MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 33 



BARYTES 



The common barimn mineral in this State, as usually elsewhere, 

 is the sulphate (BaSOJ. It is a heavy substance, noticeably heavier 

 than the usual run of non-metallic minerals, and is quite resistant 

 to ordinary solvent agencies. It occurs in masses of white color 

 and often in crystals, clear and transparent or tinted by some 

 impurity. It is not infrequently so stained with iron as to conceal 

 its real color. Barytes or barite belongs to the group of minerals 

 that occurs mainly in veins; it sometimes occupies the vein by 

 itself, or may form the gangue for metallic ores, especially those of 

 lead and zinc. The wall rock is usually limestone. 



Uses. The industrial uses of barytes are varied. It is largely 

 sold in ground form and in that condition is employed directly for 

 admixture with lead pigments and metallic paints, for filling paper, 

 in rubber manufacture and as an adulterant of many commodities 

 in which it serves to give body and weight but is inert. ,It is the 

 base from which the bariimi sulphide is prepared for making litho- 

 phone. This is a mixture of barium and zinc compounds, used for 

 pigment, enamels and filling of cloth and paper. There are several 

 compounds of bariimi important in the chemical industry and 

 chemical laboratory that are made from barytes. In addition to 

 grinding, the preliminary treatment of crude barytes may involve 

 " bleaching " to remove iron stain; this is performed by subjecting 

 the ground product to the action of sulphuric acid which removes 

 the iron in solution. The white powder is then washed with water. 



Occurrence. Barytes is found in many localities, but in general 

 the deposits are too small to be worked. One of the few occurrences 

 that have been mined is on Pillar Point, Jefferson county, a small 

 peninsular area of Trenton limestone that juts into Lake Ontario 

 just north of Sacketts Harbor. The barytes is found filling small 

 veins on the north shore of the point and is practically free of 

 admixture. Masses 2 or 3 feet long and a foot or more thick were 

 taken out in the period of mine operations which were carried on 

 about 1840. The material, as exemplified in specimens in the 

 State Museum, consists of a massive banded variety and of crystals 

 somewhat iron-stained but of good quality. There are no records 

 to indicate the quantity removed from the veins, but it could not 

 have been very large, judging from the conditions revealed at the 

 present time. A brief account of the occurrence contemporary with 

 the mining period is given by Lewis C. Beck in the reports of the 

 First Geological Survey. 



