Both are commonly black in Arkansas and occur as grains and crystals, water-worn pebbles and granules, or crystalline masses. Ilmenite is black with a metallic luster, and has a specific gravity of 4.7. Titanium is used mainly in the form of titanium dioxide, although the metal is also used as an alloy. Titanium dioxide's main use is as a white pigment in paint, paper, and plastics. Uses for titanium metal alloys include metal bone replacements for humans and parts for hearts, eye glasses frames, and as parts for aircraft, submarine engines, golf clubs, and electric generation plants.
Titanium is classified as a strategically important metal.
Deposits in Arkansas Titanium-bearing minerals in Arkansas are in Pulaski, Saline, Hot Spring, Garland, Pike, Howard, Sevier, and Little River Counties, and in alluvial sands of the Arkansas River. Titanium-bearing minerals from Pulaski and Saline Counties are in intrusive bodies of nepheline syenite and deposits of bauxite. Ilmenite is also present in bauxite in both counties. Rutile, brookite, and perovskite occur at Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County. Rutile was mined from open pits at Magnet Cove from 1932 to 1944, where about 5,400 tons of rutile concentrates were recovered.