664 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



posits. Such exploration can be guided by known 

 geologic data or by development of new geologic 

 and mineralogic concepts that will make it possible 

 to discover previously unrecognized types of depos- 

 its. Extensive sampling and analyses of many rock 

 types are needed to obtain additional background 

 data on the occurrence and distribution of titanium, 

 not only in ilmenite and rutile but also in sphene, 

 perovskite, and other titanium minerals. 



Geologic search for titanium resources might be 

 based upon a reexamination of analytical and geo- 

 logic data that are already available for many large 

 rock units and upon reinterpretation of possible geo- 

 logic environments in which titanium may be con- 

 centrated. For example, search could be made for 

 sedimentary deposits containing titanium minerals 

 that had been primary segregates in the eroded 

 upper parts of the Stillwater Complex in Montana 

 or of other major gabbroic and anorthositic rock 

 units, such as the Duluth Gabbro in Minnesota. Such 

 studies of sedimentary rocks in the U.S.S.R. have 

 related heavy-mineral concentrations in rock forma- 

 tions of various ages to the source rocks and to 

 erosional and depositional histories of the sedi- 

 ments (Gurvich and others, 1965). Greater use 

 might be made of data available from drilling for 

 oil and gas, not only for knowledge of depositional 

 environments of titanium but also for information 

 concerning the mineralogical composition of sedi- 

 mentary rocks. 



The portion of the titanium industry that is 

 equipped to use ilmenite or other minerals rather 

 than rutile can be expected to increase in view of 

 the abundance of ilmenite and the relative scarcity 

 of rutile. This change is likely to be slow, but, as 

 in the case of the iron-ore industry turning to 

 taconite ores, in the long run the titanium mineral 

 processing industry may find it profitable to place 

 greater emphasis on the use of the abundant tita- 

 nium raw material ilmenite. 



The current small market for titanium is a limit- 

 ing factor in the development of large low-grade 

 deposits of ilmenite and of improved methods for 

 extracting the titanium from such ores. This is also 

 true for possible multiproduct ores such as laterites. 

 The separation of the major mineral industries into 

 those producing iron, aluminum, titanium, and other 

 metals has not favored the development of mineral 

 beneficiation of complex multiproduct ores, but such 

 development is needed. A specific example in which 

 this development could affect the titanium industry 

 is the future utilization of the titanium and many 

 other components of sea-floor manganese nodules 

 (McKelvey and Wang, 1969; Mero, 1965). The tech- 



nology needed for recovery of sea-floor nodules in- 

 volves a large increase in scale of dredging over 

 that currently done for finer grained materials in 

 shallow waters. Separation of the metallic compo- 

 nents of the nodules into usable and marketable 

 products is a chemical or metallurgical problem. 



Both chemical and metallurgical research are 

 needed to improve methods of processing mineral 

 raw materials in general, because such improve- 

 ments result in great additions to the quantities of 

 useful mineral resources. The excess of titaniferous 

 magnetite concentrates obtained from primary il- 

 menite ores might be converted to usable iron ore, 

 and an increase in recovery of ilmenite might be 

 achieved by improved mineral beneficiation methods. 



REFERENCES CITED 



Barksdale, Jelks, 1966, Titanium, its occurrence, chemistry, 

 and technology [2d ed.] : New York, Ronald Press, 691 p. 



Deer, W. A., Howie, R. A., and Zussman, J., 1962, Rock- 

 forming minerals — V. 5, Non-silicates: New York, John 

 Wiley and Sons, 371 p. 



Dow, V. T., and Batty, J. V., 1961, Reconnaissance of titani- 

 ferous sandstone deposits of Utah, Wyoming, New 

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 52 p. 



Fish, G. E., Jr., 1962, Titanium resources of Nelson and 

 Amherst Counties, Virginia — [Pt.] 1, Saprolite ores: 

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Fryklund, V. C, Jr., and Holbrook, D. P., 1950, Titanium 

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 Resources and Devel. Comm., Div. Geology Bull. 16, 

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Goldschmidt, V. M., 1954, Geochemistry: Oxford, Clarendon 

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Gray, J. J., and Mcllroy, Paul, 1971, A survey of the second- 

 ary titanium market: U.S. Bur. Mines Inf. Circ. 8532, 

 17 p. 



Gurvich, S. I., Kazarinov, L. N., and Khmara, N. V., 1965, 

 Drevnie redkometal'no-titanovye rossypi, metody ikh 

 poiskov i otsenki [Early rare-metal and titanium placers 

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 Joint Pubs. Research Service Rept. 31,066, 84 p. 



Herz, Norman, 1969, Titanium, in Mineral and water re- 

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Herz, Norman, and Valentine, L. B., 1970, Rutile in the 

 Harford County, Maryland, serpentinite belt, in Geologi- 

 cal Survey research 1970 : U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

 700-C, p. C43-C48. 



Herz, Norman, Valentine, L. B., and Iberall, E. R., 1970, 

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 Nelson and Amherst Counties, Virginia: U.S. Geol. 

 Survey Bull. 1312-F, p. F1-F19. 



Hillhouse, D. N., 1960, Geology of the Piney Rlver-Roseland 

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 Virginia Polytech. Inst. Ph.D. dissertation; [abs.] in 

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