Where is barite located

Michael Miller, a mineral commodity specialist for the U. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on barite, an important component in oil and drilling mud. The cluster is about 6 centimeters wide. Credit: Wisconsin Geological Survey. The mineral barite barium sulfate , also known as barytes, is most commonly found in hydrothermal veins and as veins in limestone. It is very dense it has a high specific gravity and is relatively soft. Those properties make it an excellent weighting agent in drilling muds for petroleum wells.

In fact, worldwide, oil and gas drilling account for 85 to 90 percent of barite consumption. In the U. Drilling mud is a suspension, generally aqueous, that is pumped down through the drill pipe to remove rock cuttings and to lubricate the drill bit in rotary drilling. Barite intended for this market must meet specifications set by the American Petroleum Institute, which set limits on size, specific gravity and soluble alkaline salt content.

Outside of the U. Three important types of barite deposits have been identified: bedded, residual and vein and cavity fillings. Most barite is produced using open pit mining techniques, and the barite ore then typically undergoes simple beneficiation methods to separate the mineral from the ore. The students tested the hardness of the barite with a piece of calcite from their hardness kit. Or the specimen of barite can naturally contain calcite.

However, any student who tests the specific gravity will discover that calcite or marble are incorrect identifications. Barite is also a good mineral to use when teaching about specific gravity.

Give students several white mineral specimens that are about the same size we suggest calcite , quartz , barite, talc , gypsum.

Students should be able to easily identify barite using the "heft test" placing Specimen "A" in their right hand and Specimen "B" in their left hand and "hefting" the specimens to determine which one is heaviest. Students in third or fourth grade are capable of using the heft test to identify barite.

Gas well site: Barite is used to make high-density drilling mud for wells. Aerial photo of a gas well site. The best way to learn about minerals is to study with a collection of small specimens that you can handle, examine, and observe their properties.

Inexpensive mineral collections are available in the Geology. Most barite produced is used as a weighting agent in drilling muds. 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. Specimen is approximately 2 inches 5 centimeters across. Barite from Utah: Barite from Mercur, Utah. The oil and gas industry is the primary user of barite worldwide.

There it is used as a weighting agent in drilling mud. This is a growth industry, as global demand for oil and natural gas has been on a long-term increase. In addition, the long-term drilling trend is more feet of drilling per barrel of oil produced. This has caused the price of barite to increase. Substitutes for barite in drilling mud include celestite, ilmenite , iron ore, and synthetic hematite. None of these substitutes have been effective at displacing barite in any major market area.

They are too expensive or do not perform competitively. China and India are the leading producers of barite, and they also have the largest reserves. The United States does not produce enough barite to supply its domestic needs. In the United States produced about , metric tons of barite and imported about 2,, metric tons.

Home » Minerals » Barite Barite The nonmetallic mineral with an incredible specific gravity. Article by: Hobart M. Find Other Topics on Geology.