Barite is a naturally occuring crystalline mineral formed from barium sulfate. It has been used for many different things over the years such as being used as an aggregate in cement and as a weighting agent for petroleum well drilling mud. The most interesting note is probably that a sample was once thought to be the philosopher’s stone – a stone that could turn metals into gold. Unfortunately, the Bologna stone, as they called it, was just a hunk of the mineral barite.
