Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Barite
Barite
(Baryte)
Formula and Classification:
- BaSO4 (barium sulfate)
Unique Characteristics of Barite:
- High specific gravity of 4.50 g/cm3
- Chemically inert
- Water insoluble
- Found in a variety of colors:
- Yellow
- Brown
- White
- Blue
- Gray
- Colorless
Occurrence and Abundance:
- Very common and naturally occurring
- Found in deposits with both metallic and nonmetallic minerals
- Normally found in vein, residual, and bedded deposits
- Vein and residual deposits are hydrothermal in origin
- Bedded deposits are sedimentary
- Often forms in concretions and veins in limestone and dolostone
- Also found as concretions in sand and sandstone
- Crystals of barite can grow into shapes called barite roses
- Primary countries with commercial deposits are the United States, China, India, and Morocco
- Major deposits in the US are found in Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, and Tennessee
- Other Major deposits are found in:
- Canada
- Yukon Territory, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland
- Mexico
- Hermosillo, Pueblo, Monterrey, and Durango
Uses of Barite:
- Mostly used in oil drilling industry as a drilling mud
- Barite is crushed and added to mud to create barium mud
- Mud is pumped down the drill stem
- Keeps drilling equipment cool and lubricated and keeps pressure level
- Most of us encounter barite in radiology for x-rays of the digestive system
- Barite is X-ray absorbent
- Makes characteristics of the gastrointestinal tract visible
- Used to make high density concrete
- Blocks X-ray emissions in hospitals, power plants, and laboratories
- Main ore of the element barium
- Filler in paper and rubber
- Crushed and used to create white paint
Obtaining Barite:
- Most mining industries use the open-pit method to mine barite
- Depending on the barite deposit, eliminating waste material can be difficult
- In a residual deposit most of the material is waste
- As current mining equipment cannot separate the clay waste from barite, ore-bearing waste is mined and then sent to a processing plant.
- A bedded deposit with thinly bedded shale, chert, or argillite is also treated in this manner.
- Deposits of barite that is both pure and large enough can be mined and meet quality specifications without further processing.
Barite Processing:
- There are several processes for separating barite from waste material
- Hand selection
- Screens--removes some clay and fine-grained material
- Washing--removes large amounts of waste material
- Jigs--pulsates water to separate materials by weight (barite should sink to the bottom)
- Tables and spirals--specific gravity and material movement separates waste from barite
- Flotation--chemical is used to make waste product or barite float to top
- Depending on size, the ore-bearing waste must sometimes be crushed into smaller pieces first
Environmental and Health Considerations:
- Minerals associated with barite mining and processing are the main concern, not the barite itself
- Barite is a chemically inert and nontoxic mineral
- Quartz, present in many barite deposits, can create silica dust (a lung carcinogen)
- Dust masks may be required during mining and processing to prevent inhalation
- Water may be used to reduce the amount of silica dust in the air
- Unoxidized minerals may be present with barite deposits
- Acid mine drainage can result
- Contaminate water sources
- Cause mineral leachage
Life Cycle of Barite
- Naturally occurring mineral that undergoes the natural process of weathering
- Is used in such a way to make it very difficult to recycle, but in some cases it is still possible
- A centrifuge can be used to separate barite from drilling mud
To learn more about Barite recycling click on this link.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
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