> >I can confirm that china clay is still worked and is a major
local industry.
> >The product is exported via Teignmouth, an extremely busy but
small port.
> >
>
> The clay worked at Bovey Tracey was ball clay not china clay.
I'm not sure
> that mines are still active. In 1969, in the South Western
Division of the
> Mines Inspectorate, there were 19 such mines at work - the
majority, if not
> all, in Devon. For details of workings in North Devon see M J
Messenger's
> North Devon Clay, published Twelveheads, 1982. Still in print
Michael?
Yes, ball clay was being worked, certainly as recently as the
early 1990s. At least two companies were producing it, and as far
as I know still are - ECC Ball Clays Division and WBB (Watts
Blake and Bearne). There may be others. Around 1988-1990 I did
some work there with ECC - installed a mining software system and
developed computer programs to help with blending and production
scheduling for their particularly complex set of products. One
of the ball clay operations is right next to the A38, a few miles
west of Exeter. ECC also have ball clay operations near Wareham
in Dorset.
- Steve Henley
Stephen Henley, Resources Computing International Ltd
185 Starkholmes Road,Matlock,Derbyshire DE4 5JA, UK
tel:+44(0)1629 581454 fax:+44(0)1629 581471
Mining Domains for sale: see: www.geosciences.com
email: [log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|