Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the earth’s crust, and it is always found in combination with oxygen. The most important titanium minerals are shown in Table 2.4. From the natural titanium minerals, only ilmenite, leucoxene and rutile are of economic importance. Leucoxene is a weathering product of ilmenite.
The largest titanium reserves in the world are in the form of anatase and titano — magnetite, but these cannot be worked economically at the present time. About 95%
Tab. 2.3: Production of titanium-containing raw materials (2000).
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Tab. 2.4: Titanium minerals
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of the world’s production of ilmenite and rutile is used to produce TiO2 pigments, the remainder for the manufacture of titanium metal and for welding electrodes.