Baryte, Australia

©

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Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?


Baryte
BaSO₄ Orthorhombic



Here will go a good picture of a Baryte from Australia and general remarks about the Baryte from this country. Here are some url's to some of the better Australian Baryte specimens here on Mindat that can be considered for inclusion in the article. These, in most cases are just for temporary use until we can get images of the much better specimens that are almost certainly out there. We should also consider that there are probably localities out there with fine specimens that are not even mentioned on Mindat. Also in some instances there are sometimes pictures on Mindat, of specimens from a locality, but they were so ratty that I did not include them here, but there may also be really good specimens from there that we should talk about in this article.

Australia
New South Wales, Prospect Hill, Prospect Quarry.
This basalt quarry is better know for its fine prehnite specimens than its barite. But “Barite was the last of the minerals to crystallize in the vugs. It is very rare and specimens are found very occasionally. It has been observed as tabular white crystals in parallel groups to 1 cm across on drusy siderite (Australian Museum specimen D35330), rosettes of pale brown, transparent, tabular crystals to 4 mm across on white calcite Australian Museum specimen D38535) and similar rosettes on drusy marcasite (George Dale collection) from the sheared gabbroic dolerite exposed between the Widemere and Prospect quarries.”1
1 Mineralogical Record, Vol. 25, 1994, p 188.

Australia
Broken Hill, Yancowinna Co., New South Wales, Australia



Barite is rare in this deposit, but can occur in attractive yellow crystals in the late carbonate veins, usually on a white to pink manganoan calcite.


Australia
Queensland, Mt Isa - Cloncurry area, Mount Isa district, Hilton deposits, Handlebar Hill Open Cut




Australia
Queensland, Mt Isa - Cloncurry area, Mount Isa district, Mount Isa mines, Black Rock Open Cut



Nice golden barites were found in the 1980s. We need more photos
Queensland, Mount Isa. “Barite is one of the more spectacular minerals occurring at Mount Isa. The best specimens come from the copper orebodies. Beautiful, golden brown, flattened tabular to prismatic crystals to 4 cm occur associated with native copper (often altered to malachite) within a honeycomb siliceous sinter. The sinter was found in large masses on 4 level within the Black Rock open cut. The barite is clouded by native copper inclusions. Plates exceeding 30 cm were found but few have survived. Some large, golden brown, prismatic crystals to 10 cm with copper, chalcopyrite and pyrite inclusions were also found. Occasional yellow-brown, blocky prismatic to tabular crystals up to 10 cm in length, some doubly terminated, have emerged from various fault zones within the copper orebodies. Some attractive barite clusters have been found in sepiolite and palygorskite fault fill from within the silver-lead-zinc orebodies. A notable occurrence was on 16D sublevel where yellow clusters to 3 cm across were found enclosed within sepiolite. The clusters are composed of thick, bladed crystals up to 1 cm long, forming as elongated rosettes. The miners use high-pressure hoses to blast the sepiolite and palygorskite in such faults. The result is that literally rains barite crystals.”1
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 19, 1988, p.478.

Australia
South Australia, Andamooka Ranges - Lake Torrens area, Roxby Downs, Olympic Dam Mine

largest crystal is 25cm long	© M. Willoughby 07

Some well formed and very large barites have been found in this copper-gold-uranium mine, but sadly they are very rarely seen in the marketplace or museums.


Australia
South Australia, Flinders Ranges


Barite is common in veins in many parts of the Flinders and Mt Lofty Ranges, and some are large enough for mining. There have been some good crystals found in some of these veins, especially from the ## mine.


Australia
South Australia, Flinders Ranges, South Flinders Ranges, Bunkers Range, Oraparinna homestead, Oraparinna Mine (Oraparinna Barytes Mine),



[www.mindat.org]

“Parallel groups of golden blocky xls to 2 cm. gemmy tips. 2.5 cm. somewhat scarce.”₁
1. Bill Dameron, personal communication, 2003, description of specimens in his collection.


Australia
South Australia, Mt Lofty Ranges, Burra Burra Mine.



“Sharp, lustrous crystals of barite up to 2 cm with azurite, malachite and libethenite on chrysocolla on quartzite matrix were found. The crystals, of a bladed to tabular habit, are transparent and range from colorless to pale yellow. Barite was also found as fawn-brown nodules to 7 cm across, the centers of which are buggy and lined with minute colorless barite crystals and occasional hemispheres of malachite.”1
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 25, 1994, p.127.


