Barite is the most common mineral of barium, which is composed of barium sulfate.

Barite is a very important non-metallic mineral raw material, which has a wide range of industrial applications.

1, drilling mud weighting agent: in some oil Wells, gas Wells drilling, the general use of drilling mud, clay specific gravity is about 2.5, the specific gravity of water is 1, so the mud specific gravity is low, sometimes the mud weight can not be balanced with the underground oil and gas pressure, resulting in a blowout accident. In the case of higher underground pressure, it is necessary to increase the specific gravity of mud, adding barite powder to the mud is an effective measure to increase the specific gravity of mud. The fineness of barite used in drilling mud is generally more than 325 mesh, if the fineness of barite is not enough, it is easy to precipitate. The barite used in drilling mud is required to have a specific gravity of more than 4.2, the content of BaSO4 is not less than 95%, and the soluble salt is less than 1%.

2, zinc-barium white pigment: zinc-barium white is a commonly used high-quality white pigment, which can be used as raw materials for paint and painting pigments. The barium sulfate is heated, the use of reducing agents can be reduced to barium sulfide (Bas), and then react with zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) to obtain a mixture of barium sulfate and zinc sulfide (BaSO4 accounted for 70%, ZnS accounted for 30%) is the zinc barium white pigment. Barite for preparation of zinc-barium white requires BaSO4 content greater than 95%, and should not contain visible colored debris.

3, various barium compounds: barite as raw materials can be manufactured barium oxide, barium carbonate, barium chloride, barium nitrate, precipitated barium sulfate, barium hydroxide and other chemical raw materials. Chemically pure barium sulfate is the standard for measuring whiteness; Barium carbonate is an important raw material of optical glass, which introduces BaO into glass, thereby increasing the refractive index of glass and improving other optical properties. Used in ceramics to prepare glazes; Barium chloride is an agricultural insecticide. Barium nitrate is used in the fireworks and glass industry; Barium permanganate is a green pigment.

4, barite filler industry: In the paint industry, barite powder filler can increase the thickness, strength and durability of the paint film. Zinc barium white pigment is also used in the manufacture of white paint, indoor use than lead white, magnesium white has more advantages. Barite used in the paint industry requires sufficient fineness and high whiteness. The paper industry, rubber and plastics industry also use barite as a filler, which can improve the hardness, wear resistance and aging resistance of rubber and plastics. Rubber, paper barite filler generally requires BasO4 greater than 98%, CaO less than 0.36%, not allowed to contain magnesium oxide, lead and other components.