What is Barite?
Barite
is a mineral composed
of barium sulfate (BaSO4). It receives its name from the Greek word
"barys" which means "heavy." This name is in response to
barite's high specific gravity of 4.5, which is exceptional for a nonmetallic
mineral. The high specific gravity of barite makes it suitable for a wide range
of industrial, medical, and manufacturing uses. Barite also serves as the
principal ore of barium.
Uses of Barite
Most
barite produced is used as a weighting agent in drilling muds. This is what 99%
of the barite consumed in the United States is used for. These high-density
muds are pumped down the drill stem, exit through the cutting bit and return to
the surface between the drill stem and the wall of the well. This flow of fluid
does two things: 1) it cools the drill bit; and, 2) the high-density barite mud
suspends the rock cuttings produced by the drill and carries them up to the
surface.
Barite is also used as a
pigment in paints and as a weighted filler for paper, cloth and rubber. The
paper used to make some playing cards has barite packed between the paper
fibers. This gives the paper a very high density that allows the cards to be
"dealt" easily to players around a card table. Barite is used as a
weighting filler in rubber to make "anti-sail" mudflaps for trucks.
Barite
is the primary ore of barium, which is used to make a wide variety of barium
compounds. Some of these are used for x-ray shielding. Barite has the ability
to block x-ray and gamma-ray emissions. Barite is used to make high-density
concrete to block x-ray emissions in hospitals, power plants, and laboratories.
Barite
compounds are also used in diagnostic medical tests. If a patient drinks a
small cup of liquid that contains a barium powder in a milkshake consistency,
the liquid will coat the patient's esophagus. An x-ray of the throat taken
immediately after the "barium swallow" will image the soft tissue of
the esophagus (which is usually transparent to x-rays) because the barium is
opaque to x-rays and blocks their passage. A "barium enema" can be
used in a similar way to image the shape of the colon.
Barytes or barite is a colorless or white mineral; often tinged with yellow, red, brown, and
sometimes blue. The crystalline system is rhombic. Barytes is found sometimes
as transparent crystals, but generally it is opaque.
Barite increases the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud allowing it to compensate for high-pressure zones
experienced during drilling. The softness of the mineral also prevents it
from damaging drilling tools during drilling and enables it to serve as a lubricant.
