What is Barite?

• Chemistry: BaSO₄, Barium Sulfate
• Class: Sulfates
• Group: Barite
• Uses: ore of barium, in heavy muds in oil-well drilling, to increase brilliance in glass-making industry, as filler for paper, cosmetics, textiles, linoleum, rubber goods, paints.
• Specimens
Barite, barites, or heavy spar, a white, yellow, blue, red, or colorless mineral. It is a sulfate of barium, BaSO₄, found in nature as tabular crystals or in granular or massive form and has a high specific gravity. The mineral is widely distributed throughout the world. It often occurs in veins with lead and zinc minerals. It is insoluble in water, and this property is made use of in testing for the sulfate radical. It is practically insoluble under ordinary conditions in all the usual chemical reagents. Barite is used as a commercial source of barium and many of its compounds. Ground barite is used as filler in the manufacture of linoleum, oilcloth, paper and textile manufacturing, rubber, and plastics. Finely ground barite is used to make a thixotropic mud for sealing oil wells during drilling. Prime white, a bleached barite, is used as a pigment in white paint but is not as satisfactory as blanc fixe, a chemically precipitated barium sulfate, or lithopone, a mixture of barium sulfate, zinc sulfide, and zinc oxide. Barites is a material with environmental protecting function, it has a lot of advantages, such as a strong inertia, good stability, acid and alkali proof, moderate rigidity, high specific gravity, high whiteness, absorb in harmful radial. So, it is widely used in the fields of all kinds of dope, middle and high-grade paint, engineering plastic, medicine compounding chemical industry, rubber, paper-making, pottery, cosmetic etc. Barite is a common mineral and makes very attractive specimens. It often is an accessory mineral to other minerals and can make a nice backdrop to brightly colored crystals. At times bladed or tabular crystals of Barite form a concentric pattern of increasingly larger crystals outward. This has the appearance of a flower and when colored red by iron stains, these formations are called "Desert Roses". Because Barite is so common, it can be confused for other minerals. Celestite (SrSO₄) has the same structure as barite and forms very similar crystals. The two are indistinguishable by ordinary methods, but a flame test can distinguish them. By scrapping the dust of the crystals into a gas flame the color of the flame will confirm the identity of the crystal. If the flame is a pale green it is barite, but if the flame is red it is celestite. The flame test works because the elements barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr) react in the flame and produce those colors.

Barite General Information

Barite, a name that was derived from the Greek word "barus" (heavy), is the mineralogical name for barium sulfate. In commerce, the mineral is sometimes referred to as "barytes." The term "primary barite" refers to the first marketable product, which includes crude barite (run of mine) and the products of simple beneficiation methods, such as washing, jigging, heavy media separation, tabling, flotation, and magnetic separation. Most crude barite requires some upgrading to minimum purity or density. Barite that is used as an aggregate in a "heavy" cement is crushed and screened to a uniform size. Most barite is ground to a small, uniform size before it is used as a filler or extender, an addition to industrial products, or a weighting agent in petroleum well drilling mud specification barite. Although barite contains a "heavy" metal (barium), it is not a toxic chemical under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, because it is .
Barite generally occurs in the white massive variety (often appearing earthy when weathered), although some clear to bluish, bladed barite crystals (Plate 18) have been observed in several vein deposits, and various nodular zones have been observed. Rosettes are common in many Iranian mineral veins. Feathery barite is also known from Iran.

Barite is extremely insoluble in acid and water and is therefore chemically inert. It is the principal source of the element barium. Barite is the most abundant of the semi-commercial vein-forming minerals in Iran. Until World War I, barite was mined along with fluorite and sphalerite. Limited barite mining was attempt during the 1960's in other counties Commercial barite was recovered as a by-product of the fluorspar industry Iran during World War II and during the 1960's.

Barite Geology [BaSO₄]

A dense sulfate mineral that can occur in a variety of rocks, including limestone and sandstone, and is commonly used to add weight to drilling mud. Barite is of significance to petrophysicists because excess barite can require a correction factor in some well log measurements.

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