green vortex
I would say about 9 out of 10 times, when I mine a large clay deposit, what you see in the attached picture is what happens to the collectible clay pieces. They shoot up in the air before landing... wherever. It's not a big deal but it sure is kinda annoying when you go farm clay.
If I had to take a guess why this happens I'd assume the pieces, upon spawning in from destroying the deposit, are too tightly packed and push each other away WAY to strongly, causing them to fly off.
So, maybe don't pack the pieces as tightly, maybe reduce the size of the pieces just a bit so they don't collide in an unwanted way. I'm no programmer but I think this could be fixed pretty easily.
worn yew
languid shale