Kaolin is an important non-metallic mineral resource, which is mainly composed of small flake, tubular and laminated kaolinite cluster minerals (kaolinite, dickite, perlite, halloysite, etc.) less than 2 microns. It is widely used in ceramics, paper making, coatings, rubber, plastics, catalysts, adhesives, agricultural carriers and other fields.

1. Overview of kaolin resources in China < br / > China is rich in kaolin resources, but mainly sandy kaolin with low grade, which is only suitable for the production of ceramics, bricks and tiles and other products; while the reserves of kaolin used for paper-making grade refining and water washing only account for about 6% of the total reserves, mainly concentrated in Maoming, Guangdong and Beihai, Guangxi, with soft kaolin as the ore type; it can be used for coating grade ultra-fine high whiteness calcination The ore reserves of kaolin production account for about 5% of the total reserves, mainly concentrated in Inner Mongolia. The type of ore is hard kaolinite, most of which are associated with coal mines. On the whole, kaolin is widely distributed in China, but the number of medium, large and high-quality deposits is small

Maoming, Guangdong: Maoming has large reserves of kaolin ore body, with reserves of 158 million tons. It is high-quality sandy kaolin, which can be used as paper coating and kaolin, ceramic kaolin and high-quality quartz sand resources.

Longyan, Fujian Province: the main ore body of Longyan kaolin has large reserves. Its mineral resources are characterized by low content of harmful impurities such as iron and titanium, high firing whiteness and good porcelain forming performance. Its total reserves reach 49.76 million tons. It is a high-quality raw material for medium and high-grade ceramics. < br / > Zhangzhou, Fujian Province: Longhai, Zhangpu, Changtai, Xiangcheng and Longwen in the East and middle of Zhangzhou are rich in kaolin. The mine scale is mainly small and scattered, among which Longhai Longjiang kaolin is a large deposit with proven resource reserves of 18.25 million tons and poor quality; longwenshizhou and haokeng kaolin are medium-sized deposits with proven resource reserves of 5.67 million tons, with high iron and titanium content and low whiteness. The local mineral products are mainly raw ore or rough processing products, but less deep, fine and fine processing products. < br / > Suzhou Yangshan Area: kaolin has the characteristics of fine particle size, high whiteness, low iron and titanium content, and is mainly used as catalyst carrier and chemical raw materials.

Yichun, Jiangxi Province: Yichun central city and surrounding towns are rich in kaolin and other ceramic mineral resources, which are widely distributed, with reserves of 1.94 million tons. Among them, Xinfang Township Mining Area in Yichun has excellent quality, with proven kaolin reserves of 9.965 million tons. There are nearly 100 enterprises engaged in the exploitation and development of ceramic raw materials in Yichun, which are generally small in scale, backward in production technology and poor in economic benefits. Most of them rely on resource advantages to sell raw materials, while few deep-processing enterprises. < br / > Hepu, Guangxi: Hepu kaolin is a newly discovered large-scale kaolin mining area in China in recent years, with ore bodies linked together and reserves of 724 million tons. The particle size of kaolin is relatively fine, but the content of iron, titanium and other dyeing impurities is relatively high. The content of Fe2O3 + TiO2 generally exceeds 1%. At present, the content of Fe2O3 in Hepu Shizilu section is 0.72%. It belongs to low-grade products, mainly used as low-end ceramic raw materials.
&Shaoguan, Guangdong: the reserves of kaolin in Shaoguan are relatively large, with a total proven reserves of 77.8 million tons, but the distribution is relatively scattered, with less large-scale mines and more local small and medium-sized enterprises. The firing whiteness of the product is high and the plasticity is good, but the firing shrinkage is large, which is not conducive to the production of high-grade ceramic products with strict requirements on shape and specification.

Xishuangban, Yunnan: located in the southwest of Xishuangbanna, the kaolin mining area is a large-scale high-quality kaolin resource with a total reserves of about 5 million tons. Hengyang, Hunan: the main mining areas are Hengyang Jiepailing, Hengshan Maji daeshan, donghuping Tianqiu, wenjiaao, etc. Kaolin resources are not exploited in a standardized way, resulting in serious loss of resources.

2. Kaolin production in China < br / > China is a large kaolin producing country with steady growth in output. On the one hand, the steady development of downstream industries of kaolin such as ceramics, papermaking and chemical coatings has driven the increasing demand of kaolin. On the other hand, the application field of kaolin has been expanding, and the application of new fields has also driven the increasing demand of kaolin. &From the perspective of enterprise structure, China's kaolin production enterprises are mainly small enterprises, with only a few kaolin mining and dressing enterprises with large production scale, stable product quality and great influence in the industry, which are distributed in Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and other provinces with large kaolin resources. From the perspective of industry development situation, with the continuous increase of environmental protection in China, a large number of small kaolin mines have been shut down for rectification, and kaolin production capacity has gradually concentrated to large high-quality mining areas. The development direction of kaolin industry is to develop intensive and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources, optimize mining and beneficiation process with new technologies and processes, and realize circular economy of comprehensive utilization of resources. With the continuous integration of the kaolin industry, the leading enterprises in the industry are expected to become bigger and stronger by virtue of their own resource endowment and technological advantages.

