Where is titanium ore mined? Titanium ore is one of the most valuable pre-Cataclysm WoW resources.

Titanium- light, durable metal of silver-white color. It exists in two crystalline modifications: α-Ti with a hexagonal close-packed lattice, β-Ti with a cubic body-centered packing, the polymorphic transformation temperature α↔β is 883 °C. Titanium and titanium alloys combine lightness, strength, high corrosion resistance, low thermal coefficient expansion, the ability to work in a wide temperature range.

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STRUCTURE

Titanium has two allotropic modifications. The low-temperature modification, which exists up to 882 °C, has a hexagonal close-packed lattice with periods a = 0.296 nm and c = 0.472 nm. The high-temperature modification has a body-centered cube lattice with a period a = 0.332 nm.
The polymorphic transformation (882°C) during slow cooling occurs according to the normal mechanism with the formation of equiaxed grains, and during rapid cooling, according to the martensitic mechanism with the formation of an acicular structure.
Titanium has high corrosion and chemical resistance due to the protective oxide film on its surface. It does not corrode in fresh and sea water, mineral acids, aqua regia, etc.

PROPERTIES

Melting point 1671 °C, boiling point 3260 °C, density of α-Ti and β-Ti is 4.505 (20 °C) and 4.32 (900 °C) g/cm³, respectively, atomic density 5.71×1022 at/ cm³. Plastic, welded in an inert atmosphere.
Technical titanium used in industry contains impurities of oxygen, nitrogen, iron, silicon and carbon, which increase its strength, reduce ductility and affect the temperature of polymorphic transformation, which occurs in the range of 865-920 °C. For technical titanium grades VT1-00 and VT1-0, the density is about 4.32 g/cm3, the tensile strength is 300-550 MN/m2 (30-55kgf/mm2), elongation is not less than 25%, Brinell hardness is 1150 -1650 MN / m 2 (115-165 kgf / mm 2). It is paramagnetic. The configuration of the outer electron shell of the Ti 3d24s2 atom.

It has a high viscosity, during machining it is prone to sticking to the cutting tool, and therefore the application of special coatings on the tool, various lubricants is required.

At normal temperature, it is covered with a protective passivating film of TiO 2 oxide, due to which it is corrosion-resistant in most environments (except alkaline). Titanium dust tends to explode. Flash point 400 °C.

RESERVES AND PRODUCTION

The main ores: ilmenite (FeTiO 3), rutile (TiO 2), titanite (CaTiSiO 5).

In 2002, 90% of the mined titanium was used for the production of titanium dioxide TiO 2 . World production of titanium dioxide was 4.5 million tons per year. The confirmed reserves of titanium dioxide (without Russia) are about 800 million tons. For 2006, according to the US Geological Survey, in terms of titanium dioxide and excluding Russia, the reserves of ilmenite ores amount to 603-673 million tons, and rutile - 49.7- 52.7 million tons. Thus, at the current rate of production, the world's proven reserves of titanium (excluding Russia) will be enough for more than 150 years.

Russia has the world's second largest reserves of titanium after China. The mineral resource base of titanium in Russia is made up of 20 deposits (of which 11 are primary and 9 are alluvial), fairly evenly dispersed throughout the country. The largest of the explored deposits is located 25 km from the city of Ukhta (Komi Republic). The reserves of the deposit are estimated at 2 billion tons.

The concentrate of titanium ores is subjected to sulfuric acid or pyrometallurgical processing. The product of sulfuric acid treatment is titanium dioxide powder TiO 2 . Using the pyrometallurgical method, the ore is sintered with coke and treated with chlorine, obtaining titanium tetrachloride vapors at 850 ° C and reduced with magnesium.

The resulting titanium "sponge" is melted down and purified. Ilmenite concentrates are reduced in electric arc furnaces with subsequent chlorination of the resulting titanium slags.

