Grahamstown has the largest known deposits of good quality kaolin in South Africa. But the abundance of this useful white clay isn’t benefitting the community. If processing plants can be opened in Grahamstown, kaolin mining could help alleviate unemployment.
Grahamstown has the largest known deposits of good quality kaolin in South Africa. But the abundance of this useful white clay isn’t benefitting the community. If processing plants can be opened in Grahamstown, kaolin mining could help alleviate unemployment.
From 1990 most of the kaolin processing plants were closed down. At the moment Makana is mining 27% of South Africa’s kaolin and before 1990 it constituted 55%.
It is one of the top seven industrial minerals and has prospects for providing opportunities and economic growth in Grahamstown.
Today kaolin mining is limited to mining in Grahamstown and quarrying which is restricted to only five mines.
These are AM Moss, East Cape Quarries, Strowan mining, Crousday and Makana Brick and Tile. Kaolin is extracted through open cast mining methods.
This type of mining is not labour intensive therefore an average of ten full time workers is sufficient to do the work.
Kaolin is a fine white clay produced by the decomposition of a group of rockforming minerals called feldspars.
It is used in the production of tiles, cosmetics, sanitary ware, tableware, paper, paint, rubber and pharmaceutical products.
Des Forword, the director of East Cape Quarries and Mayfield clays, warns that future kaolin prospects are of concern unless a ceramic factory or kaolin processing plant can be erected in Grahamstown as transport costs to Gauteng are becoming increasingly prohibitive.
The mines export unprocessed kaolin to Gauteng for processing and they lose a lot of profit through these escalating transport costs plus the cost of hiring the plant used for mining.
Forword also indicated that Grahamstown’s proximity to the Orange River makes it an ideal location for a washing plant.
Also, a local milling facility would either blow or suck off the impurities in the raw unprocessed kaolin mineral.
He described the world market for kaolin as favourable. It appears that Europe and the UK could be looking at reserves elsewhere in the world as their reserves are dwindling.
He added that one of the biggest threats to the Grahamstown’s kaolin is the impact of the encroaching informal settlement on kaolin rich land.
For kaolin mining to succeed in Grahamstown, partnerships must be established between the communities, municipality, local kaolin miners, Rhodes University and other training institutes.
Makhwenkwe Khuselo, a member of the Makana Trust said that they are working on developing kaolin mining but “the process is still at a premature stage.” He added that at this stage they have not yet secured funding for the project but they are working on it.
