Description About
Rutile
Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide, TiO2. Rutile is the most common natural form of TiO2. Predominantly used as a raw material for chloride titanium dioxide pigment manufacture. Also used in titanium metal production and welding rod fluxes.
Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at visible wavelengths of any known crystal and also exhibits a particularly large birefringence and high dispersion. Owing to these properties, it is useful for the manufacture of certain optical elements, especially polarization optics, for longer visible and infrared wavelengths up to about 4.5 μm.
Rutile has a high specific gravity and is often concentrated by stream and wave action in "heavy mineral sands" that exist today in both onshore and offshore deposits. Much of the world's rutile production is mined from these sands.
Some Information About Rutile
Heavy mineral sands are mined in the shallow marine environment by ships that dredge up sediments, separate out the heavy mineral grains, retain the heavy minerals on-board, and discharge the lighter sediment fraction back to the bottom.
Heavy mineral sands are also found on land in sedimentary deposits that accumulated at times when sea level was much higher than it is today. These sediments are mined, processed to remove the heavy minerals, and returned to a landscape that is reclaimed to its original topography.