Barite Powder Analyze

Other specifications according to API or OCMA standards.

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 Physical Properties

Barite General Properties: BaSO4

Environment: Sedimentary rocks and late gangue mineral in ore veins.
IMA Status: Approved IMA 1960
Locality: Roses of a red-brown color and sandy texture near Norman, Oklahoma. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.
Name Origin: From the Greek, baryos, "heavy."
Synonym: Barytes, Cawk, Heavy Spar, CSD 16904, PDF 24-1035, Wolnyn
Cleavage: [010] Perfect, [210] Perfect, [010] Imperfect
Color: White, Yellowish white, Grayish white, Brownish white, Dark brown.
Density: 4.48
Diaphaniety: Transparent to translucent to opaque
Fracture: Uneven - Flat surfaces (not cleavage) fractured in an uneven pattern.
Habits: Tabular - Form dimensions are thin in one direction., Prismatic - Crystals Shaped like Slender Prisms (e.g. tourmaline)., Massive - Fibrous - Distinctly fibrous fine-grained forms.
Hardness: 3-3.5 - Calcite-Copper Penny
Luminescence: Phosphorescent.
Luster: Vitreous (Glassy)
Streak: white

Barite Optical Properties

Barite Calculated Properties

API grade barite. Provide density increase without altering mud theology. Also available in bulk form.

Barite Specifications

Drilling fluids consume some 85% of the world's total barytes consumption, making them easily the largest market. The price of drilling grade barytes depends primarily on demand from the oil and gas exploration industry and on the price of oil. After 2003 an oil glut could force oil prices down and reduce barytes demand, but experience shows that many other factors, such as the severity of the northern hemisphere winter and political conflict in the producing countries, could change this picture. Environmental concerns in offshore drilling will also impact on future barytes prices, as quality demands become more stringent. Barytes that is co-produced during base metal mining and flotation may become increasingly difficult to market, and alternatively, metal-free material will be in greater demand. This should push barytes prices up. The USA is easily the largest barytes consumer, accounting for 40% of world demand in 2001, most of which is imported. China is the other major barytes consumer, accounting for 14% of world demand, although in this case demand is met from domestic production. Oil and natural gas are expected to increase their share of total energy requirements from 62% in 2000 to 67% in 2020, which will increase demand for drilling grade barytes in exploration and development.