Two Kaolinite Giants Just Committed Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to Expansion

Sibelco has announced a USD 500 million greenfield expansion running through 2027 while KaMin LLC opened a new processing facility in Georgia and sealed a European distribution deal with Omya. In a market growing at 4.4% CAGR toward USD 6.12 billion, the players who build capacity now will define the supply landscape of the next decade.

Picture a mineral so chemically inert that it can sit inside a pharmaceutical tablet, line the inside of a paper cup, coat a premium magazine page, and reinforce a high-voltage electrical cable – all without reacting with anything around it.

That mineral exists. It is kaolinite. And two of its largest commercial producers just placed some of the largest expansion bets the industry has seen in years.

The Global Kaolinite Market, valued at USD 4.40 billion in 2025 and projected to reach USD 6.12 billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 4.4%, per Maximize Market Research, is entering an investment cycle that reflects the convergence of several demand forces: construction booms in Asia, sustainability-driven substitution of synthetic materials, and the emergence of kaolinite as a critical input for next-generation fiberglass, electrical insulation, and low-carbon cement production.

Sibelco: USD 500 Million and a Vision Across Five Continents

In November 2023, Sibelco – the Belgian specialty minerals company – announced a planned USD 500 million greenfield expansion program running from 2024 to 2027. The investment targets production capacity increases across its clay and mineral portfolio, including kaolin, at facilities positioned to serve the growing demand centres of Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.

Sibelco’s kaolin operations are strategically distributed across some of the world’s highest-quality deposit regions:

• Devon and Cornwood, United Kingdom: historically among the world’s finest kaolin deposits, serving the ceramics, sanitaryware, and electrical porcelain industries
• McIntyre, Georgia, United States: positioned to serve North American paper, coatings, and specialty industrial customers
• Hlubany, Czech Republic: supplying the European ceramics and construction materials industries

In December 2024, Sibelco further deepened its Asia-Pacific supply chain by announcing a strategic partnership with India’s Jai Prakash Associates to develop kaolin mining and supply capacity in India – directly targeting long-term feedstock for paper and specialty applications in the world’s fastest-growing kaolinite consumption market.

SCR-Sibelco has also invested USD 50 million in IoT and automation technologies across five kaolin processing plants in North America – improving operational efficiency and product consistency at scale.

MMR Insight: Sibelco’s USD 500 million expansion is a supply-side bet on a specific thesis: that the combination of Asia-Pacific demand growth, sustainability-driven substitution of synthetic materials, and the emergence of kaolin in EV fiberglass and low-carbon cement will create a structural supply deficit that capacity-constrained producers cannot serve.

KaMin LLC: Georgia Expansion and European Distribution Scale

KaMin LLC – the U.S.-based kaolin producer that acquired BASF’s entire kaolin business in September 2022 – has been systematically building out the commercial infrastructure to match its expanded production footprint.

In September 2025, KaMin invested in a new processing facility in Georgia, expanding its North American production capacity to meet growing demand for high-quality kaolin in packaging, paper, and specialty coatings. The Georgia facility is strategically located within close proximity to the largest kaolin deposits in the United States, minimising logistics costs and ensuring consistent raw material quality.

In May 2025, KaMin further secured a new partnership agreement with Omya, one of the world’s leading global minerals distributors, to supply kaolin into the packaging and paper markets across Europe. The Omya partnership gives KaMin immediate access to an established European customer network that would take years and significant capital to build independently.

• KaMin also launched a new ultra-high brightness calcined kaolin product line in July 2024 specifically targeting premium paper coatings – the fastest-growing and most premiumly priced segment in the global kaolin market

Final Take

Kaolinite is not a glamorous mineral. It does not feature in financial press headlines or technology investor roadshows. But it is in the paper in your hands, the ceramics in your home, the paint on your walls, and increasingly, the fiberglass in the wind turbines generating your electricity.

The companies that control premium-grade kaolinite production at scale, with sustainable mining credentials and global distribution reach, are building infrastructure that takes decades to replicate. Sibelco and KaMin are both building exactly that.

In a market heading toward USD 6.12 billion, the capacity built today will determine the supply relationships and pricing power of the next decade.