Kaolin is one of Georgia’s largest natural resources. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, more than 8 million metric tons of kaolin are mined from Georgia each year, with an estimated value of more than $1 billion. Georgia is by far the leading clay-producing state in America and is recognized as a world leader in the mining, production, processing, and application of kaolin products.

Georgia kaolin deposits occur in Late Cretaceous (about 100 million to 65 million years ago) to Early Paleogene (65 million to 45 million years ago) sedimentary rocks whose sediments were derived from weathered igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Georgia Piedmont geologic province. During these ancient times, sediments were transported by rivers to coastline deltas and to estuarine and back-barrier island locations. Relative sea-level changes provided environments of deposition favorable for the accumulation of the lens-shaped geometry of the present-day deposits. Since then further mineralogical changes have occurred to the sediments. The varied and complex geologic history that different kaolin deposits have experienced results in an array of formation properties.