Australia
Tasmania, Rosebery district, Rosebery, Rosebery Mine



This min has argualble produced Australias best barites. The ore is rich in barite, but the best specimens are found in late fractures, as pale yellow to honey-brown crystals to several cm long. They were abundant in the 1970's bur are becoming rare now.
Tasmania, Rosenbery Mine. “Nice specimens of transparent yellow barite came from the Rosenbery mine in the 1970’s. The crystals are up to 2 cm long on plates up to 20 cm across.”1
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 19, 1988, p.385.


Australia
Tasmania, Queenstown district, Madame Howard barite mine



This deposit was mined for barite, in some large veins. There were common vughs which produced some sizable crystals, usually white to colourless, to several cm across. The site is badly overgrown and not much has been found there for a long while.


Australia
Tasmania, Queenstown, Prince Lyell Mine



Some excellent small crystals have been found in this mine in the last couple decades. They are usually sparse rhombic crystals, white to colouless, with quartz, calcite, dolomite and siderite, and the combinations can be attractive.


Australia
Tasmania, Tyndall Valley, Henty Mine



Some very nice bladed baryte crystals to at least 5cm have been found in this mine, which sadly has banned all collecting. They usually occur on drusy quartz and dolomite, commonly with chalcopyrite.


Australia
Tasmania, Bridgewater, Boral Quarry

Good photo needed.
This is an unusal occurrence, but similar to the Bundoora, Victoria barytes.


Australia
Victoria, Bundoora, Boral Limited quarry



Small barites occur in some vesicles in the Tertiary basalts of Victoria, and the Bundoora Quarry is one of the best sites. They are usually only micros to miniatures, but can be attractive.
Victoria, Phillip Island, Red Cliff Head. “Snow-white aggregates of platy barite crystals up to 7 mm across form attractive combinations with orange chabazite at Red Cliff Head on Phillip Island. Similar crystals have also been observed with ferrierite, calcite or chalcedony at Red Bluff and several other localities.”1 These barites are found in amygdaloidal pockets in Tertiary age basalts. A good article about the zeolites and associated minerals from Red Cliff Head, Philip Island and Flinders is sited below.
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 19, 1988, p.457.



Click here to view Barite and here to view Best Minerals B and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.



Edited 17 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2012 08:34PM by Rock Currier.

Rock
I have made a few additions to this article, and will try to do some more soon. There should be lots better pictures about.
Ralph

Regards,
Ralph

There are probably better pictures about, but certainly many better specimens out there that have not been photographed. That is a problem, not just with Australia, but everywhere. We will just keep plugging away at it and little by little it will get better.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Hi Ralph,

Costas asked me to forward this photo of Baryte from Mount Isa. I don't know the size but Costas would. If I can find a better copy I'll send it.

Mark.

Thanks Mark,Ralph this piece is from the Black Rock Open Cut., Mount Isa Qld..It is 30mm wide and the largest crystal about12mm..I got it from Mark R.and is now in my collection..They were scarce in the open cut.The better ones came from 18th level and a few came from the copper areas from 4 and 5 levels.Some from here had copper wire inclusions.
Con

Thanks Con and Mark, I uploaded the new photo - its a beauty!

Regards,
Ralph

Ralph,
Here are some notes I made about Australian barytes that you will hopefully find useful in doing the article on Australian, Barites.

Australia
New South Wales, Prospect Hill, Prospect Quarry. This basalt quarry is better know for its fine prehnite specimens than its barite. But “Barite was the last of the minerals to crystallize in the vugs. It is very rare and specimens are found very occasionally. It has been observed as tabular white crystals in parallel groups to 1 cm across on drusy siderite (Australian Museum specimen D35330), rosettes of pale brown, transparent, tabular crystals to 4 mm across on white calcite Australian Museum specimen D38535) and similar rosettes on drusy marcasite (George Dale collection) from the sheared gabbroic dolerite exposed between the Widemere and Prospect quarries.”1
1 Mineralogical Record, Vol. 25, 1994, p 188.

Queensland, Mount Isa. “Barite is one of the more spectacular minerals occurring at Mount Isa. The best specimens come from the copper orebodies. Beautiful, golden brown, flattened tabular to prismatic crystals to 4 cm occur associated with native copper (often altered to malachite) within a honeycomb siliceous sinter. The sinter was found in large masses on 4 level within the Black Rock open cut. The barite is clouded by native copper inclusions. Plates exceeding 30 cm were found but few have survived. Some large, golden brown, prismatic crystals to 10 cm with copper, chalcopyrite and pyrite inclusions were also found. Occasional yellow-brown, blocky prismatic to tabular crystals up to 10 cm in length, some doubly terminated, have emerged from various fault zones within the copper orebodies. Some attractive barite clusters have been found in sepiolite and palygorskite fault fill from within the silver-lead-zinc orebodies. A notable occurrence was on 16D sublevel where yellow clusters to 3 cm across were found enclosed within sepiolite. The clusters are composed of thick, bladed crystals up to 1 cm long, forming as elongated rosettes. The miners use high-pressure hoses to blast the sepiolite and palygorskite in such faults. The result is that literally rains barite crystals.”1
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 19, 1988, p.478.

