How mica is mined
A mica crystal peels apart into thin, flexible plates like the pages of a book.
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The short version
Mica is a group of silicate minerals whose crystals split into thin, bendy, transparent plates. Large crystals are mined from granite pegmatites and split into sheets. Scrap and flake mica is ground into powder that gives shimmer to cosmetics, and goes into paint, drywall and car parts.
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Dig the pegmatite
Large mica crystals sit in coarse granite called pegmatite. Miners dig out the rock and pull out the books of mica by hand or machine.
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Split the books into sheets
Mica has perfect cleavage because its layers are held together by weak ionic bonds. Workers peel a book into thin sheets that are chemically inert, flexible and good electrical insulators.
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Grind scrap into flakes
Scrap and small flake mica are ground to powder. Ground mica is sold for paint, drywall compound, cosmetics and car parts.
Worth repeating
- The largest documented mica crystal weighed about 330 tonnes and was found at Lacey Mine in Ontario.
- Mica gives cosmetics and some foods their shimmer or frost.
- The mica group includes 37 different phyllosilicate minerals.
Where it comes from
- Russia100,000 tonnes of scrap and flake
- Finland68,000 tonnes
- United States53,000 tonnes
- South Korea50,000 tonnes
- France20,000 tonnes
2010 scrap and flake mica output; global total 350,000 tonnes, with no reliable data for China (Wikipedia).
Where it goes next
Mica feeds 3 lines directly.
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Sources
Cite this page: "How mica is mined." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/mica