656 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



U.S. consumption of titanium raw materials 

 greatly exceeds domestic production. The deficit is 

 made up by imports, largely from Australia. U.S. 

 imports of titanium concentrates in recent years are 

 listed in table 138. 



Table 138. — U.S. Imports, in short tons, of the titanium 

 concentrates, ilmenite and rutile, 1967-71 



[NA, not available: e, estimate. Data from U.S. Bur. Mines "Minerals 

 Yearbooks, 1967-70" and "Commodity Data Summaries, 1972"] 



The United States has large reserves of ilmenite 

 and modest potential resources of rutile. However, 

 competition from foreign sources, the relatively low 

 grade of some domestic deposits, the relatively high 

 cost of production from such deposits, and other 

 factors have prevented the development of produc- 

 tion capability to satisfy domestic needs. Specifically, 

 the availability of rutile from foreign sources has, 

 to some extent, delayed the development of addi- 

 tional facilities for production of synthetic rutile 

 from ilmenite-derived titanium dioxides utilizing 

 domestic ores. 



EXPLOITATION 



Within the last two decades, 1951-70, there has 

 been more than a four-fold increase in world pro- 

 duction of primary titanium — from less than 

 400,000 short tons in 1950 to 1.78 million tons in 

 1970 (U.S. Bur. Mines, 1972). During this period, 

 demand for primary titanium in the United States 

 more than doubled, reaching about 490,000 short 

 tons in 1970. Titanium scrap consumption in 1969 

 was 22,800 tons (Gray and Mcllroy, 1971). Demand 

 for titanium in the United States is expected to be 

 between 1.1 million short tons and 2.6 million short 

 tons by the year 2000. 



The greater demand for titanium has increased 

 demand for rutile, which is the preferred raw ma- 

 terial for production of titanium metal or pigments. 

 Because rutile supplies in deposits of economic 

 grade are limited and production has risen, greater 

 reserves are needed to meet future demand. Inter- 

 est has increased in developing i«iproved processes 



for upgrading ilmenite and for processing it to pro- 

 duce titanium products. 



The mining of rutile and ilmenite from placer 

 sand deposits involves the excavation and handling 

 of unconsolidated material, and relatively low grade 

 placers can be worked profitably. Monazite-zircon- 

 ilmenite deposits containing as little as 3-4 percent 

 heavy minerals have been worked ; these contained 

 0.5-1.5 percent Ti02. Other deposits having various 

 mixtures of the minerals monazite, zircon, ilmenite, 

 leucoxene, rutile, garnet, and staurolite are worked 

 in Florida and New Jersey. The heavy minerals are 

 concentrated and then separated by use of Hum- 

 phrey spirals and electromagnetic and electrostatic 

 separators (Quirk and Eilertsen, 1963). 



Mining of primary ilmenite deposits such as those 

 at Tahawus, N. Y., involves drilling, blasting, and 

 crushing of hard-rock ore, followed by fine grinding, 

 magnetic separation, and hydraulic classification. 

 The cost of these operations is high, but the crude 

 ore contains about 16 percent TiOo, which is up- 

 graded to concentrates containing 45 percent TiOz. 

 In addition to the titanium concentrate, magnetite 

 ore containing 56 percent iron is recovered. The 

 ilmenite ores also contain 0.24 percent vanadium 

 pentoxide (V2O5), which is a potentially recover- 

 able valuable constituent. (See chapter on "Vana- 

 dium.") 



PRICES, VALUE OF IMPORTS 



The prices of some titanium raw materials and 

 of some titanium products are indicated in the fol- 

 lowing list taken from data compiled from pub- 

 lished sources for 1970 (Noe, 1972). 



Specification of Tnaterial Price 



Ilmenite, domestic (60 percent Ti02), 



per siiort ton $30.00- $35.00 



Ilmenite, imported (54 percent TiOz) , 



per long ton 20.00- 21.00 



Rutile, imported (96 percent TiOi), 



per long ton 160.00- 185.00 



Titanium slag, imported (about 70 percent 



TiO«), per long ton 45.00 



Rutile grade titanium dioxide, per pound .26- .27 



Titanium sponge, domestic, per pound 1.32 



Titanium sponge, imported (from Japan 



and Britain), per pound 1.20- 1.25 



The value of imported rutile in 1970 was $19.8 

 million, and the combined value of imported ilmen- 

 ite and titanium slag was $6.4 million. Unwrought 

 titanium metal waste and scrap valued at $10.5 

 million were also imported in 1970. 



BYPRODUCTS AND COPRODUCTS 



Titanium deposits in various parts of the world 

 commonly are worked for more than one product. 



