Baryte (Blue)

Blue Baryte is extremely fragile. The name Baryte is derived from the Greek 'barys' meaning heavy, and is in reference to the fact that Baryte is an unusually heavy mineral. Most of the world's production is used in the oil industry to add weight to the fluids used for drilling through mud and silt. Although Baryte contains a heavy metal (barium) it is not radioactive and is not listed as a toxic chemical because it is extremely insoluble and cannot easily be absorbed by the human body.