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Barite is a mineral composed of Barium Sulfate, with the occasional addition of Strontium, and is the primary ore of the element Barium. Barite is a very common mineral found all throughout the world. It is popular amongst mineral collectors and serves many industrial uses. It is remarkably dense with a high specific gravity of 4.5. Barite’s name is derived from the Greek word “Barys”, meaning heavy. The spelling of Barite has been a topic of debate with some experts alluding to this mineral as “Baryte”. Barite is found in sedimentary and metamorphic environments, within sedimentary rock layers and in hydrothermal and mesothermal metal ore veins. Barite comes in a variety of colors and crystal forms and is a notable characteristic of this mineral. One common desired form of Barite is called the “Desert Rose”, a rosette aggregate displayed as a cluster of bladed barite crystals resembling a flower intergrown within sand. It is isomorphous with the sky-blue mineral Celestine and may partially replace it. Barite often replaces other minerals, and occasionally those minerals are organic in nature such as wood, fossils, or shells. Barite may fluoresce in some color varieties and phosphoresce in others. Industrial uses are vast for this dense mineral. Barite has the ability to block x ray and gamma ray emissions making it a useful addition within cement walls that are used around medical diagnostic imaging services. Its denseness makes Barite the weighted addition to paper, cards, cloth, or rubber as well as the main weighing agent in high density drilling mud for oil wells. Many excellent mineral specimens have been found of Barite in England, Italy, Romania, China, Morocco, Peru, and the United States.