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BARYTE

Formula: BaSO4

System: Orthorhombic Colour: Colourless, white

Lustre: Vitreous, Pearly Hardness: 3 - 3Name: Named from the Greek, weight, for Barite; and , heavy,for Barytes, due to its unusual heaviness for a non-metallic mineral.

Isostructural with: Anglesite

Baryte Group. Baryte-Celestine Series. The barium analogue of Celestine.

Typically found as thick to thin tabular crystals, usually in clusters with the

crystals growing parallel to one another, or nearly so. Also as bladed, white

masses.

Baryte, or barite, (BaSO4) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate. The barite

group consists of baryte, celestite, anglesite and anhydrite. Baryte itself is

generally white or colorless, and is the main source of barium. Baryte and celestiteform a solid solution (Ba,Sr)SO4 together.

Names and historyThe radiating form, sometimes referred to as Bologna Stone, attained some

notoriety among alchemists for the phosphorescent specimens found in the 1600s

near Bologna by Vincenzo Cascariolo.

The name baryte is derived from the Greek word (heavy). The American

spelling barite is used by USGS and more often used in modern Scientific journals.The International Mineralogical Association adopted "barite" as the official

spelling when it formed in 1959[citation needed], but recommended adopting the

older "baryte" spelling in 1978, notably ignored by the Mineralogical Society of

America.

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The American Petroleum Institute specification API 13/ISO 13500 which governs

baryte for drilling purposes does not refer to any specific mineral, but rather a

material that meets that specification, in practice this is usually the mineral baryte.

The term "primary baryte" refers to the first marketable product, which includes

crude baryte (run of mine) and the products of simple beneficiation methods, suchas washing, jigging, heavy media separation, tabling, flotation, and magnetic

separation. Most crude baryte requires some upgrading to minimum purity or

density. Baryte that is used as an aggregate in "heavy" cement is crushed and

screened to a uniform size. Most baryte is ground to a small, uniform size before itis used as filler or extender, an addition to industrial products, or a weighting agent

in petroleum well drilling mud.

Other namesBaryte has gone by other names such as barytine, barytite, scbwerspath, barytes,

Heavy Spar, or tiff.

Mineral associations and locationsBaryte occurs in a large number of depositional environments, and is deposited

through a large number of processes including biogenic, hydrothermal, and

evaporation among others. Baryte commonly occurs in lead-zinc veins in

limestone, in hot spring deposits, and with hematite ore, and in some meteorites. It

is often associated with the minerals anglesite and celestine. It has also been

identified in meteorites.

Baryte has been found in locations in Cheshire, Connecticut, De Kalb, New York,Fort Wallace, New Mexico as well as quarried in Connecticut, Virginia, North

Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri in the USA. Outside of theUSA, localities include Baia Sprie, Romania, Westmoreland, Cornwell,

Cumberland, Derbyshire, and Surrey in the UK, and Barberton Mountain Land,

South Africa.

UsesSome 77% worldwide is used as a weighting agent for drilling fluids in oil and gas

exploration. Other uses are in added-value applications which include the car,electronics, TV screen, rubber, and glass ceramics and paint industry, radiation

shielding and medical applications (barium meals). Baryte is supplied in a variety

of forms and the price depends on the amount of processing; filler applications

commanding higher prices following intense physical processing by grinding and

micronising, and there are further premiums for whiteness and brightness andcolor. Baryte is used in the manufacture of paints and paper.

Historically baryte was used for the production of barium hydroxide for sugar

refining, and as a white pigment for textiles, paper, and paint.

Although baryte contains a "heavy" metal (barium), it is not considered to be atoxic chemical by most governments because of its extreme insolubility.