Scope of Development of Titanium Industry in India

Abstract

Titanium is widely distributed all over the earth and it is present in most of the minerals, principal groups of which are ilmenite, rutile, arizonite, pervoskite, sphene or titanite. Titanium mineral deposits are found in many parts of the world. Important rock deposits of either ilmenite, rutile or titanomagnetite exist in Europe principally in Norway, Sweden and Russia; North and South America, beach sands of south/ Africa and Transvaal, Australia, Japan, Malaya, Ceylon and India. In India, extensive deposits of ilmenite are found in the beach sands of Kerala, Malabar, Ramnathapuram, Tanjore, Bimliptam, Ganjam coast treat. Maharashtra coast extending from Purangadh to Mulgund has also good deposit of ilmenite sands for a distance about 41.48 km. Extensive deposits of titaniferous magnetite are also found in Dhalbhum Sub-division of Singhbhum, Bihar. Kerala beach sands extending from Quilon to Cape Comorin are the richest of all. Besides ilmenite, the beach sand contains rutile, zircon, garnet, monazite and sillimanite. The reserves of ilmenite in the beach sands have been estimated at 365 million tons and besides these, an inexhaustible deposit of sand is also present under the sea. Rutile occurs in Narnaul in Punjab, Rajasthan, in the mica schist of Singhbhum and in the Kyanite rocks of Dhalbhum, Mayurbhanj.