South Australia, Burra Burra Mine. “Sharp, lustrous crystals of barite up to 2 cm with azurite, malachite and libethenite on chrysocolla on quartzite matrix were found. The crystals, of a bladed to tabular habit, are transparent and range from colorless to pale yellow. Barite was also found as fawn-brown nodules to 7 cm across, the centers of which are buggy and lined with minute colorless barite crystals and occasional hemispheres of malachite.”1
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 25, 1994, p.127.

South Australia, Flinders Ranges, Oraparinna. “Parallel group of golden blocky xls to 2 cm. gemmy tips. 2.5 cm. somewhat scarce.”1
1 Bill Dameron, personal communication, 2003, description of specimens in his collection.

Tasmania, Rosenbery Mine. “Nice specimens of transparent yellow barite came from the Rosenbery mine in the 1970’s. The crystals are up to 2 cm long on plates up to 20 cm across.”1
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 19, 1988, p.385.

Victoria, Phillip Island, Red Cliff Head. “Snow-white aggregates of platy barite crystals up to 7 mm across form attractive combinations with orange chabazite at Red Cliff Head on Phillip Island. Similar crystals have also been observed with ferrierite, calcite or chalcedony at Red Bluff and several other localities.”1 These barites are found in amygdaloidal pockets in Tertiary age basalts. A good article about the zeolites and associated minerals from Red Cliff Head, Philip Island and Flinders is sited below.
1. Mineralogical Record, Vol. 19, 1988, p.457.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Thanks Rock
i am gradually trying to incorporate this added data, and photos where I can find some.
Does anyone have one for Prospect, NSW?

Regards,
Ralph

Ralph --
I have lately begun working on almost all of the barite pages, after talking to (being talked at by?) Rock. I did a few "lesser" countries (baritewise) the past few days, as tests (Namibia, Ukraine) and am plugging away at Germany and the UK. I saw that somebody else has already done an excellent job with Belgium (I know absolutely nothing about barites from Belgium!). And Australia, another weak point for me. Hope you are still actively engaged in this Best of Species page. I am somewhat familiar with some of the barites from Australia but never see them in the US (I do have a few Australian dealers looking for me).
I received as a gift from an Australian friend (dealer, miner) a barite labeled (when he obtained it) as from Mt Isa. But it matches exactly barites from near Basin, Jefferson County, MT USA. And I mean exactly, so much so that I suspect it was mislabeled somewhere along the line. I asked all Australia-related folks I could find at Tucson this year, and none of them thought it was from Australia. I will send you a picture of it later today for your opinion. I haven't photographed it yet because of the uncertainty of the locality and am not sure I should upload it to Mindat. Maybe I'll wait and see if you are willing to provide an e-mail address so I could send the picture directly to you.

Here is a photo of my one Australian barite for consideration, from Oraparinna.



I also have on my barite reference website (Barite Specimen Localities, easy to find in Google, etc.) a picture "through the glass" at his Tucson display of Rob Sielecki's excellent Roxby Downs piece. Now if you could get a good photo of that, or one like it! I will upload that photo and send it via this channel also; somewhat clearer photo than the ones already on MinDat.

Bill Dameron

Hi Bill
we welcome your input and photos; I will help if I can.

Regards,
Ralph

Another contribution, Rob Sielecki's Roxby Downs barite exhibited at Tucson 2007. These are really nice barites. Bill

Baryte
Australia

Olympic Dam Mine, Roxby Downs, Andamooka Ranges - Lake Torrens area, South Australia

Rob Sielecki specimen; dark golden brown, barely translucent, thick tabular chisel crystals to 4.5 cm. These occur even larger. See UK Jolurnal of Mines and Minerals #17. Rob Sielecki had this specimen in his display at Tucson in 2007.


Bill Dameron

Howdy Ralph,

I know it's not the greatest shot, but this willl give an idea of how big the Olympic Dam Baryte's can get!


Cheers Mark.

We will never have all the answers, only more questions!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2012 03:59PM by Mark Willoughby.

Thanks Mark, these are amazing, it sad they are so rarely seen.
I added one to the article, plus a couple new ones, but more are needed still.

Regards,
Ralph



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2012 04:45AM by Ralph Bottrill.

RALPH - I have my own "Roxby Downs" you may want to consider at; it photographed well.
Bill Dameron

ralph -- plus another oraparinna
Bill Dameron

Bill, excellent photos, many thanks, I have added them to the article

Regards,
Ralph