History & Timeline
Our History
The Kyanite Mining Corporation (KMC) has a long, storied history as rich as the land we are lucky enough to call home. We are the world’s oldest and largest producer of kyanite and mullite and the world’s only supplier of Virginia Kyanite™ and Virginia Mullite™. Our story really begins well before we became KMC—it starts with the discovery of Virginia Kyanite™ in the southeastern Appalachian Mountains.
Abraham Gottlob Werner
1789
German geologist and mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner names kyanite.
1909
Geologist Joel Hill Watkins and State Geologist Dr. Thomas L. Watson discover “perhaps the largest kyanite mine in the United States” at Baker Mountain, Virginia while completing a geological map of the state.
Early 1920s
Joel Hill Watkins and J. King McLanahan, Jr. (president of New England Lime Company) acquire the 100-acre parcel on Baker Mountain known as the Rosser tract. Their new venture, McLanahan-Watkins Company, eventually acquires a total of 277 acres on Baker Mountain, eventually building a pilot plant there in the mid-1920s.
Courtesy Urban Reform Institute
Early 1900s
Joel Watkins, a West Virginia State Geologist, discovers most of the kyanite deposits in the southeastern Appalachians and purchased them with his partner Mr. McLanahan.
Photo Courtesy https://www.findagrave.com/
1926
Kyanite mining ceases on Baker Mountain with the death of J. King McLanahan, Jr.
Photo Courtesy https://www.landwatch.com/
1933
Mining engineer Clarence Aldro Wright buys the title to the Baker Mountain property.
1936
Baker Mountain offers an option on its property to Phosphate Recovery Corporation (a subsidiary of International Agricultural Corporation [IAC]). The agreement stipulates that IAC would need to form a new corporation for the exploitation of the Baker Mountain kyanite deposits prior to June 15, 1940, or else its option on the 275 acres would lapse.
1940
IAC buys out Baker Mountain Corp. and charters a new corporation, Kyanite Products Corporation, which develops modest mining and plant operations over the next four years.
1944
Kyanite Products Corporation declares bankruptcy in December due to war-related price controls that crippled the company’s finances.
1945
On February 7, a group of eleven local investors (which grew to thirteen investors days later) successfully purchase the bankrupt mine. The group includes Gene Bishop Dixon, Sr. and his father, Guy Alexander Dixon. The investors incorporate the new entity, Kyanite Mining Corporation.
1948
Gene Dixon, Sr. and Guy Alexander Dixon buy out the remaining owners of the company and became the sole owners of Kyanite Mining Corporation. To this day, Kyanite Mining Corporation remains a family-owned business run by the Dixon family.
1949
Gene Sr. and Guy Alexander enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Mine to begin prospecting and drilling Willis Mountain.
1953
Crushing and flotation plant is completed at Baker Mountain. Pamplin plant is completed.
1957
Kyanite mining begins at Willis Mountain.
1960
Gene Sr. invests in the Cavalier Hotel, eventually expanding his stake in the property the following year.
1965
Gene Dixon, Jr. joins Kyanite Mining Corporation.
Mid-1960s
Mullite plant in Dillwyn is built.
Photo Courtesy of https://www.visitvirginiabeach.com/
1973
The new Cavalier Oceanfront, also known as The Cavalier on the Ocean, opens with 300 guest rooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a putting green, tennis courts, and 600 feet of private beachfront.
Crocan Lake, Ontario Canada
1974
Gene Dixon, Sr. dies in March. Property and mining rights of the Crocan Lake deposit (Ontario, Canada) are purchased in September.
The Historic Cavalier Hotel and Beach Club
1976
Gene Dixon, Jr. oversees the reopening of the original Cavalier Hotel in June.
1978
East Ridge facilities open.
Gene Dixon, Sr., Memorial Park
1979
Mining operations at Baker Mountain cease (though the facility continues to calcine kyanite until 2002). Gene Dixon, Sr., Memorial Park opens in the fall and is dedicated the following May.
1980
Guy Alexander Dixon dies in February.
1990s
Gieseke is built.
1998
Current President Guy Dixon joins the company.
2000
The Billy R. Coleman Memorial Laboratory is completed.
Early 2000s
KMC wins several reclamation awards for environmental stewardship.
2005
Kyanite Mining Corporation undergoes a major reorganization with the formation of The Disthene Group, Inc., a holding company with three subsidiaries: Kyanite Mining Corporation; Blue Rock Resources, LLC (land management business); and the Cavalier Hotel Corporation.
2017
Gene Dixon, Jr. passes away in July.
2020
Premium Grade Virginia Mullite comes to market.
2025
Kyanite Mining Corporation celebrates 80th year of existence.
Today
We’re a 4th generation family-run business and honored to live, work, and relax in the Virginia Piedmont. We pride ourselves on providing a product that is unmatched in quality and purity and is produced under the most rigorous safety standards. We care deeply about the people who mine our products and the mountains where they come from which is why we invest in our community and our environment.