Appendix A Demand Projections and Supply Potential for individual Mineral 



Commodities That Are Known To Occur in the Offshore Environment' 



BARITE 



Uses. Principal uses of the heavy nonmetaUic industrial mineral barite are as a weighting agent in oil 

 and gas weU drilUng fluids and a source of barium chemicals. Lesser amounts are used in paints, rubber, 

 and glass and as a high-density aggregate in concrete for nuclear shielding. 



Present levels of utilization of barite in short tons. 



World (1966) 4,054,000 



United States (1966) , 1,417,000 



Range of demand projections to the year 2000. 



Prospective supplies and prices. The land resource base for barite in the United States and the rest of 

 the world appears adequate to support demand for the period of the projection but exploration and 

 development will be required to fuUy identify the resources for the period 1985-2000. A rough estimate 

 of prices follows: 



Area Estimated price Quantity tons 



United States $12-24 First 30 million 



United States 24-36 Next 30 million 



United States 36 Next 1 7 million 



Rest of World 8-24 First 60 million 



Rest of World 24-36 Next 80 million 



Rest of World 36 Next 48 mUlion 



Possible substitute materials. Celestite, iron ore, and galena are possible substitutes for barite as a 

 weighting agent in drilHng muds but barite is preferred to these other materials because it is clean to 

 handle, relatively inexpensive, nonabrasive, inert, and has a relatively high specific gravity. Titanium 

 dioxide has largely replaced lithopone as a pigment. 



Information in this appendix on uses and on possible substitute materials is summarized from "Mineral Facts and 

 Problems," Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 630, 1965. Demand projections and data on prospective supplies and prices 

 were prepared by Bureau of Mines commodity specialists. 



VII-128 



