Extractive metallurgy and raw materials
Extractive metallurgy and recycling of titanium and its alloys

There are a relatively large number of titanium ores (no fewer than 87 varieties), but industrial mining focuses mainly on two of them: rutile and ilmenite.

Rutile is the natural form of titanium dioxide (97 to 98.5% TiO₂), to which various metallic impurities such as iron or manganese are added; it is found mainly in the USA, Australia, and Norway.

Ilmenite is a mixture of titanate and iron oxides; it is therefore impure (maximum Ti content 30%), but much more widespread than rutile; the main deposits are in the CIS (Russia, Ukraine and especially Kazakhstan), Canada, India, Africa (especially South Africa) and South America. Table 1 shows the world's working reserves, out of an estimated 600 million tonnes...