• Barite is a mineral that is unusually heavy for a mineral that is not metallic.
• Its name comes from the Greek word baros which means heavy or weighty.
• One common use for barite is the "barium milkshake" that people drink before getting an X-ray of their stomach and intestines.
• It is also used to make expensive white paint.

• Barite is usually milky white or colorless.
• Barite crystals come in many forms. This specimen has a cockscomb mass and shows a fibrous crystal habit.

Bladed Barite from Highway #38 Sharbot Lake, Perth, Ontario CANADA

• This large plate of gemmy crystals is yellow. The color of the barite crystals depends on the impurities trapped in the crystals while they were being formed.