As a metal, it is easily worked, has a high strength to weight ratio and is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. The most productive areas in NSW have been in the New England district. Medicines Vulcanising of rubber Pigments and dyes Barium Barium occurs naturally as barite or barium sulphate, a fairly soft, white and very heavy mineral, which has been mined at various locations in the central tablelands of NSW and is currently produced by a small mine at Trunkey, near Bathurst. Other deposits exist in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It has also been used as an opacifier in paints, but it is inferior to rutile in whiteness and lasting qualities.
Barium compounds have an enormous variety of uses.
Australia has sizeable reserves by world standards, through the only production in NSW at present comes from a mine at Torrington in the New England region. The main uses of bismuth are in the production of low meting point alloys with other metals such as tin and lead, which are used for electric fuse wire and the safety plugs in fire control sprinkler systems. About three quarters of the production of bismuth goes into medicines and cosmetics. Cadmium Cadmium is a lustrous, yellow-bronze coloured metal, the ores of which frequently occur in association with those of zinc and silver. It is often produced as a by-product of the smelting of zinc ores.