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July 10, 2013 • Vol. XXV • No.14 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910

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By Giles LambertsonCEG CORRESPONDENT

Running through the southeastern United States is a vein of whiteclay suitable for human consumption, making paper, rubber andceramics manufacturing and use for fracking. Ted Smith of ArcillaMining is going after the clay in a big way. Arcilla Mining & Land Co. has entered a third decade of mining

kaolin clay, transporting it to processing plants up to a hundred mi.away and restoring the land to a productive condition. This majorearthmoving activity is accomplished on the tracks and tires of morethan a hundred pieces of heavy equipment.Arcilla — Spanish for “clay’’— is one of the bigger mining com-

panies in the region, and three of Smith’s sons are following theirfather into the family business. Sons Kevin and Ashley are involvedand the third son, Garrett will come aboard this summer after gradu-ating from Georgia Southern University.

A Geology HeritageArcilla is a sprawling enterprise and has been in the geology busi-

ness for quite a while. Smith’s father was a respected geologist inGeorgia. After 15 years of engineering andsurvey work, Ted Smith decided to build ageology-oriented company that was partiallysupported by his father’s professional reputa-tion for fairness and honesty.Arcilla Mining & Land Co. was started in

1992 with some residential work, but was notthe main aspect of the business. “Back before the world fell apart in ’07 and

’08, we did some subdivisions, kind of a side-line,” Smith said. “We will probably get backinto residential land development when theeconomy recovers, as we continue to grow thecompany.”As a mining-focused firm, Arcilla is almost

by definition a land company. The companyowns or controls about 30,000 acres of miner-al-rich land, and at any given time some 300 of those acres are beingmined. Not all of the mining is done on Georgia soil, although thePeach State is where Arcilla got its start.The success of the Georgia mining work led to expansion of the

company 13 years ago into Alabama counties with kaolin deposits.Six years later, the company expanded to kaolin-rich areas of SouthCarolina. In 2005, Arcilla moved its crews and equipment intoArkansas. Bauxite is the mineral harvested from the earth there.As owner and CEO of Arcilla, Smith manages mining operations

across four states. The properties are continuously being opened upand closed down as the clay vein is systematically depleted, and theland restored to a natural and productive state. The company doesevery stage of the discovery, mining and reclamation process at eachmine. According to Smith, that sort of all-inclusiveness sets themapart from others in the industry.

Growing Kaolin DemandThe kaolin clay has rather extensive utility in a wide range of man-

ufacturing processes. The clay enhances the work of inks in slick-paper publishing and extends the coverage of paints of interior andexterior applications. It is a vital ingredient in rubber, plastic andfiberglass manufacturing as well as computer fabrication. It is even apharmaceutical additive because it is ph neutral and a harmless addi-tive to medicine.The clay’s latest application is for an injected solution in a boom-

ing new industry — oil and natural gas drilling using hydraulic frac-turing. Much of Arcilla-mined kaolin is used to that end.The processed kaolin has been found to be a better “proppant” than

the more commonly used sand. The regular grain configuration ofkaolin ceramic is more effective in propping open the fractured shalerock so that oil and gas can flow into the collection pipes. The num-ber one use of Arcilla’s raw kaolin clay is for processing by CarboCeramics into a proppant. Arcilla trucks carry tons of the clay eachworkday to three Carbo plants in Alabama and Georgia.Bauxite has long been the principal source of aluminum ore,

though the United States is not a major source of it. However,Arkansas does have an ample supply, including near the town ofBauxite.

Heavy Equipment Arcilla has three equipment maintenance shops in McIntyre and

Wrens, Ga., as well as Bauxite, Ark. The three tech facilities are keycenters for Arcilla operations and maintain digging and haulingmachinery at the several operating mines.Arcilla’s 50 Mack trucks, both straight beds and tractor-trailers are

constantly ferrying raw kaolin and bauxite to customers’ processingcenters. To ensure they don’t stop rolling, the company’s truck main-tenance shops operate two shifts a day, six days a week. The mechan-ics that maintain dirt-moving equipment and off-road vehicles worka single shift six days a week. Smith estimates his inventory of equipment is approximately 126

machines — including 30 excavators, 18 dozers, 18 off-road trucks,10 motorgraders, and 50 highway trucks.Volvo is a principal brand of machinery found on Arcilla mining

sites, with 40-ton (36 t) articulated trucks carting away overburden,and Volvo excavators and motorgraders scooping and scraping clayand soil. ASC Construction Equipment USA Inc. is the Volvo dealerthat serves Arcilla, with southeast branches in Georgia, the Carolinas,and Tennessee.

