What is it?
Black beach sand — ilmenite and rutile — that is the starting point both for titanium metal and for the white pigment in paint.
Why does it matter?
More than 90% of this ore never becomes metal; it becomes titanium dioxide, the whitest white in industrial use.
Deeper written sections for this material have not been published yet. Everything below is drawn straight from the source datasets and is complete.
Where it comes from in the rock
All ore minerals →These are the minerals that actually carry titanium mineral concentrates. A deposit is only an orebody if one of them is concentrated enough to pay for digging it up.
Ilmenite
The dominant titanium mineral, about 45-65% TiO2, mined from heavy mineral sand deposits along ancient shorelines.
Rutile
Nearly pure titanium dioxide at about 95%. Scarcer and more valuable than ilmenite, and the preferred feed for titanium…
Who produces it
See it on a map →Mine production: Ilmenite
Mine production: Ilmenitethousand metric tons 2025 (estimated)
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Gross weight of ilmenite plus rutile concentrate, TiO2 content varies by mineral. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| China | 3,200 | — |
| Mozambique | 1,900 | — |
| South Africa | 1,300 | — |
| Australia | 780.0 | — |
| Norway | 390.0 | — |
| Senegal | 370.0 | — |
| Canada | 360.0 | — |
| Madagascar | 300.0 | — |
| India | 240.0 | — |
| Other countries | 230.0 | — |
| Ukraine | 200.0 | — |
| United States | 100.0 | — |
Mine production: Rutile
Mine production: Rutilethousand metric tons 2025 (estimated)
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Gross weight of ilmenite plus rutile concentrate, TiO2 content varies by mineral. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 200.0 | — |
| Sierra Leone | 110.0 | — |
| South Africa | 100.0 | — |
| India | 13.00 | — |
| Ukraine | 10.00 | — |
| Mozambique | 10.00 | — |
| Other countries | 9.00 | — |
| Kenya | Zero | — |
| United States | s | — |
Mine production: ilmenite and rutile, rounded
Mine production: ilmenite and rutile, roundedthousand metric tons 2025 (estimated) World total 9,800 thousand metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Gross weight of ilmenite plus rutile concentrate, TiO2 content varies by mineral. · source ↗
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| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| World total | 9,800 | 100% |
Mine production: ilmenite, rounded
Mine production: ilmenite, roundedthousand metric tons 2025 (estimated) World total 9,400 thousand metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Gross weight of ilmenite plus rutile concentrate, TiO2 content varies by mineral. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| World total | 9,400 | 100% |
Mine production: rutile, rounded
Mine production: rutile, roundedthousand metric tons 2025 (estimated) World total 450.0 thousand metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Gross weight of ilmenite plus rutile concentrate, TiO2 content varies by mineral. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| World total | 450.0 | 100% |
“Withheld” means the USGS suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing an individual company's data — it does not mean zero. Country rows do not always sum to the world total because the source rounds each figure independently and does not always break out an “other countries” line.
Who holds the reserves
Reserves: Ilmenite
Reserves: Ilmenitethousand metric tons 2025
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗
| Country | Reserves | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 170,000 | — |
| China | 110,000 | — |
| Canada | 50,000 | — |
| Other countries | 46,000 | — |
| Norway | 37,000 | — |
| Madagascar | 30,000 | — |
| South Africa | 28,000 | — |
| India | 15,000 | — |
| Ukraine | 5,900 | — |
| United States | 2,000 | — |
| Senegal | Not applicable | — |
| Mozambique | Not applicable | — |
Reserves: Rutile
Reserves: Rutilethousand metric tons 2025
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗
| Country | Reserves | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 35,000 | — |
| South Africa | 6,200 | — |
| Sierra Leone | 2,900 | — |
| Ukraine | 2,500 | — |
| Mozambique | 720.0 | — |
| India | 670.0 | — |
| Other countries | >540.0 | — |
| Kenya | Zero | — |
| United States | s | — |
Reserves: ilmenite and rutile, rounded
Reserves: ilmenite and rutile, roundedthousand metric tons 2025
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗
| Country | Reserves | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| World total | >540,000 | 100% |
The source publishes this world total as a bound rather than a point figure, so the shares in the last column are themselves bounds.
Reserves: ilmenite, rounded
Reserves: ilmenite, roundedthousand metric tons 2025
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗
| Country | Reserves | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| World total | >490,000 | 100% |
The source publishes this world total as a bound rather than a point figure, so the shares in the last column are themselves bounds.
Reserves: rutile, rounded
Reserves: rutile, roundedthousand metric tons 2025
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗
| Country | Reserves | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| World total | >49,000 | 100% |
The source publishes this world total as a bound rather than a point figure, so the shares in the last column are themselves bounds.
Price
dollars per metric ton: Ilmenite, average unit value of imports
Annual averagedollars per metric ton
Basis: dollars per metric ton: Ilmenite, average unit value of imports. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
dollars per metric ton: Ilmenite and leucoxene, bulk, f.o.b. Australia
Annual averagedollars per metric ton
Basis: dollars per metric ton: Ilmenite and leucoxene, bulk, f.o.b. Australia. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
dollars per metric ton: Slag, 80%–95% TiO2, average unit value of imports
Annual averagedollars per metric ton
Basis: dollars per metric ton: Slag, 80%–95% TiO2, average unit value of imports. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
dollars per metric ton: Rutile, bulk, minimum 95% TiO2, free on board (f.o.b.) Australia
Annual averagedollars per metric ton
Basis: dollars per metric ton: Rutile, bulk, minimum 95% TiO2, free on board (f.o.b.) Australia. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
dollars per metric ton
Annual averagedollars per metric ton
Basis: dollars per metric ton. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
Export controls
| Country | Control | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Vietnam | Export ban | Raw materials of iron, lead-zinc, chromite, manganese, apatite, and rare earths and deeply processed titanium (2012). ↗ |
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, table 4 — controls in effect as of January 2026, excluding controls since lifted.