Abstract:
Barite is an industrially precipitated mineral and is used in the drilling oil and gas wells. In the present study, barite samples collected from Hazara division of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The major phases identified in these samples by XRD are of barium strontium sulfate with sulfur as the second phase. SEM of the examined samples revealed the presence of irregular shaped micro-regions along with minor grains of quartz. The elemental analysis through SEM EDS confirmed that all the samples comprise 74-76 wt% Ba along with small amounts (26-24 wt %) of Sulfur and Strontium.
