ILMENITE – FeTiO3

Ilmenite is a very common oxide that occurs in many different types of rocks. It is the most important
Ti ore and the most common accessory ore mineral after magnetite.
It forms 3 series, with ecandrewsite, geikelite and pyrophanite. Usually, ilmenite contains significant
levels of Fe2O3 (hematite), in addition to levels of MgTiO3 (geikielite) and MnTiO3 (pyrophanite). It can form
pseudo-octahedral crystals and is usually very weakly magnetic, but when pure it is not magnetic.
About varieties: “iserine” are rounded ilmenites found in the placer deposit of the river Iser, in the
Czech Republic. “Menaccanite” and “picroilmenite” are magnesium-rich varieties of ilmenite. “Washingtonite”
is an iron-rich ilmenite found in Washington (CT, USA).
In altered igneous rocks, ilmenite can be recognized by its white alteration product, leucoxene, which
is a submicroscopic association composed of Fe-Ti oxides, rutile, anatase, titanite, perovskite, titaniferous
magnetite and especially ilmenite.

1. Characteristics:
Crystal System Color Habit Cleavage
Trigonal Iron black, brownish Massive or granular, No.
rhombohedral. black, dark reddish skeletal, rarely in thick
Tenacity brown, brownish grey. tabular crystals, up to 25
cm.
Brittle.
Twinning Fracture Mohs Hardness Parting
On {0001}, simple, Conchoidal, 5-6 On {0001} and {10-11}.
{10-11} lamellar. subconchoidal.
Streak Lustre Diaphaneity Density (g/cm3)
Black to brownish- Metallic, submetallic. Opaque, in fine flakes 4.70 – 4.79
black. deep brown.

2. Geology and deposits:

Ilmenite occurs in large volumes in stratified mafic intrusions, at the pyroxene level. In igneous rocks,
ilmenite generally occurs as discrete grains. There may be only magnetite in the rock or only ilmenite, but
generally both occur, with one or the other predominating. Many mafic igneous rocks contain grains of
magnetite + ilmenite, formed by the oxidation of ulvospinel.
Magnesian ilmenite is indicative of a kimberlitic paragenesis and is part of the MARID (mica-
amphibole-rutile-ilmenite-diopside) mineral association of glimmerite xenoliths. Manganiferous ilmenite occurs
in granitic rocks and in carbonate intrusions and may contain anomalous niobium. Very common is ilmenite as
lamellae in hematite, magnetite and orthopyroxenes,
Another common form of ilmenite occurrence is detrital in placer deposits (black sands).

3. Mineral Associations:
There is no specific, typical paragenesis for ilmenite as it occurs in many types of igneous,
metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.

4. TRANSMITTED LIGHT MICROSCOPY

When very thin, ilmenite is transparent, dark brown, with n=2.33-2.51, uniaxial.
5. REFLECTED LIGHT MICROSCOPY:

Sample preparation: Ilmenite has a high polishing hardness, higher than that of magnetite and somewhat
lower than those of hematite and pyrite. Patience and careful fine grinding are required. But ilmenite often
shows a better polish than magnetites that occur in the same rock.

PPL Reflection Brownish-gray or brownish-gray, sometimes with a slight pinkish or violet tinge. With
color: high unmixed content of Fe2O3 the color is much lighter.
Compared to magnetite, the color of ilmenite is darker and more brownish.
Compared to sphalerite, the color of ilmenite is lighter and browner.
Compared with hematite, the color of ilmenite is much darker.
Compared to chromite, the color is lighter and more red-brown.

Pleochroism: No.

Reflectivity: 18.05 – 19.85% Bireflectance: distinct to very low between

With increasing MgTiO3 lighter brown and pinkish against darker brown.
the reflectivity seems to It should be observed in intergranular contacts
become lower. and next to the twin lamellae.

CPL Isotropy / Anisotropy: Distinct to strong anisotropy in shades of gray, may be colored. Two
common colors of anisotropy are light greenish gray and brownish gray.
Extinction is parallel in tabular crystals.
Undulating extinction is possible.

Internal reflections: Very rare, very dark brown. They only appear where the contact with the
unmixing lamellae tends to be parallel to the surface of the polished section.
In ilmenites with high Mg content, internal reflections are much more
common.

May be confused with: several other minerals.

Magnetite and chromite can be very similar in PPL, but are isotropic in CPL. Chromite has lower reflectivity.
Basal sections of ilmenite can easily be confused with magnetite, even more so if the magnetite twin
lamellae are considered to be unmixings of ilmenite in magnetite.
Geikielite and pyrophanite have more frequent internal reflections.
Rutile may be similar, mostly in small grains and without suitable comparative minerals, but it clearly has
internal reflections.