3. China's kaolin market demand profile < br / > from the perspective of downstream demand structure, China's economic structure and kaolin resource endowment are quite different from those of European and American countries, resulting in significant differences in kaolin consumption structure between China and European and American countries. China's kaolin is mainly used in the ceramic industry, accounting for about 45%. In Europe and the United States, papermaking is the largest consumption area. For example, in the United States, 32% of kaolin is used in papermaking and 25% in ceramic manufacturing. With the increasing demand of ceramics, papermaking, coatings and other downstream industries and the expanding application scope of kaolin, the market scale of kaolin in China will grow steadily. It is estimated that by 2020, the consumption demand structure of Kaolin Market in China will still focus on ceramics, papermaking and coatings, and the total demand is expected to reach 6.65 million tons.

(1) Ceramic industry < br / > kaolin is an indispensable basic raw material for ceramics. In the green body of building ceramics and sanitary ceramics, the amount of kaolin accounts for 30% to 40%; in the green body of daily-use ceramics, the amount of kaolin accounts for about 45%. It is estimated that by 2020, China's demand for kaolin for ceramics will reach 3.06 million tons, with a large market development space. Among them, architectural ceramics, sanitary ceramics and low-grade household ceramics have lower requirements for whiteness, shape and porcelain sense of products, and the demand for kaolin is mainly concentrated in medium and low-grade; medium and high-grade household ceramics and arts and crafts ceramics are integrated with art, culture and other elements, and have certain appreciation and collection value. They have higher requirements for firing whiteness, shape and porcelain sense of products, so they need to be used as utensils High grade kaolin with high whiteness and plasticity.

(2) Ceramic clay industry < br / > ceramic clay is an intermediate product used to produce ceramic body, which is made of kaolin, feldspar, quartz and other raw materials in a certain proportion. Kaolin plays a basic role in ceramic clay products, such as plasticity, cohesiveness and sintering. In the process of firing, kaolin and quartz form mullite crystals, which play a supporting role in ceramics. With the development of China's ceramic industry to the middle and high end, and the division of labor within the industry is becoming more and more detailed, it is an inevitable trend for ceramic enterprises to purchase ceramic mud. For example, in Chaozhou, Dehua, Liling, Beiliu and other developed areas of daily-use ceramics and arts and crafts porcelain industry, the industrial division mode of all or part outsourcing of porcelain clay raw materials of ceramic production enterprises has gradually formed. However, the porcelain clay factories specialized in porcelain clay production in these areas are all small and medium-sized private enterprises, which have problems such as small production scale, weak R & D and innovation ability, etc Restricting the overall development of the industry, the industry is in urgent need of transformation and upgrading, which provides integration opportunities and market space for leading enterprises with resource advantages and technological advantages to enter the porcelain clay industry.

(3) Paper industry < br / > the application of kaolin in paper making can give paper good covering performance and good coating gloss, increase the whiteness, opacity, smoothness and printability of paper, and greatly improve the quality of paper. The kaolin ore that can reach the coating grade is scarce in China, so a large amount of kaolin for papermaking needs to be imported from the United States and Brazil. In 2018, there are about 2700 paper and paperboard manufacturers in China, which shows that there is not only import substitution space for kaolin enterprises in China, but also market capacity growth space.

(4) Paint industry < br / > &Kaolin is mainly used as filling framework in the production of paints and coatings. At the same time, because of its excellent dispersion, stable chemical properties, corrosion resistance and fire resistance, kaolin can be used as additive in the production of coatings to improve the adsorption capacity and covering capacity of coatings. In recent years, China's coating industry has maintained a rapid growth trend. In 2018, the annual output of Industrial Enterprises above Designated Size in the coating industry reached 17.5979 million tons, with a year-on-year growth of 5.9%. It is estimated that by 2020, the total output of China's coating industry will reach 22 million tons, which will provide a broad market space for the development of China's coating kaolin production enterprises.

Ceramics, papermaking and coatings will still be the main consumer industries of kaolin in the future for a long time, especially new ceramics, high-end papermaking and advanced coatings, which have higher and higher requirements on the processing quality and quality of kaolin. In addition, the demand of other industries such as national defense and military industry, special materials and other fields is also gradually increasing. Therefore, China should aim at the development of high-end kaolin processing industry, upgrade the processing technology and equipment level, and enhance the competitiveness of the industry, so as to gradually obtain the corresponding position in the global Kaolin Market.