ORIGIN

Titanium is the 10th most abundant in nature. Content in the earth's crust - 0.57% by weight, in sea water - 0.001 mg / l. 300 g/t in ultrabasic rocks, 9 kg/t in basic rocks, 2.3 kg/t in acid rocks, 4.5 kg/t in clays and shales. In the earth's crust, titanium is almost always tetravalent and is present only in oxygen compounds. It does not occur in free form. Titanium under conditions of weathering and precipitation has a geochemical affinity for Al 2 O 3 . It is concentrated in bauxites of the weathering crust and in marine clayey sediments.
The transfer of titanium is carried out in the form of mechanical fragments of minerals and in the form of colloids. Up to 30% TiO 2 by weight accumulates in some clays. Titanium minerals are resistant to weathering and form large concentrations in placers. More than 100 minerals containing titanium are known. The most important of them are: rutile TiO 2 , ilmenite FeTiO 3 , titanomagnetite FeTiO 3 + Fe3O 4 , perovskite CaTiO 3 , titanite CaTiSiO 5 . There are primary titanium ores - ilmenite-titanomagnetite and placer - rutile-ilmenite-zircon.
Titanium deposits are located in South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, China, Japan, Australia, India, Ceylon, Brazil, South Korea, and Kazakhstan. In the CIS countries, the Russian Federation (58.5%) and Ukraine (40.2%) take the leading place in terms of explored reserves of titanium ores.

APPLICATION

Titanium alloys play an important role in aviation technology, where the aim is to obtain the lightest design combined with the required strength. Titanium is light compared to other metals, but at the same time it can work at high temperatures. Titanium alloys are used to make skin, fastening parts, a power set, chassis parts, and various units. Also, these materials are used in the construction of aircraft jet engines. This allows you to reduce their weight by 10-25%. Titanium alloys are used to produce compressor disks and blades, air intake and guide vane parts, and fasteners.

Titanium and its alloys are also used in rocket science. In view of the short-term operation of the engines and the rapid passage of dense layers of the atmosphere in rocket science, the problems of fatigue strength, static endurance, and partly creep are largely removed.

Due to insufficiently high heat resistance, technical titanium is not suitable for use in aviation, but due to its exceptionally high corrosion resistance, in some cases it is indispensable in the chemical industry and shipbuilding. So it is used in the manufacture of compressors and pumps for pumping such aggressive media as sulfuric and hydrochloric acid and their salts, pipelines, valves, autoclaves, various containers, filters, etc. Only titanium has corrosion resistance in environments such as wet chlorine, aqueous and acidic chlorine solutions, so equipment for the chlorine industry is made from this metal. Titanium is used to make heat exchangers that operate in corrosive environments, such as nitric acid (non-fuming). In shipbuilding, titanium is used for the manufacture of propellers, ship plating, submarines, torpedoes, etc. Shells do not stick to titanium and its alloys, which sharply increase the resistance of the vessel when it moves.

Titanium alloys are promising for use in many other applications, but their use in technology is constrained by the high cost and scarcity of titanium.

Titanium - Ti

CLASSIFICATION

In many MMORPGs, there are special artifacts that gamers need to collect by completing quests, killing evil monsters, or simply sending their hero to explore some territory. They are needed to improve weapons, in order to quickly defeat the enemy and for many other purposes - in general, for playing and pumping your hero.

But not only artifacts are needed, but also the materials from which they can be created using magic or some kind of profession. In some strategies, it is necessary to create some things, including rare ones. There are materials so valuable that they can be put up for sale not only for the virtual, “local” currency accepted in the game, but also for quite real money in their electronic version. In a number of games, there are types of fossils that are very useful, and it is not easy to get them. For example, titanium ore in WoW. This fossil is worth looking for, since its price in local game stores is not at all small and is up to 300 gold per unit. By the way, titanium ore is so expensive not only in WoW, but also in a number of similar strategies. It is vital for those players who decide to upgrade some professions - for example, a jeweler, a blacksmith and others.

Many gamers who decide to master the mining or blacksmithing profession in WoW have a question about where is the titanium ore? I must say, this excites even many experienced players. After all, this material is very valuable and quite rare. Sometimes even in those places where it would seem to definitely be, they cannot find it or find it with great difficulty.

