5x china clay production achieved at Alpha Kaolin, Bhuj, Kutch

Suraj Minerals Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat, India China Clay

Suraj Minerals, one of the leading manufacturers of levigated, crude and powdered china clay with 10 mines over 100 hectares in Bhuj, installed a CFlo Micrograder BT Processing Plant for its Alpha Kaolin project. The plant increased china clay production 5-fold, from 16 tons per day to 80-90, and now produces glass-grade silica sand sold to Gujarat's biggest glass manufacturers.

The Challenge

Since its inception in 1984, Suraj Minerals had processed mined clay by conventional methods: crude clay mixed with silica sand was slurried in blingers and passed through screw classifiers to separate clay and sand. The process was slow, labour-intensive and inefficient. Poor separation lost 3-5% of valuable clay into the silica sand stream, degrading the sand's quality so it fetched only Rs 200-230 per ton from small-scale buyers. The company needed a single plant that could ramp up china clay production and produce high-quality glass-grade silica sand from the same feed.

The Solution

Alpha Kaolin sent clay samples to CFlo's lab, and on the strength of the test results CFlo's technical team recommended a Micrograder BT with Spiropure Spiral Gravity Concentrators for heavy minerals separation and the Nanowash Ultrafine Classification System for clay separation at 45 microns. The equipment was commissioned in February 2021.

The fully automated plant replaced the labour-intensive process, recycles up to 95% of water back into the system, lowered power consumption and fits a compact footprint. Clay loss fell from 3-5% to just 0.5%, and the silica sand, now glass grade, sells at Rs 550-700 per ton to the largest glass manufacturers in Gujarat and Kolkata, including Saint-Gobain Glass, HNG, Gujarat Guardians, Gujarat Glass and Piramal Glass.

jump in china clay production: 16 to 80-90 tons per day

0.5%

clay lost in processing, down from 3-5%

Rs 550-700/ton

glass-grade silica sand price, up from Rs 200-230

95%

of water recycled back into the system

More proof