Please make plans to attend the SME Georgia Section Meeting at Founders Hall at Camp Rock Eagle Thursday, January 23, 2020. We're having special guest Roger S. Austin, PhD speaking with us on the origin of kaolin and bauxite. Please see the abstract below. To sign up for the meeting go the following website to make reservations and to pay fo the meeting: https://squareup.com/store/sme-ga-section
Tom Hilderbrand
GA Section SME Chair
Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration
Georgia Section Meeting Notice
A meeting of the SME Georgia Section will be held on January 23, 2020 at Founders Lodge at Rock Eagle, Eatonton, GA.
Meeting Agenda
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Social Hour
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM Environmental Issues Forum
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM Dinner Served – Tossed Green Salad with homemade dressings, Sliced Roast Beef, Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, and Onions, Pencil Green Beans w/ lemon butter, Yeast rolls, Hummingbird Cake, Iced Tea, Iced Water, and Coffee.
7:30 PM. – 7:40 PM Business Meeting – Announcements for Georgia Section SME.
7:40 PM – 8:30 pm Featured Presentation: Roger S. Austin, PhD - Freeport McMoRan (retired Vice President)
The Contemporaneous Origin of the World's Bauxite and Kaolin
or
The Yucatan Impact and Consequent Global Formation of Bauxite and Kaolin
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Biography
Roger Austin began full time professional work in 1968 as an Assistant Professor of Geology at West Georgia College. After seven years he joined Freeport Minerals, becoming Mines Manager at its Kaolin Division in Georgia. In 1974 he joined Freeport's Indonesian copper mining operations where he served 10 years in two tours, becoming a vice-president of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Company's subsidiary PT. Freeport Indonesia. Between tours he spent 5 years with Engelhard Corporation focusing on international exploration for its kaolin subsidiary. A period of consulting followed corporate work. Austin was an active member of SME for several years, serving in 2006 as Chairman of the Industrial Minerals Division. His geology degrees are from Lafayette College with a PhD from the University of Georgia. Since retirement he spends summers in Upstate New York. In 2004 he concluded the founding and incorporation of the St. Lawrence Power & Equipment Museum located in NY. Since then he has served as its Secretary or President.
Abstract
Many of the great deposits of the world's bauxite and kaolin are aluminous laterite. Though derived from rocks ranging in age from Precambrian to Cretaceous, they were developed between the end of the Cretaceous and earliest Tertiary. They are present in the southern regions of the contiguous United States, across northern South America, and around the perimeter of Australia. They were formed during a super-pluvial period penecontemporaneous with the impact of the comet or asteroid that struck the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago. The consequent particulate ejecta, release of gases from the impacted ground, and catastrophic fires caused extraordinary volumes of acidic rainfall. Land masses were exposed to a massive groundwater flux capable of dissolving exposed rocks and sediments at rates and scales beyond recorded history. Silicates collapsed leaving a deep aluminous lateritic soil. Even relatively robust quartz was corroded.
Near the surface gibbsite (Al[OH])₃) formed masses of pisolitic bauxite. As groundwater flowed downward, silica concentrations increased to a point where kaolinite (Al₄Si₄O₁₀[OH]₈) was the stable aluminous mineral. The consequent juxtaposition of bauxite above kaolin is found nearly everywhere. As the rate of rainfall normalized, near-surface groundwater silica levels increased. In some areas previously formed gibbsite recrystallized to kaolinite. Where the sea encroached on the deposits, the addition of salts caused gibbsite and kaolinite to be altered to a smectite. By late Paleocene or Early Eocene the super-pluvial episode had concluded. Its duration may have been up to several million years.
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MEETING LOCATION – Rock Eagle 4-H Center – Founders Hall (Lodge)
From Atlanta take I-20 East to Exit 114 and turn right onto Highway 441 South. Follow Highway 441 South (12 Miles) to Rock Eagle 4-H Center (on the right). Turn right, then turn at the first right in approximately 0.6 mile and the Founders Lodge (signage says Founders Hall) will be approximately 0.4 mile on your left. Parking is in the rear.
From Macon Take US 129 North to Eatonton to Intersection with US 441 and go left, continue North on 129/441. Rock Eagle is approximately 10 miles north on the left. Turn LEFT, then turn at the first right in approximately 0.6 mile and the Founders Lodge (signage says Founders Hall) will be approximately 0.4 mile on your left. Parking is in the rear.
From downtown Milledgeville go north on Columbia St. Take US 441 North from downtown for approximately 28 miles and look to your left for Rock Eagle. Turn left, then turn at the first right in approximately 0.6 mile and the Founders Lodge (signage says Founders Hall) will be approximately 0.4 mile on your left. Parking is in the rear.
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Note: The cost for both members and guests is $30 per person. The cost for Students is $20. Those interested in attending please mail or fax, (478) 552-4105, their registration to Tom Hilderbrand (tom.hilderbrand@thielekaolin.com; 478-552-3951, ext. 1237). Please make checks payable to SME Georgia Section. Complete and return this form and payment to: SME Georgia Section, P.O. Box 1056, Sandersville, GA 31082 or RSVP by no later than January 22, 2020 (or see below).
Please keep your SME Georgia Section membership current. You can pay for dues, meeting registrations, and donations online through a service known as Square Up. We now have an online store set up for making credit card payments. Please follow this link to make safe, secure transactions: https://squareup.com/store/sme-ga-section.
You may also pay by cash, check, or credit card at the door.
Name(s) of Attendees:
Number of Meals (regular meals/vegetarian meals) ____/_____
Total Amount Enclosed ___________
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Thomas Hilderbrand
Manager Process Engineering
Thiele Kaolin Co
Sandersville GA United States
(478) 552-3951 EXT 1237
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