Abstract
General information on the distribution and reserves of diatomites in the world and Kazakhstan is presented, and their physical and chemical properties and applications are described. Diatomites have several valuable properties: high porosity, refractoriness, acid resistance, low thermal and acoustic conductivity, low bulk density and due to the large specific surface exhibit significant absorption capacity. It allows to use of them as fillers and heat-insulating materials in building technologies, filtering materials in the food industry, adsorbents in medicine, soil structuring agents and carriers of insecticides in the agrarian industry. The technologies for obtaining several industrial products with the use of Kazakhstani diatomites are described: as dry building mixtures, silicate bricks, foam glass, hydraulic binders, and iron oxide pigments.