Titanium ore is a special type of mineral that is needed in order to craft epic quality artifacts or a special type of metal - titanium steel. In addition, various crystallized elements can be crafted from its veins, including gems, the drop chance of which is high. However, titanium itself is much more valuable mining than the “trinkets” listed below, because its virtual cost is very high, since titanium ore is much more expensive than any mineral. Alchemists or blacksmiths create special steel from it, and no more than once every twenty hours. To make this metal, you will need three titanium ingots, as well as a piece of materials such as Eternal Fire, Darkness and Earth. The cost of such steel is also very high.

Where is titanium ore located? Often it is worth looking for it where there are large deposits of saronite ore - so if you find them anywhere, feel free to look for titanium in these places. This pattern has long been discovered by gamers, comparing deposits of various minerals, and many WoW fans are aware of it.

Also, some game zones are known for deposits of such ore - this is the Lake of Ice Chains, Sholazar Basin, Northrend and Icecrown, as well as in some others. You should not think that in some virtual spaces of WoW you can very easily find this material, while in others you will not find it. It is found almost everywhere, but it is not scattered in equal quantities. And it’s not a fact that once you find it in any place, the next time you will find it there.

It is also worth considering one simple secret - at night and early in the morning, few people (at least in your time zone) are looking for fossils. If you urgently need titanium ore, you can search at this time. And if you are going to buy it, then take into account the fact that on the day the new patch is released, the prices for it are significantly reduced.

It is worth looking for maps of areas with indications of paths leading to such deposits - on forums dedicated to this topic and other sites. Above areas such as OLO, and the Storm Peaks, titanium ore can be found by simply flying.

I would like to wish all WoW players good luck in developing deposits, farming and in general in the game.

Titanium Markets

Regional end-use markets for titanium are quite different - the most striking example of originality is Japan, where the civil aerospace sector accounts for only 2-3%, using 30% of the total titanium consumption in equipment and structural elements of chemical plants. Approximately 20% of the total demand in Japan is for nuclear power and solid fuel power plants, the rest is for architecture, medicine and sports. The opposite picture is observed in the US and Europe, where consumption in the aerospace sector is of exceptional importance - 60-75% and 50-60% for each region, respectively. In the US, traditionally strong end markets are chemicals, medical equipment, industrial equipment, while in Europe the largest share is in the oil and gas industry and the construction industry. Heavy dependence on the aerospace industry has been a long-standing concern of the titanium industry, which is trying to expand the applications of titanium , which is especially relevant in the context of the current decline in civil aviation on a global scale. According to the US Geological Survey, in the first quarter of 2003, there was a significant decline in imports of titanium sponge - only 1319 tons, which is 62% less than 3431 tons for the same period in 2002.

Russian titanium producer VSMPO-AVISMA

On July 1, 1933, Plant No. 45 was launched in the Moscow region. From this day, the history of the Verkhnesalda Metallurgical Production Association (VSMPO) begins. The enterprise was supposed to become the main supplier of semi-finished products from aluminum and its alloys for the emerging Soviet aircraft industry. This was the main task. But besides this, the plant was assigned the role of a scientific base, where new alloys were developed. For example, for the manufacture of power elements of the ANT-40 high-speed bomber, an alloy of increased strength M-95 was created. And in 1935, malleable aluminum alloys AK 5 and AK 6 were mastered.

The Great Patriotic War sharply disrupted the usual rhythm of work. In October 1941, the USSR State Defense Committee decided to completely evacuate the plant to the Sverdlovsk region, to the city of Verkhnyaya Salda. Plant No. 519 of the People's Commissariat of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy, whose equipment came from Kolchugino and two Leningrad enterprises, was located in the same workshops of the former Verkhnyaya Salda Stalkonstruktsiya. Innovative traditions of aluminum workers near Moscow were transferred to the Urals. Already in December 1941, literally a month and a half after the decision to evacuate, the plant produced the first products at the new location.

In the spring of 1942, the production of aluminum parts had already reached the pre-war level, and in 1943, the design capacity of the enterprise was blocked by 6 times! The needs of the Soviet aircraft industry were fully satisfied. In addition, semi-finished products produced in Verkhnyaya Salda were widely used in shipbuilding and tank building, the production of ammunition and weapons.

