The Carey's Well kaolin prospect at Inkster, about 15 kilometres south-west of Poochera, is "probably the best-quality kaolin in the world", Minotaur Exploration Limited managing director, Derek Carter, told the 2008 Paydirt South Australian Resources and Energy Investment Conference in Adelaide last week.

"The Poochera deposit contains more than 150 million tonnes of kaolinised granite, including nine million tonnes of some of the highest-grade kaolin you will ever see, at Carey's Well," Mr Carter said.

"The quality of this kaolin cannot be denied. It has brightness, yellowness, particle sizing and other characteristics favourable with, or better than, premium commercial grades.

"It is our aim to have Poochera in production within the next 12-18 months."

Mr Carter told the conference the Carey's Well deposit had long been known but a lack of water supply and the poor quality of local ground water - needed to wash the mined kaolin - had previously prevented it from being developed.

However, desalination technology could now overcome the local water salinity problem, he said.

"With modern desalination plant technology, we can now reduce salinity and as a result, Minotaur will shortly commence a sampling program at Carey's Well with a view to elevating the exploration and development work programs over this deposit," Mr Carey said.

The Carey's Well prospect is one of four separate kaolin deposits in Minotaur's tenement between Poochera and Streaky Bay. The others are Tomney, Condoringie Well and Karcultaby South.

They were extensively drilled and tested in the 1990s, mainly by Normandy Industrial Minerals Pty Ltd, but the water supply and quality problem prevented the project going further.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange last Friday, Minotaur stated that since then "demand for high-quality calcined kaolin has grown significantly".

Kaolin is a highly-sought white clay-like mineral with many industrial uses, from glossy paper and ceramics, to paints, plastics and cosmetics.

The company stated that following “a positive consultant’s review” of the project it had decided “to accelerate feasibility studies into potential development options”.

The Carey's Well body of kaolinised granite is 4.1 kilometres long in a north-south direction, from one to 2.5 kilometres wide and from one to 28 metres thick, Minotaur stated.

Within the kaolinised granite is a body of white kaolinised granite that is 2.2 kilometres long with an average width of 1.2 kilometres and an average depth of about five metres, it stated.