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Baryte (BaSO4) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate. It is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of barium. Barite is the unofficial American spelling. The mineral is also called heavy spar or tiff. The 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. Its Mohs hardness is 3, the refractive index is 1.63 and it has a specific gravity of 4.3-5. Its crystal structure is orthorhombic.
Baryte commonly occurs in lead-zinc veins in limestones, in hot spring deposits, and with hematite ore. It is often associated with the minerals anglesite and celestine.
The name baryte is derived from the Greek word βαρύς (heavy). In commerce, the mineral is sometimes referred to as "barytes." When the International Mineralogical Association formed in 1959 the American spelling "barite" was chosen as the official over the older "baryte". This decision was reversed in 19781. The term "primary baryte" refers to the first marketable product, which includes crude baryte (run of mine) and the products of simple beneficiation methods, such as 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 a "heavy" cement is crushed and screened to a uniform size. Most baryte 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.
The worldwide oil field barytes market is currently faced with shortages of API grade baryte. The specification for oil field barytes is a minimum specific gravity of 4.2. When drilling wells with a lower specific gravity barytes causes the addition of unwanted solids to be added to the drilling fluid system. This causes slower penetration rates and creates many problems with the drilling fluid.
Baryte is used in the manufacture of paints and paper. Although baryte contains a "heavy" metal (barium), it is not considered to be a toxic chemical by most governments because of its extreme insolubility.
References
- ^ Mineralogical Magazine 38, 104 (1971)
- http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/barite/
- mindat page for Barite
- webmineral page for Barite
- History of the Bologna stone
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 13 October 2008, at 14:31.
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