The rapid development of advanced technologies in the post-war period required the use of new materials. By the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated June 21, 1956, the plant was given a historic task: to start large-scale production of ingots and semi-finished products from titanium alloys. In February 1957, the first titanium ingot with a diameter of 100 mm and a weight of 4 kg came out of the factory furnaces. This small metal cylinder became the first step towards the ascent of the future VSMPO-AVISMA to the world titanium Olympus. We became the second in the world that managed to start the production of "space metal". The US is 9 years ahead of us. But from this historical moment, a new era of VSMPO production began - titanium.

General Director of VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation Vladislav Tetyukhin, a participant in the first titanium smelting at the plant, notes: “Speaking of the beginning of the industrial development of titanium production, we pay tribute and gratitude to the pioneers and founders of the high-tech industry in our country, which today allows us to conduct an equal dialogue with the leaders the most representative firms and companies in the field of world aircraft construction. Moreover, they offer us a hand of cooperation and are ready to jointly move forward the most ambitious projects.”

In the small town of Verkhnyaya Salda in the Urals, about 80% of all titanium rolled products of the Soviet Union were to be produced. This decision was made by the Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR. The enterprise has become one of the world's largest producers of ingots and most types of rolled products from titanium alloys. All aerospace projects in our country took place with his participation. Up to 75% of titanium products and up to 95% of aluminum alloy products were sent to the aerospace complex and defense industries.

The association, in collaboration with the specialists of VILS, VIAM, with the design bureau of aircraft and engine plants, created products for critical components of all domestic aircraft engines, as well as for airframes and landing gear of aircraft and helicopters: IL-76, IL-86, IL-114, Tu-204, Tu-160, AN-124 (Ruslan), AN-225 (Mriya), AN-22 (Antey), Su-27, MiG-29, Mi-26, IL-96-300, AN -70, MiG-31 and others. VSMPO participated in the scientific and technical development of the docking station of the Soyuz-Apollo space complex, in the Buran reusable spacecraft, and in the Energia launch vehicle.

In 1982, the company became known as VSMPO - Verkhnesalda Metallurgical Production Association. Titanium production continues to develop, which at the end of the eighties set an absolute world record for the annual production of ingots - over 100 thousand tons.

VSMPO manufactures products and parts for the aircraft and missile industry and for the defense industry, this enterprise uses high quality titanium sponge and imposes appropriate requirements on the products of JSC AVISMA. However, VSMPO's products are practically uncompetitive on the world market of "advanced" titanium processing, so the association, in fact, has to limit itself to the supply of semi-finished products. Metallurgical enterprises, on the other hand, use sponge titanium of lower grades in their production. Relations between Avisma and VSMPO are complicated by the desire of the Verkhny Saldins, as the main owners of the Berezniki enterprise, to buy sponge at a fixed dollar rate, much less than the one set by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

In the US, the largest consumers of Russian sponge are RMI Titanium, which in the recent past abandoned its production of sponge titanium due to environmental hazards of production, Axel Johnson, Wyman-Gordon, Titanium Heart Technologies. US consumers of titanium sponge account for 30% of the global consumers of titanium sponge. If in 1996 the world leader in aircraft construction, the American company Boeing, produced 220 aircraft, then in 1997 - 340, and in 1998 plans to increase production to 43 aircraft per month. Moreover, if on a Boeing 747 aircraft the mass of parts and assemblies made of titanium alloys is about 4.5 tons, then on the latest 777 model, according to some estimates, from 40 to 45 tons! It is assumed that the demand for titanium of the Boeing Corporation alone in 1998 will reach 12,000 tons. The consumption of titanium is also growing in such an exotic field of application as the manufacture of golf clubs. In 1996, golf clubs accounted for 11% of total US titanium metal consumption.

Titanium is one of the elements widely used in industrial production. The most important types of titanium products are pigment titanium dioxide (world production is about 3 million tons of TiO2 per year) and metallic titanium (60-70 thousand tons of Ti per year). Nearly 90% of titanium dioxide is used as a filler in rubber, paper, plastics, artificial fiber matting, silicone rubber reinforcement, semiconductor ceramics, etc. Titanium metal and its alloys, which have high corrosion resistance and a good combination of mechanical and technological properties, are used in a wide variety of industries: aviation, space, chemical, metallurgical, mechanical engineering, and shipbuilding.

