Barium Mining
Barium mining
Barium is an abundant alkaline earth metal found on earth. It is mostly extracted from its major sulfate ore 'Baryte or Barite'.
Mining:
The barium's chief ore barite is mined from the surface by open pit mining method. The presence of barite is first confirmed by initial analyzing process. The distribution of the ores also estimated. In some cases, barite is found with limestone which is mined for the extraction of calcium. The mine is made by steps of walls with benches and ramps on it. The ramps are very much useful in the transportation of the barite ores from mine to the primary processing unit.
The ramps are also used for locomotion of machineries and mines inside the mine. The excavating techniques of drilling and blasting are executed for the excavation of barite ores. A pool is made for the disposal of tailings from the primary processing unit. The primary processing units are mostly established with the mines. The open pit method is considerably less expensive than other mining techniques and employed vastly.
Processing and extraction:
The collected ore containing barite is washed, crushed and sorted to remove the quartz particles from it. In some cases the quantity of quartz will be higher in which froth floatation process is employed for further separation of quartz from barite. The filtered barite is reduced to barium sulfide by carbon.
The barium sulfide is the base compound to produce other barium compounds. It is treated with sulfuric acid for barium sulfate, with nitric acid to form barium nitrate, with liquid carbon dioxide to from barium carbonate and the list goes on.
For the production of barium metal, barium nitrate is decomposed by heat to produce barium oxide which in turn reduced into barium metal by aluminum.
In some cases the reaction is done in the argon atmosphere for ultra pure barium metal.
Definition:
Barium is a chemical component. It has the symbol Ba, and atomic number 56. Barium is a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. It is never establish in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts with water and carbon dioxide and is not found as a mineral. The most ordinary naturally occurring minerals are the very insoluble barium sulfate, BaSO4 , and barium carbonate, BaCO3. Benitoite is a rare gem containing barium.
Properties:
Barium is a soft and yielding metal. Its simple compounds are distinguished for their relatively high specific gravity. This is true of the most common barium-bearing mineral, its sulfate barite BaSO4, also called 'heavy spar' due to the high density.
Application:
Barium nitrate and chlorate provide green colors in fireworks.
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Barium titanate was proposed in 2007 to be used in next generation battery technology for electric cars.
Barium fluoride is used for optics in infrared applications, since it is transparent from about 0.15 to 12 microns.
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