TITANIUM 



655 



1951 53 1955 57 1959 61 1963 65 1967 69 1971 



Figure 72. — Ilmenite concentrate production for the world 

 and the United States, and titanium slag production for 

 Canada, 1951-71. Data from U.S. Bureau of Mines "Min- 

 erals Yearbooks, 1950-70," and "Commodity Data Sum- 

 maries, 1972." 



Table 136.- 



-World production, in short tons, of rutile, 

 1969-71 



The consumption of titanium concentrates in the 

 United States exceeds domestic production. In 1970, 

 the United States consumed titanium concentrates 

 as shown in table 137 (U.S. Bur. Mines, 1972). 



Table 137. — U.S. conswrnption, in short tons, of titanium 

 concentrates, 1970 



TiOs content 

 Gross weight (estimated) 



Ilmenite 968,926 517,256 



Titanium slag 129,247 91,639 



Rutile 188,290 180,642 



Total estimated TiO: 789,537 



In terms of the element titanium, consumption 

 in the United States in 1970 was about 491,000 

 short tons. Of this, approximately 325,000 tons was 

 from ilmenite, 106,800 tons from rutile, and 58,800 

 tons from titanium slag, and the remainder from 

 imported titanium sponge, waste, and scrap, as re- 

 ported in U.S. Bureau of Mines "Minerals Yearbook, 

 1970." 



The specific amounts of titanium used for produc- 

 tion of various titanium products are not disclosed 

 in order to protect data that are company confi- 

 dential. However, the production capacity of the 

 three companies that make titanium sponge metal 

 in the United States is about 25,000 tons per year, 

 and about 24,300 tons of titanium ingot, including 

 alloys, was produced in 1970. Nearly 95 percent of 

 the titanium metal consumed in the United States 

 is used in the aircraft and spacecraft industry. Most 

 of the remaining 5 percent is used in chemical in- 

 dustries and in steel making. Titanium pigment 

 production, in terms of contained TiOo, in 1970 was 

 about 650,000 short tons, and more than 15,000 tons 

 of TiOa was used in the production of 212,000 tons 

 of welding rods, as reported in US. Bureau of Mines 

 "Minerals Yearbook, 1970." 



Although the greater part of the titanium con- 

 sumed in the United States is in the form of pig- 

 ment, the uses of titanium metal and titanium di- 

 oxide in the form of rutile are considered to be of 

 strategic importance, and the Government main- 

 tains stockpiles of these materials. In December 

 1969, the Office of Emergency Preparedness estab- 

 lished stockpile objectives of 100,000 short tons of 

 rutile and 33,500 tons of titanium sponge metal. At 

 the end of May 1972, stockpile deficits for rutile 

 were 43,475 tons and for titanium sponge metal, 

 6,999 tons (Kirkemo, Harold, oral commun., 1972). 

 Financial assistance for exploration for rutile, 

 available from the U.S. Geological Survey, Office of 

 Mineral Exploration, was set at 75-percent Govern- 

 ment participation in 1967 (Stamper, 1970). 



