Grizzly bears and barite
Published: Fri, 08/01/14
of Yellowstone National Park, along Hebgen Lake.
On the way home, the highway dips into Yellowstone Park for about
20 miles.
Wouldn't you know, we saw a grizzly bear a couple hundred yards
off the side of the road during that stretch. The bear was
frollicking around in some bushes. He was probably going after a
small animal, or eating flowers or berries.
Anyway, it was the first time that I had seen a bear in the wild.
Check that box for Brandon!
And it was a big grizzly bear, and the grizzly is the North
American king of animals (in my opinion). Awesome animal.
There is great human fascination with the grizzly bear -- bears are
the stuff of constellations, fairy tales, and stuffed animals.
Bears are fascinated with us as well.
We are their match in the food chain, and we both stand on
approximately the same rung -- cautious of each other.
If people are headed into bear country, it's likely that they
will read the news for articles on bear attacks, study the best
ways to avoid and deter bears, and maybe even buy some bear spray.
I have a fascination with barite that rivals that of my fascination
with bears! Ha
Barite is mysteriously rare to find in the United States, yet it is
plentiful in Mexico.
However, it's still a challenge to get fresh supplies of
Mexican barite into the US.
Good ores are *pure white* and I pulverize them into a handsome,
flour-like powder for testing.
In fact I know of at least 3 great teams that are working on
getting new sources in right now.
Of course, my lab provides barite testing of all types.
Barite can be used for drilling. For drilling grade barite, you
need to meet at least 4 main standard of the American Petroleum
Institute 13A.
Density, purity, and size make up those API 13A drilling grade
barite requirements.
In order to sell drilling grade barite, though, you may need to do
testing on heavy metal content and purity.
For heavy metal testing, I would recommend testing for lead,
cadmium, and mercury. This helps to meet the EPA standards for
offshore drilling requirements.
For purity testing, you can order up some x-ray powder diffraction
testing to help get at the percentage of barite in your sample.
If you have barite with very high density (higher than 4.2), white,
and pure, you have a shot at getting into the chemical and paint
industries.
If you are a metals or minerals explorer, our lab can do testing
for you on a budget, as well as contact information for learning
about how to get your product into the market.
How can we be of service to you?