The main producers of pigment titanium dioxide are the USA, Germany, Japan, England, France (about 70% of the world production). Titanium metal is produced in the USA, Japan, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and China.

In the CIS countries, the Russian Federation (58.5%) and Ukraine (40.2%) take the leading place in terms of explored reserves of titanium ores. However, in Russia there are mainly undeveloped deposits, titanium concentrate from which is not produced. The main producer of titanium raw materials (ilmenite, rutile) in the CIS is Ukraine. In general, a large number of titanium deposits are known in the CIS, which belong to various industrial genetic types (Table 1). According to the formation conditions, they are divided into igneous, weathering crusts (residual), placers and metamorphosed deposits. In the CIS, the leading role in obtaining titanium concentrates is played by ancient coastal-marine (ilmenite, rutile, zircon, etc.), as well as alluvial and alluvial-deluvial placers of ilmenite and its residual deposits, concentrated mainly in Ukraine. Of the large number of titanium-containing minerals, ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene, and anatase are of major industrial importance. Perovskite, sphene and titanomagnetite are promising.

Industrial ores contain 0.5-35% TiO2, disseminated ores of igneous deposits usually contain 7-10% TiO2. Placers are often characterized by lower titanium contents. However, the relatively simple production of titanium concentrates from placers makes their exploitation profitable. The mined material is processed at processing plants, where independent concentrates are obtained: ilmenite, rutile, zircon, staurolite, etc. Most of the resulting titanium concentrates contain a whole group of impurity elements (Sc, V, Ta, Nb, TR, Ga, etc.), of industrial value. Of particular value among them is expensive scandium, which is constantly contained in ilmenite (up to 0.02%) and rutile (up to 0.01%). In 1995, in the USA, 1 g of Sc2O3 (99.9%) cost $63.2, and 1 g of metallic scandium (99.99%) cost $125 (according to the commercial catalogue).

Currently, in the CIS, titanium concentrates are not obtained from ores of primary deposits. Abroad, the main producers of ilmenite concentrate from ores of primary deposits are Canada and Norway. In total, they provide about 30% of the annual world titanium production.

On the territory of Russia, all the most important titanium deposits are located in nine metallogenic provinces. The main titanium ore provinces of Russia, in which 81.6% of its reserves and 52.4% of titanium resources are concentrated, are: Timanskaya (Yagerskoye and other deposits), Oklemo-Stanovaya (Kruchininskoye, Bolshoi Seim, etc.), Uralskaya (Medvedevskoye, Kopanskoye, etc.) (Fig. 1). Among these provinces, Timanskaya stands apart, characterized by a unique genetic type of titanium deposits, represented by oil-bearing leucoxene sandstones. The ore reserves are significant, exceeding tens of millions of tons at some sites. The content of leucoxene in them varies from tens to several hundreds kg/m3 (Yaregskoye and others). The content of TiO2 in sandstones is 10.5% on average. The content of leucoxene in the heavy fraction is up to 80-90%. Niobium, tantalum, and zirconium are present as important impurities of rare metals. The concentrate obtained after enrichment, containing 45-55% TiO2, 34-40% SiO2 and 5-35% oil, after oil separation is suitable for the production of pigment titanium dioxide.

Another promising type of titanium deposits for Russia is igneous (deposits of the Kolar, Dzhugdzhur, Baladek anorthositic massifs). Of interest may be the Bolshoy Seim deposit (Amur Region), whose titanomagnetite-ilmenite ores contain 5-15% TiO2. From them, a conditioned ilmenite concentrate (46% TiO2), magnetite (63% Fetot., 0.7% V2O5), and apatite (40% P2O5) were obtained. TiO2 reserves at the deposit are 23 million tons. Noteworthy are the apatite-titanomagnetite ores of the Dzhugdzhur anorthosite massif, where three main ore fields are distinguished: Bogides, Gayum and Maimakan. These ores contain: 10-90% apatite, 50-70% titanomagnetite, up to 10% ilmenite. The concentration of TiO2 in titanomagnetite is 5.4-15.5%. A set of technological works was completed to obtain ilmenite concentrate from the ores of the Medvedevskoye, Kopanskoye and Matkalskoye deposits (Urals), from which it is fundamentally possible to obtain titanium slag suitable for the production of pigment TiO2. The same deposits have significant reserves of vanadium, which can also be obtained.

