MJC212 On Wednesday I found a kaolin product on the Internet...

MJC212

On Wednesday I found a kaolin product on the Internet that is stated to be specifically for fibreglass, and that is Ewing kaolin (trademark of Imerys), from Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Co. The particle size distribution (PSD) and other specifications are on both http://www.lookpolymers.com and ttps://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet.aspx?matguid=0741fa462cde4f8885193033a8f25e46&ckck=1. Both sources state that Imerys supplied the specification.

The specification for K99F on a Taiwanese site that I mentioned earlier was old, and since then seems to have been removed – perhaps at the request of WAK, because when I queried the detail, I supplied that link to WAK.

When WAK used that specification years ago, it related to product of the Pilot Plant at Kwinana. Seemingly, the Wickepin plant cannot replicate that specification. Perhaps the ore was warehoused in a dryer store at Kwinana. I suggest this because WAK has reported problems with the Wickepin drying kiln, and it has had to build that $1m shed to mitigate the moisture problem. Moisture is a huge problem for air classifiers. The moisture can be reduced by including a facility to the classifier that allows the air it uses to be heated.

If WAK were more open, we retail shareholders would not have guess what the problems are, like I have done here. Mr Market can handle bad news when informed, but no news is more likely to depress the SP via exaggerated fear.

I restate that old K99F specification alongside Imrys's Ewing Kaolin specification.

Microns – Ewing Kaolin –– K99F (out of date)
<20µm –––––– 98.00% ––– 98.00%

<10µm –––––– 91.00% ––– 95.00%
<5µm ––––––– 79.00% ––– 82.00%
<2µm ––––––– 58.00% ––– 57.00%
<1µm ––––––– 43.00% ––– 36.00%
<.5µm ––––––– 25.00% ––– 16.00%
>45 residue* –– 91.00% ––––  0.10%
* 325 mesh retained