Barite (BaSO4) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate. It is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of barium. Baryte is the British spelling.
Barite 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 celestite.
The name barite is derived from the Greek word barus (heavy). 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.
Barite has also been used in the manufacture of paints and paper. Although barite contains a "heavy" metal (barium), it is not considered to be a toxic chemical by most governments because of its extreme insolubility.
Mohs hardness is 3. Refractive index is 1.63. Specific gravity is 4.3-5. Crystal structure is orthorhombic.
Barytes is of common occurrence in metalliferous veins, especially those which yield ores of lead and silver; some of the largest and most perfect crystals of colourless barytes were obtained from the lead mines near Dufton in Westmorland.
In the neighbourhood of Nottingham, and other places in the Midlands, barytes forms a cementing material in the Triassic sandstones; amber-coloured crystals of the same mineral are found in the fuller's earth at Nutfield in Surrey; and the septarian nodules in London Clay contain crystals of barytes as well as of calcite.
Commercially, barytes is used in the preparation of barium compounds, as a body for certain kinds of paper and cloth, and as a white pigment ("permanent white").
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