Barite Little-Known Industry That Means "Mud" To Oil Men

Barite, although not a glamour mineral and probably little known to many of those in the mining business, is produced in the US. in very respectable quantities and is an important factor in the mineral economy of this country. The scope of the various uses of this mineral is perhaps one of the most misunderstood things about it, for it is surprising how many of those with a casual knowledge of the subject speak of its primary utilization in terms of paint pigments and barium chemicals. The life blood of barite utilization, however, is the petroleum industry by virtue of its dependence on this high specific gravity, inert mineral as the weighting material in its drilling fluids. From 80 to 85% of barite usage in the U. S. is accounted for in this manner-in fact, its role in oil well drilling is the only excuse for some of the large-scale barite production facilities which have been developed. Other uses are important and widely varied, but comparatively they are of small scale. They include fine crushed barite of low iron content as a component in glass manufacture, barite as a source material for manufacture of barium chemicals, finely divided barite as a component of some rubbers and ground, bleached barite in pigments. The formerly substantial use of barite in lithopone, however, has declined markedly because of replacement of lithopone by titanium pigments