Just another day in paradise

digger doug said:

I thought it was for making money.....

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When pays well enough!!

Local long time brick plant digs deep for clay. When the Cat scraper can't climb out of the hole anymore they start a new hole. Satellite shows 3 big old pits filled with water and a much larger working pit.

Just leave the old scraper in the old hole?

Joe H

joe--h said:

Just leave the old scraper in the old hole?

Joe H

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They did that back in the day when they closed down coal mines here

Environuts would go nuts

if stalls gets a tow out

Another use for white clay, is for the manufacture of lipstick. It has to be pure white. A lot of that clay was mined in east Texas, near Athens. In fact, when I was the manager of mining operations for a large brick company, some of the land surrounding our east Texas pits was still owned/leased by some company that made lipstick.
Where in east Texas are you thinking about working in mining? I may have worked there, or near there.
Jeff

I've had to dig blue clay out of freestalls for dairy cows, might as well go dig up a parking lot.
Doesn't make for a fun day.

Ed

mowingman said:

Another use for white clay, is for the manufacture of lipstick. It has to be pure white. A lot of that clay was mined in east Texas, near Athens. In fact, when I was the manager of mining operations for a large brick company, some of the land surrounding our east Texas pits was still owned/leased by some company that made lipstick.
Where in east Texas are you thinking about working in mining? I may have worked there, or near there.
Jeff

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My synapses 'clicked' when I read your post about lipstick!!! My favorite lipstick is NLGI #2 in red..........sometimes when I'm going GOTH its the Blue!! LOL

Clay gets used in grease too!! I don't know why I didn't think of that before............getting old sucks!! LOL
Thickener
Once you have selected the base oil that best fits your business needs, the next step is to select a thickener. The thickener acts like a sponge, absorbing and holding the lubricating grease together. It also gives the completed mix its structure, which can range from semifluid to firm.

There are three basic types of thickeners - simple metal soaps, complex metal soaps, and non-soaps.

Simple metallic soaps can be made of components such as, lithium, and calcium. This soap is best known for its water resistance, although it has difficulty handling extreme temperature environments.

While simple metallic soaps are a great standard, complex metallic soaps are gaining popularity. Complex soaps are made by reacting multiple components, giving them a higher dropping point and lower oil separation rate. This allows the mix to withstand extreme temperatures.

Non-soap thickeners are commonly made of silica or clay and can have great performance abilities in unfavorable environments.

https://www.mystiklubes.com/Articles/Grease/GettingStartedWithGrease.jsp

Another Jeff

mowingman said:

Another use for white clay, is for the manufacture of lipstick. It has to be pure white. A lot of that clay was mined in east Texas, near Athens. In fact, when I was the manager of mining operations for a large brick company, some of the land surrounding our east Texas pits was still owned/leased by some company that made lipstick.
Where in east Texas are you thinking about working in mining? I may have worked there, or near there.
Jeff

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As a matter of fact one of the mines is in Athens. Another is in Henderson and a 3rd is over by Shreveport. I spoke with him the other day. They are mining clay for bricks. I don’t know much more than that. He wants to be a customer which will work well for me. T minus 15 days to go!

Atill likely a Great Move Mike, tons of well wishes and good luck from here.

Mike L said:

As a matter of fact one of the mines is in Athens. Another is in Henderson and a 3rd is over by Shreveport. I spoke with him the other day. They are mining clay for bricks. I don’t know much more than that. He wants to be a customer which will work well for me. T minus 15 days to go!

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He is probably contract mining for Red River Brick, part of the General Shale operations. They now have plants in Athens and Henderson, Tx. I think General Shale has taken over as the largest brick company in the USA. Back when I was mining clay, Acme Brick was the largest US brick company. We had 21 plants at the time.
Jeff

ACME, AP Green, are several others that were around here.

DMiller said:

ACME, AP Green, are several others that were around here.

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It is a shame that AP Green is no longer in business. AP Green had a big operation in Mexico, Mo. as I recall. They were big time into the refractory brick business. In fact, most of the refractory brick companies have merged, or closed up. Fewer steel mills=less need for refractory brick.

Glass works, Steel mills, even other brick plants used refractory brick,

DMiller said:

Glass works, Steel mills, even other brick plants used refractory brick,

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Yes, but the demand is waaaay down from the "old days". Thus, few refractory brick manufacturers remain. The same is true for clay tile plants. Clay tile was a big business. Now, only a few companies make it anymore, and the few plants remaining are not very large.
Jeff

DAL Tile is one client here, buys Red and White clays, red has alkali in it where cleans the kilns when being kilned. Sand Plant across from Hermann ships 2-4 Barge loads roughly every three months.

Harbison Walker in Vandalia MO is still in business.

Yes, Dal Tile is a big operation, I have seen a couple of their plants. I think they have all their clay contract mined, but not completely sure about that. H-W is a big operation. I think they bought out some of the other refractory companies that could not survive. We used to buy refractory brick and other refractory products from them, for lining our brick kilns.
Jeff

99% of the clay that the DAL site in Muskogee OK receives is from around here.
HW has a fairly large facility runs 24/7 in Vandalia MO, clay is still mined up there.

@Mike L Do you regret asking yet?

Nah. It makes for good conversations and I’m learning something new