IXL Industries clay quarry near Ravenscrag, Saskatchewan in 1984.

Wednesday 21st June 2017

Layers of the Whitemud Formation are being mined. The layer being extracted is a silty insight-live.com/glossary/85">stoneware they referred to as the "D member" (equivalent to Plainsman 3D which is mined several miles to the east for use in pottery). Below the D they continued to mine a much whiter kaolinized sand of equal or more thickness. Above the D is a ball clay (equivalent to Plainsman A2). Above that is a light-burning stoneware (the combined layers that Plainsman extracts separately as A3 and 3B). A foot-thick layer of much harder volcanic ash is visible in the green overburden at the top. From these stoneware clays they extruded brick of exceptional quality, firing it as high as cone 10. Twenty years later the company reclaimed this land and today you would be unable to find where the quarry was located.

Pages that reference this post in the Digitalfire Reference Library:

IXL RA2, A2 Ball Clay, 3D Clay, Ravenscrag Slip is Born, These Saskatchewan grasslands lie almost right on top of pure clay!, Secondary Clay, Brick Making

This post is one of thousands found in the Digitalfire Reference Database. Most are part of a timeline maintained by Tony Hansen. You can search that timeline on the home page of digitalfire.com.