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Bentonite

Bentonite. Your Logo Here. Uses and Sources. Overview. Made up mainly of montmorillinite , (Na,Ca) 0.33 (Al,Mg) 2 (Si 4 O 10 )(OH) 2 · n H 2 O Formed from the weathering of volcanic ash beds Named for Fort Benton, WY, where it was first described as part of a Cretaceous tuff sequence

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Bentonite

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  1. Bentonite Your Logo Here Uses and Sources

  2. Overview • Made up mainly of montmorillinite, (Na,Ca)0.33(Al,Mg)2(Si4O10)(OH)2·nH2O • Formed from the weathering of volcanic ash beds • Named for Fort Benton, WY, where it was first described as part of a Cretaceous tuff sequence • Grades vary, but it is generally impure, with inclusions of other smectite minerals, as well as quartz, feldspar, calcite, and gypsum • Exhibits a number of unique properties (IMA-NA 2007)

  3. Properties & Applications • Thixotropy • Can be semi-solid at rest, but will be liquid when agitated • Used as a thickening and suspension agent in paints, dyes, and varnishes (KSGS 2002)

  4. Properties & Applications • Cohesion • Binder and pelletizer • Ironworks: ore pellets for feeding into furnaces, and as a binder in casting sand molds (MiningLife 2005)

  5. Properties & Applications • Absorption / Adsorption • Can absorb several times it dry weight in water • Pet litter, impermeable clay liners, wastewater treatment, detergent purification, paper pulp purification, de-inking (IMA-NA 2007)

  6. Properties & Applications • Inertness • Won’t kill you to eat it! • Filler in pharmaceuticals, animal feed, and cosmetics • Purifier and clarifier in beer, wine, and honey (WSGS 2007)

  7. Properties & Applications • Viscosity and Plasticity • Drilling: vertical and horizontal • Lubricates the bit, seals the walls of the borehole, removes drill cuttings • Additive in Portland cement, mortars, and specialized plasters (WSGS 2007)

  8. Bentonite as a Value-Added Commodity • Bentonite is not often taken straight from the ground to market. • Much purification is often undergone to specialize the product • Sieving (for granular bentonite) • Milling (fine and superfine powdered bentonite) • Removal of associated gangue minerals • Treated with acids (“bleaching earths”) • Treated with organics (“organoclays”) (IMA-NA 2007)

  9. Bentonite Producers & Refiners • AMCOL International (miner, refiner, large producer of bentonite products) • Aqua Technologies (organoclay water treatment) • Black Hills Bentonite LLC (miner and 1st-stage refiner) • BPM Minerals LLC (producer) • CETCO (special-purpose bentonite products) • Montana Bentonite LLC (producer and refiner) • …and MANY others

  10. Production Methods • Drilling & Sampling • Soil Profiling (to aid in speedy recovery after reclamation) • Topsoil & Overburden removal (usual with scrapers) • Quarrying with loader & truck • Only economic to mine bentonite with no more than 50 feet of overburden (WMA-Minelife 2007)

  11. Simplified Bentonite Mill Flow-Chart (WMA Minelife, 2007)

  12. World Reserves and Production Statistics • Reserves of all clays used by man are extremely large, and are thought to be inexhaustible on human timescales • As a result, no concrete measurements of world reserves have been performed • It is still a very lucrative sector. US production in 2005 amounted to 42 million tons worth $1.7 billion (Numbers are in thousands of metric tons) (USGS 2007)

  13. Worldwide Distribution (Mindat 2007)

  14. (USGS 2005) End Use Statistics

  15. Works Cited • Industrial Minerals Association of North America, www.ima-na.org, (Accessed March 23, 2007). • Kansas State Geological Survey, http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Notes/bentonite.html, (Accessed March 27, 2007). • Mindat, http://www.mindat.org/min-9141.html, (Accessed March 27, 2007). MiningLife Media, http://www.mininglife.com/commodities/Bentonite.asp, (Accessed March 25, 2007). • WMA-Minelife, http://www.wma-minelife.com/bent/bentmine/bentmine.htm, (Accessed March 27, 2007). • Wyoming State Geological Survey, http://www.wsgs.uwyo.edu/minerals/bentonite.aspx, (Accessed March 27, 2007). • USGS, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/clays/, (Accessed March 27, 2007). • USGS, 2005, Bentonite statistics, in Kelly, T.D., and Matos, G.R.,comps., Historical statistics for mineral and material commodities in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 140, available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/ . (Accessed March 27, 2007.)

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