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With an occurrence of about 0.56 % within the earth crust, titanium is the 10th most abundant element of the periodic system and thus more abundant than chlorine, sulfur, phosphorus or the rest of the metals put together. Titanium is found in almost 100 different minerals, the most important ones are the three TiO2 modifications rutile, anatase and brookite, as well as ilmenite FeTiO3, perovskite CaTiO3 and titanite CaTi(SiO4)O.
Global reserves of rutile and ilmenite (calculated as TiO2) are estimated to be as high as about 423·10e6 - 600·10e6 tons, the largest deposits of ilmenite are located in South Africa, India, USA, Canada, Norway, Australia, Ukraine, Russia and Kasakhstan and of rutile in Brazil.
Titanium metal powder is for instance produced by subjecting titanium sponge to a HDH (hydration-dehydration) treatment. This sponge can be obtained e.g. from TiCl4 by using the well-known Kroll-process.

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