Barite Mineral Processing
and Recovery
It is the preferred weighting agent for drilling fluids in oil and gas exploration to prevent explosive release from the ground. It is also used in medications, pigments, and as paper filler by the pharmaceuticals, paint, and paper industries. As a result, barite is considered one of our planet’s most essential ores, and the demand for this mineral is growing.
Most barite ore is mined from sedimentary rock along with impurities such as quartz, sulfide and carbonate minerals, and clay. Barite recovery and mineral processing depend upon ore purity and the nature of associated gangue minerals. Applications that require high brightness and purity may require froth flotation, bleaching with sulfuric acid, and wet grinding.
At Arkema, we have the expertise to help you maximize barite recovery from impurity minerals to a desired higher specific gravity with mass yield recoveries above 90%. During barite mineral processing, flotation processes are required to concentrate finely ground barite ore, utilizing a rougher-cleaner flowsheet design. Barite can be efficiently floated with Arkema’s custom flotation reagents in an alkaline and neutral pH range and is easily depressed in an acidic circuit. Our CustoFloat® collectors, in particular, have demonstrated high selectivity and good barite recovery and have been successfully used in barite mineral processing by the industry.
Please send us your barite ore and let us custom-formulate a flotation reagent suite and flowsheet design to enable you to process barite more efficiently from ore deposits that may currently be under-utilized.
