c & c ball

H. C. Spinks Clay Company

The C & C Ball that the University of Montana receives comes from a company called H.C. Spinks Clay Company who operates out of Tennessee. Their mine is located in Gleason, and their refinery is located 20 miles away in Paris.  Despite being a relatively small operation, Spinks’s clay mine has been operating since 1916, supplying the world with C & C Ball.  They are now owned by the parent company, LHoist, who owns and operates small mines all over the world and, as a corporation, give very little insight to the sustainability of their practices.

Mining and Refining

This material is mined using the open pit mining method in Gleason, Tennessee.  Some dry-processing and slurry-processing is completed here before being sent to Paris, Tennessee by truck to finish the refining process.  The following information on clay processing comes from the EPA, and illustrates the most common process for U.S. based clay mines:

Ball Clay straight from the ground has a moisture content of about 28%.  Once mined, some ball clay is added to water to undergo a grinding and screening process.  Then, vibrating grate dryers are used to take the moisture content of the clay down to around 8-10%.  The EPA rates this process a D for carbon emissions.  These dryers are normally gas or boiler powered and release gaseous emissions while heating the air around the product to 570F or 300C.  The grates move the material through the dryer and vibrate the clay to remove as much moisture as possible.  Particulate emissions are present at every step of the process, from mining to packaging.

Gleason, Tennessee

H.C. Spinks Ball Clay Mine

Paris, Tennessee

H. C. Spinks Ball Clay Refinery

Spinks surprisingly invites the public to visit, giving GPS coordinates and directions from the main highway to their respective mine and refinery sites on their webpage. 

This material travels a total of 3,218 miles to get to the University of Montana.  This is a fairly conservative distance from the average raw material, but the emissions factors should cause some apprehension in consumers.

To see these locations and their route, click here.