Location

Located in South Elmsall, Doncaster, England, the Minore site sits at the heart of a mineral rich belt of underlying magnesium limestone that runs irregularly along the eastern coast of the England.

Extending from Northumberland in the North East to Nottinghamshire in the Midlands, the site is situated on the Permian Edlington formation (formerly known as 'Middle Permian Marl') and also part of the Cadeby formation. This region has long been a vital source of industrial minerals for many centuries, providing essential raw material and minerals for agricultural, industrial and chemical processing.

Site history

Formed over 255 million years ago near the end of the Permian Period and once situated near the equator, the formation lay in the subtropical latitudes submerged beneath the warm and almost tideless inland Zechstein Sea where high temperatures and arid conditions facilitated evaporation over time.

The layers of rock and minerals deposited there are known to be geologically very unusual, consisting predominately of evaporite rocks. This unique geological history provided the perfect environment and conditions for Smectite and Illite/Kaolin mixed layer clays to be formed authigenically through reactions of detrital clay minerals with highly saline groundwaters enriched in magnesium.