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Kansas Geological Survey, Open-file Report 2016-24


Industrial Minerals--Mines, Quarries, and General Resources in Kansas 2008

by Lawrence L. Brady

KGS Open File Report 2016-24
Sept. 2016

Abstract

Industrial mineral production in Kansas based on tonnage mainly involves those commodities that are important to the construction industry. Among those commodities with large tonnage are sand and gravel and stone--both crushed and dimension, mainly limestone but also with a limited amount of sandstone. Sand and gravel are obtained primarily from pits in western Kansas and from pits and dredging in rivers and floodplains in the central and eastern part of the state. Crushed stone for aggregates and for use in cement production is mainly from limestone units of Pennsylvanian age in eastern Kansas, and the dimension stone is now cut from Lower Permian limestone units. Outstanding buildings in the past were also constructed from limestone rocks from Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian and Upper Cretaceous limestone units. Clay and shale from Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous units are used for manufacture of structural clay products, brick, and lightweight aggregate and in Portland and masonry cement manufacture.

Salt is a major industrial mineral important to the state. It is produced from the thick Hutchinson Salt Member in the Lower Permian Wellington Formation that is present in the subsurface in a large part of central Kansas. The salt is mined by room-and-pillar methods at three locations, and salt is also produced by solution mining from four different brine fields. Gypsum is mined at two locations--in both north and south areas of the state--from Lower Permian rocks.

Volcanic ash of Pliocene and Pleistocene age is widespread in the western and central parts of the state and is processed into specialized products at two locations in north-central Kansas. Two derivative products from the processing of petroleum and natural gas are sulfur and helium. Sulfur is obtained from the refining of crude petroleum, while crude and refined helium are separated from natural gas produced primarily from the huge Hugoton and associated Panoma gas fields of southwest Kansas.

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Kansas Geological Survey
Placed online Sept. 7, 2016
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