Barytes (or barite) is the naturally occurring mineral form of barium sulphate. Its main properties are its high specific gravity (4.5), very low solubility; it is non-toxic, and also chemically and physically unreactive.

It is extracted by both surface and underground mining, followed by simple physical processing methods to produce correctly sized product and to remove extraneous materials. It has a standard packaging of 100 lb (45 kg) bag, 40 per pallet. All pallets are plastic-wrapped.