This paper is the result of mineral exploration engineering.

Objective Kaolin, as a non-metallic mineral resource, is one of the most important and abundant mineral deposits in the world, which has important value in many fields such as ceramics, rubber, biomedicine, etc. However, with the expansion of its application fields, China is facing challenges such as rising kaolin prices, technological bottlenecks in deep processing and utilization, and high dependence on imported high-quality resources. Therefore, it is particularly important to study the distribution, genesis type, metallogenic regularity and processing and application of kaolin.

Methods Based on the published or released kaolin mineral data, this paper comprehensively sorts out the characteristics, current utilization and future application prospects of typical kaolin deposits in various types.

Results Global kaolin resources are abundant, with proven reserves of about 32 billion tons, with kaolin resources in more than 60 countries and regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, China, etc., and kaolin minerals have been found in 26 provinces (cities and districts) in China. Kaolinite minerals can be divided into kaolinite, halloysite, dickite and pearl clay.The types of kaolin deposits in China are usually classified into weathering, hydrothermal alteration and sedimentary types, which are further divided into 6 subtypes, and in the latest research, kaolin deposits are classified into 4 genesis types, 8 genesis subtypes and 12 deposit types. As a "key mineral" in China, kaolin is widely used in environmental protection, new energy, new materials, biomedicine and other strategic emerging industries and traditional fields.

Conclusions The formation of kaolin deposits is affected by many factors, mainly by the comprehensive influence of sedimentary environment, ore-forming host rock and geotectonic evolution, and also by the influence of climate and lithogenic afterlife. The North China land mass metallogenic province, Yangzi metallogenic province and South China metallogenic province are important mineralization prospect areas for kaolin in China. The future development direction of kaolin includes improvement of processing technology, surface modification, removal of harmful impurities, nanotechnology and antimicrobial material technology.