille/Staff

At the Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Co. in Langley, kaolin is processed into a fine, powdered form for use primarily in the rubber industry.

``Anything made out of rubber is going to have clay in it,'' said the company's general manager, David Forrester, rattling off a list of products ranging from hockey pucks to automotive gaskets.

Kaolin is used in rubber as a filler to increase rigidity and resistance to abrasion.

It's also used to make paint and plastics and to give a sheen and smooth texture to paper.

The clay is brought in by truck in bulk form from surrounding mines and loaded into a huge machine that acts much like a food processor, grating the large white and beige rocks of clay into mush.

From there, the clay is transported by conveyer into a 2,000-degree dryer before being moved to an ``air float'' system that uses heat and high-pressure air to separate the pure clay from sand and other foreign particles.

Rows of milkshake blenders lining a wall of the plant's laboratory are used to whip the clay into a puree for constant sampling and testing.

The finished product is placed in 50-pound bags or one-ton ``super sacks'' and transported by train or truck to distribution centers.

Other companies use different methods of processing, depending on their clientele. Some clay is shipped by truck or train in a wet, or slurry, form, and some is even bleached to enhance brightness, which appeals to some buyers in the paper industry.

Until recently, kaolin was used to make Kaoepectate, an anti-diarrheal. American Indians and people in ancient China used kaolin as a holistic medicine, and some locals still use it in that fashion.

``Occasionally, some of the old folk will come by and want to get a chunk of clay,'' Mr. Forrester said. ``And they'll take a taste of it and make sure it's the type they want.''

Chris Newsome bags the finished product for distribution to customers. Industry representatives say that most of the their costs are tied up in processing, rather than mining. Photo by Ron Cockerille/Staff

Jeff Palmer, spokesman for Pharmacia & Upjohn, maker of Kaoepectate, said kaolin binds with matter in the intestinal tract to make stools more solid.

About three years ago, however, kaolin was replaced in Kaopectate by attapulgite, a clay that proved more effective in smaller doses, Mr. Palmer said.

The loss of that market hardly put a dent in the kaolin industry.

Georgia's six prominent kaolin companies produce about 8.5 million tons of finished product annually. Finished kaolin currently sells for about $125 per ton.

And it's important when talking about kaolin to differentiate between raw and finished product, said Kenneth Jackman, executive vice president of the China Clay Producers Association Inc., a consortium of Georgia kaolin mining companies.

``People think of us a mining industry, but only about 15 percent of our dollars are tied up in the actual mining of the material,'' Mr. Jackman said. ``The other 85 percent is tied up with the processing of the material. When you take it from the ground it's essentially worthless.''

Finding the clay can be expensive, industry experts say.

Kaolin companies employ geologists to survey land suspected of having clay deposits beneath it. Holes as deep as 200 feet are drilled into the earth with boring rods. Core samples are removed from the rods and analyzed for the clay's purity and depth of the deposit. Deposits can range from 20 feet to several hundred feet in depth.

The industry has its critics. Even the word mining is enough to send chills up the spines of the environmentally conscious.

But one local environmental official says she's experienced nothing but cooperation from the kaolin industry.

Gigi Kalantar has spent the past six years paying visits to Aiken County's kaolin mines as part of her mining and land reclamation duties with the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Recently, when a retention pond at a local mine burst from erosion and released clay slurry formed by accumulated rainwater into the surrounding community, Ms. Kalantar immediately got on the phone with company officials.

``They came out there right away and bulldozed around the area,'' Ms. Kalantar said. ``(Kaolin companies are) always quick to respond. They will even report problems to the agency.''

Ms. Kalantar also monitors mine reclamation mandated by the South Carolina Mining Act of 1974.

Before the legislation's passage, mining companies could leave the site in its barren state once they were finished - and many did.

``In the old days, they used to do hundreds of acres just strip mining the whole thing,'' she said. ``But now, we ask them to do it in sections so there's like the active pit and a portion that's always under reclamation.''

Companies also have to put up a reclamation bond ranging from $10,000 to more than a $100,000, depending on the size of the mining parcel.

And even if a mine has been totally reclaimed by planting trees, grass and shrubs, DHEC won't release a company's reclamation bond for two years - or growing seasons - to ensure that there are no remaining erosion problems.

A trip to W.R. Grace Co.'s Scott Garrett mine off U.S. Highway 1 illustrates the stark contrast between land mined under current reclamation programs and those mined in the era before mining laws were enacted. The west side of the Scott Garrett mine has a sloping carpet of thick brush and pine trees. Crickets chirp noisily in their verdant surroundings, and one would hardly realize that only two years ago the area was being actively mined.

Across from the site is a mine that was abandoned before the 1974 legislation. It's barren, except for a few pine trees that seem out of place atop the eroded ruts and ravines in the reddish clay.

Reclamation success stories are sprouting up in both states.

Residents of Washington County, Ga., now enjoy picnics and activities at the Lake Franklin recreational area, once a kaolin mine.

According to the China Clay Producers Association, the state's kaolin miners pumped more than $30 million into reclamation projects between 1990 and 1994. The association estimates that an average of $1,728 is spent per acre to reclaim mined land.

In 1987, Huber Clay Corp. won a national award from the Interstate Mining Compact Commission for its reclamation of the Richardson Mine, off Pine Log Road near Richardson Lake in Aiken. The area now forms part of a subdivision.

Although reclaimed mines have ended up being quaint subdivisions and recreational areas, most people are resistant to mining near them.

Mining laws and DHEC regulations require that letters of intent be mailed to residents of properties adjacent to prospective mine sites. If the number of adjacent residents exceeds 20, public hearings are required.