Development of an industrial mineralogical framework to evaluate mixtures from reservoir sediments for recovery by the heavy clay industry: Application of the Durance system (France)

Finally, we demonstrate that the Durance sediments can be recovered by incorporating some opening agent (quartz sand or calcined clay wastes) and mixing sediments from different sites (upstream and middle course) to adjust the grain-size distribution and lower the carbonate content. The ceramic properties of the mixtures (drying and firing linear shrinkage, water absorption and tensile rupture) match the usual values of the heavy clay industry.