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Ilmenite is a common accessory mineral in igneous rocks, sediments, and sedimentary rocks in many parts of the world.
Ilmenite, also known as Manaccanite, is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula FeTiO3. It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. From a commercial perspective, ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium. Ilmenite is the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, fabrics, plastics, paper, sunscreen, food and cosmetics.

Ilmenite is the primary ore of titanium, a metal needed to make a variety of high-performance alloys. Most of the ilmenite mined worldwide is used to manufacture titanium dioxide, TiO2, an important pigment, whiting, and polishing abrasive.

Geologic Occurrence
Most ilmenite forms during the slow cooling of magma chambers and is concentrated through the process of magmatic segregation. A large underground magma chamber can take centuries to cool. As it cools, crystals of ilmenite will begin forming at a specific temperature. These crystals are heavier than the surrounding melt and sink to the bottom of the magma chamber.
This causes ilmenite and similar-temperature minerals, such as magnetite, to accumulate in a layer at the bottom of the magma chamber. These ilmenite-bearing rocks are often gabbros. Ilmenite also crystallizes in veins and cavities and sometimes occurs as well-formed crystals in pegmatites.
Ilmenite has a high resistance to weathering. When rocks containing ilmenite weather, grains of ilmenite disperse with the sediment. The high specific gravity of these grains causes them to segregate during stream transport and accumulate as "heavy mineral sands." These sands are black in color and easily recognized by geologists. "Black sand prospecting" has long been a method of finding heavy mineral placer deposits. Most commercially produced ilmenite is recovered by excavating or dredging these sands, which are then processed to remove the heavy mineral grains such as ilmenite, leucoxene, rutile, and zircon.

Chemical Composition of Ilmenite
Ilmenite's ideal chemical composition is FeTiO3. However, it often departs from that composition by containing variable amounts of magnesium or manganese. These elements substitute for iron in complete solid solution. A solid solution series exists between ilmenite (FeTiO3) and geikielite (MgTiO3). In this series, variable amounts of magnesium substitutes for iron in the mineral's crystal structure. A second solid solution series exists between ilmenite and pyrophanite (MnTiO3), with manganese substituting for iron. At high temperatures, a third solid solution series exists between ilmenite and hematite (Fe2O3).

Physical Properties of Ilmenite
Ilmenite is a black mineral with a submetallic to metallic luster. With just a glance it can easily be confused with hematite and magnetite. The differentiation is easy. Hematite has a red streak, while ilmenite has a black streak. Magnetite is strongly magnetic, while ilmenite is not magnetic. Occasionally ilmenite is weakly magnetic, possibly from small amounts of included magnetite.

Ilmenite is usually more durable than the other minerals in the igneous rocks in which it is abundant. For that reason, the weathering debris produced during the weathering of these rocks is especially rich in ilmenite. Its relatively high specific gravity causes it to become concentrated in placer deposits like gold, gems, and other heavy minerals.

Uses of Ilmenite

Ilmenite is the primary ore of titanium metal. Small amounts of titanium combined with certain metals will produce durable, high-strength, lightweight alloys. These alloys are used to manufacture a wide variety high-performance parts and tools. Examples include: aircraft parts, artificial joints for humans, and sporting equipment such as bicycle frames. About 5% of the ilmenite mined is used to produce titanium metal. Some ilmenite is also used to produce synthetic  rutile, a form of titanium dioxide used to produce white, highly reflective pigments.
Most of the remaining ilmenite is used to make titanium dioxide, an inert, white, highly reflective material. The most important use of titanium dioxide is as a whiting. Whiting are white, highly reflective materials that are ground to a powder and used as pigments. These pigments produce a white color and brightness in paint, paper, adhesives, plastics, toothpaste, and even food.
Titanium dioxide is also used to make powders with a tightly controlled particle size range. These powders are used as inexpensive polishing abrasives in a variety of lapidary work that includes rock tumbling, lapping, cabbing, sphere making, and faceting. Titanium oxide abrasives are used in many other industries.