René Muschter
Research Expert covering Industry & Mobility
Global titanium mining - statistics & facts
Titanium is a chemical element that is only found in nature as titanium oxide. Through processing, titanium metal, which is a transition metal with a silver color, is produced. Despite its low density, titanium metal is very strong, as well as being resistant to corrosion from sea water and other chemicals. These properties, as well as the fact that titanium can be alloyed with a variety of metals, make titanium an industrially important commodity. In addition to titanium metal, there are other forms of titanium, such as the powder titanium dioxide (often used as a pigment), or titanium sponge, which is produced during the multiple step process to produce the metal. As of 2023, the total global reserves of titanium minerals amounted to an estimated 690 million metric tons of ilmenite and 55 million metric tons of rutile. The country with the largest titanium reserves overall that year was China.
