Titanium Resources of the Commonwealth of Independent States

Abstract

The raw material base of the titanium industries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is assessed, with a focus on the geology and mineralogy of producing and prospective deposits and prevailing end-use patterns in CIS and the world as a whole. Upon the break-up of the USSR, Ukraine was the only supplier of titanium ore for the titanium industries of the FSU, which are located in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. Efforts of Russia and Kazakhstan to explore and develop their own titanium ore deposits are described, as are the uses of different titanium raw materials (e.g., ilmenite, rutile) in titanium metal and pigment production. FSU producers, now significant participants in world titanium markets, are expected to continue exports of titanium metal because of depressed domestic demand and still relatively low (but growing) levels of titanium consumption in pigment production.