Promising in the Russian Federation for titanium are ancient sea placers, which are located on the Russian plate (Lukoyanovskoye, Central), as well as some placers in Siberia (Tuganskoye, Tulunskoye deposits). In general, in Russia, a noticeable expansion of the mineral resource base of titanium is possible due to its significant forecast resources, which exceed the reserves in categories A + B + C1 + C2 by about two times (Fig. 1).

Quite numerous deposits of titanomagnetite stand out as a significant potential raw material for titanium (Table 2). They are confined to a number of igneous mafic-ultramafic formations. These deposits are found in the European part of the Russian Federation, in the Urals, in Siberia. The average content of TiO2 in the titanomagnetite concentrate of some deposits can reach 15-20% (Pudozhgorskoye and others). In addition, titanomagnetite ores of individual deposits are already now the main source of vanadium in Russia (Gusevogorskoye, Pervouralskoye deposits). In the future, titanium, scandium, manganese, and gallium can be obtained from them. The reserves of titanomagnetite ores of some deposits can reach several billion tons. Their share in the iron reserves of the CIS in 1990 was 7.7%, and production 8.3%. When melting, titanium contained in titanomagnetite passes into slag, from where its extraction is possible. An increase in the complexity of the use of titanomagnetite for the RF is essential, and the titanium contained in it can play an important role. Even the relatively low titanium content of the titanomagnetites of the Gusevogorsk deposit (on average 3.3% TiO2) produce blast-furnace slags containing 9.4% TiO2.

Converter slag remaining after the processing of vanadic cast iron is also characterized by increased titanium content. It is possible that in the future it will be expedient to obtain not only V2O5, but also titanium dioxide, alumina, and manganese from converter slag.

Prospective is the production of titanium, as well as Al, TR, Nb from slag, which are formed as a result of the smelting of concentrates obtained from perovskite-titanomagnetite ores (the Afrikanda deposit and others in the Kola Peninsula). These slags contain, wt %: 39.9-42.2 TiO2; 5.8-6.6 Al2O3; 1.6-2.1 TR2O3; 0.4 Nb2O5. The large scale of perovskite-titanomagnetite ores makes it possible to count on wide possibilities for their integrated use.

An important direction in the development of the production of titanium raw materials is the production of artificial rutile from natural ilmenite concentrates and titanium slags (Fig. 2). Currently, the world produces ~830 thousand tons of synthetic rutile, a product rich in TiO2 content, suitable for the production of pigment titanium dioxide by the chlorine method.

The value of titanium raw materials to a large extent (~50%) is still determined by the rare metals present in it. With the chlorine method of processing titanium concentrates, rare metals accumulate in chloride sublimates in such quantities that scandium trioxide, chromium concentrate, iron oxide pigments, manganese salts, coagulants for wastewater treatment, etc. can be obtained as commercial products by existing technological methods (Fig. 3 ).

Thus, the resources of titanium raw materials in Russia are significant and are able to meet the demand for titanium for many decades. However, as a result of the collapse of the USSR, Russia was left both without developed deposits and without leading processing enterprises. The operating Berezniki Titanium and Magnesium Plant is currently unable to ensure the future development of the titanium industry of the Russian Federation, whose needs are estimated at 300-675 thousand tons of TiO2/year (Bykhovskiy, Zubkov, 1996). Such large deposits as Yaregskoye, Medvedevskoye, Bolshoi Seim and others are not prepared for exploitation. At the same time, there are significant difficulties and shortcomings in the technology for producing titanium dioxide from their concentrates.

In this regard, the development of Russia's own titanium industry (in addition to the increase in reserves) should be determined by the technology for the integrated processing of concentrates from large titanium deposits located in regions with developed infrastructure. The problem of complexity is solved in the case of the introduction of chlorine technology, which makes it possible to extract from raw materials, in addition to titanium, such valuable metals as scandium, vanadium, chromium, niobium, etc., and can be practically waste-free and environmentally friendly.