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Kaolin Clay
- -China clay. Used in fillers in plastics, paints, pharmaceuticals, etc.
- Consists of kaolinite with minor amounts of other phyllosilicates. May form in place either by hydrothermal or weathering processes may be transported to a site mixed with other weathered products.
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Ball Clay
Used for ceramic industry providing strength prior to ceramic firing, particularly in sanitary ware. Also floor tiles, bricks, etc.
Transported, non-marine sedimentary deposits derived from primary sources.
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Bentonite:
- Used in oilfield and mineral drilling fluids, cat litter, hydraulic barriers (waste disposal, mine dump, etc)
- formed from weathering of glassy volcanic tuffs deposited in a marine environment
- Two varieties:
- Sodium bentonite (swelling property)
- Calcium bentonite (non-swelling property)
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Bentonites sodium vs. calcium
- Sodium: strong expansion properties
- Calcium: occur in mississippi and texas, do not have strong expansion properties.
Usage: food production, sulfer production, fire control (extinguisher), pollution control (binding agents for oil on water, Cleaning, ore production, waste disposal, ceramics, etc.
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Lac de Gras
Diamond mine which located in Canada.
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Dimension Stone
Marble- used in monuments (Lincoln monument), does not wear well (soft).
Slate- roofing slates, flagstone, billiard tops, mantles, furniture, lots of waste (due to fine breakage), waste is used for rock wool.
Pumice- Volcanic product associated with ash-flow tuffs or vents. Used in cleaners (polishing compounds, rubber erasers, etc)
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Zeolite
- used for collection of low-level radioactive wastes and sewage treatment (to treat ammonias)
- can control fertilizer release
- dehydration-rehydration in concretes
- filler in high-quality paper
- animal nutrition
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Bauxite
- Gibbsite and Boehmite-diaspore
- blanket, pocket, detrital, and interlayered deposits
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Gem occurance
- Igneous:
- Ultramafic rocks: diamond, sapphire, ruby, olivine
- Pegmatites: greatest variety of gem minerals
- Organic: amber, pearls, jet
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Pegmatites
- Pegmatites:
- In situ crystallization of silicate melt in local pockets, leading to coarsely-crystalline products (aquamarine, tourmaline, amazonite); yields coarsely-crystalline muscovite in some granitic melts.
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Kimberlites/lamproites:
Ultramafic igneous rock derived from mantle components. Requires rapid rise to near Earth's surface so the diamond will be presrved; slow rise of magma yields graphite or industrial grade diamond
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Barite
Weighting agent in gas and oil field drilling muds and as downhole flow and bit lubrication. Some barite is used as a filler, extending or weighting agent in paints, plastics, and rubber. Also used in brake and clutch pads.
- five types of deposits:
- Replacement, cement deposits, fissure veins, residual, sedimentary
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Fluorspar
Used as catalyst in manufacture of high octane fuels, enamel stripping, glass etching, polishing, electroplating, refrigerants, solvants, teflon etc.
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