The ASC-Arcilla business relationship goes back a decade.Charlie Roupe is the sales representative working closely with Smithand other Arcilla executives. In the last 18 months alone, the miningcompany has purchased seven Volvo 40-ton articulated trucks. Smithfavors the trucks, he said, because the “get-up time” is good and theyproduce excellent fuel economy.“ASC and Volvo Financial have been extremely supportive of our

business,” said Smith, singling out Deric Cameron, business financemanager of Volvo.Other brands Smith depends on include Caterpillar dozers, 50-ton

(45.4 t) articulated trucks, excavators and graders and John Deeredozers and excavators.The machinery is only as good as the operators of it Smith said and

the company has managed to hold onto talented operators. In all, thecompany employs 120 people.

The Mining ProcessBefore the first dozer puts its blade to topsoil and begins to expose

the kaolin underneath, Arcilla Land & Mining Co. is already severalstages into the mining operation. It begins with testing of a propertyand follows with all the authorizing paperwork.“We have the capacity to drill and test for a mineral deposit and to

acquire the properties through lease or fee simple acquisition,” saidSmith. “We do our own permits with the state. Then we have our ownstripping crews, and load and haul the mineral ourselves. The finalstep is when we reclaim the property.”It sounds like a neat and systematic procedure, but is made com-

plex by the fact the company is continuously acquiring property andconstantly drilling and testing. The front end as well as the end of theprocess is never static. Excavation of a kaolin mine usually involves removal of trees and

removal and segregation of topsoil for eventual replacement on thereclaimed property. Coordinated movement of equipment throughthe mined acreage also is required. Overburden — the materialbetween the topsoil and the mined mineral — is systematicallyremoved and transferred to the adjacent area most recently mined.There is constant shifting of overburden so that at any given moment

only the area being actively mined is completely exposed.Typically the kaolin lies about 65 ft. (19.8 m) below the surface.

Approximately 170,000 cu. yds. (129,974 cu m) of material areremoved to get to one acre of the white clay. The exposed vein of use-able clay usually runs 20 ft. (6 m) thick. GPS technology is employedto guide the excavating machinery.Eight crews are continuously digging their way through Arcilla

holdings each year uncovering and removing some 3.5 million tons(3.17 million t) of kaolin and 300,000 tons (272,155 t) of bauxite.

ReclamationSurface mining has gotten a bad reputation due to the ugly cavi-

ties, destruction of vegetation and threats to the local ecology. Yetaccording to Smith there is little local resistance to the mining activ-ity — which happens to be the second largest industry in southernGeorgia to timber production. The economic impact of the mines may give pause to people

alarmed by the process. The public acceptance could well be a signof confidence. The industry — and certainly Arcilla — is conscien-tious about fully reclaiming property rather than leaving it in a wast-ed condition.“I look at it this way,” said Smith. “God put a natural resource here

for use of mankind. As a steward of the land, we try to do a good jobof extracting this clay and putting the land back to a useable state forfuture generations.”State EPA officials enforce Federal Environmental Protection

Agency rules, but Arcilla is committed to the process regardless ofmandates.To that end, closed mining properties are filled and smoothed, with

slopes not exceeding 3-to-1 steepness, and appropriate native vegeta-tion replanted. The company partners with landowners to createponds. The ph of the water is tested and treated so the water is neitheracidic nor alkaline. The ponds are then stocked with fish. To date,Arcilla has created a dozen ponds and more are on the way.

Weather ChallengesChallenges face every industry and the challenge plaguing kaolin-

mining companies in Georgia is water. Surface mining is vulnerableto inclement weather costing company’s money. This year, the cen-tral Georgia area has been drenched by 27 in. of rain, about 15 in.more than usual. Under ideal circumstances kaolin is about 20 per-cent water, not including runoff, so rain can be destructive.With the influx of rain this year Georgia has seen the end of a three

year drought, that mostly benefited kaolin production. “To deal with the water we have about 20 pumps and generators

dewatering the mines,” said Smith.Smith has an entire crew dedicated solely to that task, running

pumps 24 hours a day, seven days a week to stay ahead of the seep-ing and pooling ground water. The pumps range in size from 13 to 58hp (9.6 to 43 kW). “It keeps us on our toes,” said Smith. Smith hopes that his sons will also be kept on their toes. When

asked if he thinks there will be enough kaolin for his sons to contin-ue to mine, Smith’s response is simple. “We’ll be mining it 50 years from now, yes sir,” (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s

Web site at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.) CEG

Arcilla Mining Focuses on SustainabilityPublished Nationally

A trio of Volvo A40E articulated trucks haul overburden at the ShepherdTract, a 500 acre mining parcel in McIntyre, Ga.

Arcilla Mining & Land Company’s safety director, ScottOdom (L) and CEO Ted S. Smith talk about the produc-tion level at each of the mining sites.

The Volvo EC460B-LC excavator loads the Volvo articu-lated truck at the Shepherd Tract.

This Volvo G710B motorgrader maintains more than 50mi. (80.5 km) of haul roads for 10 different ArcillaMining tracts in Gordon, Ga.

Arcilla’s newest purchase from ASC ConstructionEquipment, a Volvo A40F articulated truck, contributesto increased material movement at the 1,000 acre AllenTract mining site.