Barite

specimen number:
2102337

location:
Pack Rat Mine, Carbon Co., Montana, USA

description:

Attractive deep amber colored lustrous and mostly gemmy thin tabular crystals of barite measuring to almost 2.5 cm in size across the top of matrix. This is in good condition and quite pretty.

The Pack Rat mine, situated deep in the rugged Pryor Mountains within Carbon County, Montana, United States, is a specialized and historic mineral locality highly celebrated for producing distinct, honey-yellow to golden tabular crystal aggregates of barite, often found resting beautifully on a contrasting dark rock matrix. Geologically, this deposit features low-temperature hydrothermal mineral veins and open-space fillings hosted within the Mississippian-age Madison Limestone formation, where ancient regional tectonic fracturing and dissolution events created porous, cavernous networks within the carbonate strata. Circulating barium-rich groundwater slowly migrated through these subterranean fractures, depositing exceptionally sharp, highly lustrous barium sulfate prisms inside the low-pressure open cavities alongside secondary iron oxides. Historically, the site was developed primarily as a small-scale, open-cast quarrying and surface trenching operation for specialized specimen mineral recovery rather than a major industrial base-metal facility. Active extraction was carried out sporadically by private claim holders and independent field collectors from the mid-to-late twentieth century, with the most notable periods of documented specimen production peaking during the 1970s and 1980s.

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