Sulfate minerals are widely distributed in nature and their sulfur isotopic signatures offer a largely untapped source of potential information for improving our understanding of magmatic, hydrothermal, and sedimentary processes. In this study, we describe an analytical procedure for measuring the sulfur isotopic compositions of natural sulfatebearing samples using a LA-MC-ICP-MS (laser ablation multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) technique. YF-2 barite (BaSO4) from the Yongfu hydrothermal deposit yields a δ 34 S value of 18.1 ± 0.4‰ (n = 11, 2SD), obtained by elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA-IRMS), and has been adopted as the reference material for sulfur isotopic determination in this study. The sulfur isotopic ratios for NBS 127 and IAEA-SO-5 barium sulfate are validated by using YF-2 pressed powder tablets as the internal reference standard, and this analytical protocol yielded results that overlap with recommended values. The δ 34 S values obtained here for the YF-1, GTS, and DGD barites are similar to those recorded by EA-IRMS for these samples. WC barite displays highly variable sulfur isotopic compositions, although the average δ 34 S value for WC barite is similar to that obtained by EA-IRMS. Sulfates in the baritecelestine solid solution series and anhydrite were analyzed to determine the isotopic fractionation in varied matrices using both the RESOlution and GeoLasHD laser ablation systems. The analytical results suggest minimal sulfur isotopic fractionation between barite and other S-bearing matrices using both laser systems. For non-matrix matched sulfur isotope analysis, the ion signal intensity and laser parameters are important parameters that must be closely monitored. If sulfur isotopic fractionation is observed during sample ablation, this feature can be minimized by employing a smaller beam size, lower repetition rate and fluence output.