Grain Shape: Ilmenite grains can have many different shapes. Idiomorphy is relatively rare, much rarer
than magnetite. Rounded crystals are very common, but can evolve to tabular shapes by (0001), skeletal and
myrmekitic. They occur together with magnetites and, in general, it is not possible to distinguish ilmenite from
magnetite by shape. Very rarely it is columnar parallel to (0001). In many cases the ilmenites, due to corrosion
during the growth of the skeletons, are very irregular or in the form of fragments.
Grain size varies greatly. It is generally roughly equivalent in size to the silicates of the host rock.
Porphyroblasts are quite rare, only in Ti-rich amphibolites do porphyroblasts with a typical sieve structure
occur. In ilmenite pegmatites and differentiated ilmenite grains reach fist size and above. A regular distribution
of grains can be observed in many ores when the ilmenites are with (0001) arranged parallel to the rock texture.
Recrystallization textures are not uncommon.
 Cleavage does not show, only occasionally may show a partition parallel to (0001), related to
unmixings.
Twins, very well-developed, occur in many ilmenites. They can be perceived by bireflectance in PPL
and even better by anisotropy in CPL. These are pressure twins in the form of simple lamellae and with the
same width parallel to (10-11). Isolated lamellae in one direction or groups of lamellae may occur. The lamellae
can follow all sides of (10-11), giving a very fine mesh texture. The thickness of the lamellae is very variable,
usually the lamellae are thicker in coarse-grained aggregates. At the intersections of two lamellae, especially
in unmixed ilmenites, very often very round (thus rod-shaped) magnetite (± rutile) neoformations occur. The
lamellae may be due to growth, but are usually formed by mechanical stresses. The distribution of the twin
lamellae shows that they were formed very early, before the unmixings that occurred in the ilmenites. By
recrystallization, ilmenite grains, especially those with large volume of twins, can be transformed into grains
without any twin lamellae. Evidence of recrystallization is generally quite common.
Regular intergrowths can occur with sulfides such as pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and galena, but are less
common features.
Myrmekites are frequent at the edges of ilmenite grains that are in contact with magnetite in magmatic
paragenesis. These myrmekites are well developed and formed by spinel, magnetite and ilmenite.
Zonation is difficult to observe because it is very complicated to carry out a proper chemical attack on
ilmenite. In many cases, the zonation becomes perceptible by the distribution pattern of the hematite
dismixtures or by other features.
Deformations usually lead to cataclasis. When it is possible to absorb the deformation through small
adjustments, the second slip twin lamellae appear (10-11); in rare cases there is also a translation according
to (0001).
Reaction edges in the form of myrmekites occur between ilmenite and silicates in gabbros, for
example.
Substitutions: ilmenite can be replaced by pyrite, which occurs in many epithermal deposits, especially
those of subvolcanic origin. In this process, rutile and other Ti minerals are also formed. Ilmenite is also
replaced by rutile, magnetite, hematite, sphalerite, pentlandite and davidite. The latter can develop halos in
the ilmenite due to its radioactivity.

Unmixings may be of six types.

Unmixings 1: in many ilmenites there are lenses of exsolved hematite, thicker or thinner, in a very
variable amount, arranged parallel to (0001). The size of the lenticular bodies varies greatly and is closely
related to the size of the ilmenite grains. The volume of unmixed hematite can be equal to or greater than the
volume of ilmenite in the grain; in the latter case there are ilmenite lenses with the same characteristics
immersed in hematite. When the volume of unmixing bodies exceeds a certain limit, there are always larger
and smaller disks side by side, with no transitional aspects. The coarser discs of hematite in the ilmenite in
turn contain smaller discs of ilmenite (or vice versa). In sections parallel to (0001) the disks have very irregular
shapes. These features are generated due to the unmixing in stages of the different components of the original
melt along the lowering of the temperature (cooling). At least two generations of unmixing lamellae are
generated. Mixture crystals low in Fe2O3 often show zonation, related to different crystallization temperatures.
FeTiO3-rich mixture crystals are much more frequent than Fe2O3-rich mixture crystals, but all intermediate
terms can be observed. The optical characteristics of the grains vary markedly with variation in chemical
composition; especially reflectivity increases with increasing hematite content. Unmixed (or remixed) ilmenites
with higher Fe2O3 contents are rare, but have been observed in tuffs or lava inclusions, when deep-sea material
was rapidly transported upwards and immobilized; these tuff ilmenites serve as guide minerals for certain tuff
horizons. Ilmenites that suffered very high temperatures (~1100ºC) generate pseudobrookite, also very
frequent in the different occurrences.
Unmixings 2: Some ilmenites from differentiated ores very rich in Al2O3 contain small unmixing bodies,
in the form of disks or plates, of corundum. The observation of these unmixings can only be performed with
polished sections of superior quality due to the hardness (9) of corundum.
Unmixings 3: in many ilmenites very rich in unmixed hematite, there is a large amount of rutile needles
(actually thin plates), arranged obliquely to (0001) in up to 6 distinct groups.
Unmixings 4: some ilmenites show parallelly arranged magnetite inclusions (0001). Inclusions have
thin, very uniform, often relatively large, tabular shapes. Its amount is usually well below 10%, it can go up to
15%. Very rarely it is very coarse. These inclusions derive from the unmixing of an original magnetoilmenite
(ilmenite + Fe2O3 +FeO). Immediately adjacent to the magnetite lamellae, the ilmenites are markedly darker
than in the unblended portions. These unmixed magnetoilmenites are quite frequent; additionally, demixing
bodies of magnetite and hematite rarely occur in the same ilmenite. The occurrence of these magnetite
inclusions and magnetite rods at the intersections of twin lamellae (see under “twins”) alter the magnetic
behavior of ilmenite and are responsible for problems in the use of the ore. In some cases, observed in some
granites and in pyrrhotite/pentlandite deposits, ilmenites with 30-50% or more magnetite occur, probably
generated by the reduction of the hematite content of ilmenites especially rich in Fe2O3. The thick discoid
hematites are transformed into parallel tabular magnetites.
Unmixings 5: Unmixings of tantalite may occur.
Unmixings 6: very rarely occur fusiform unmixings of ilmenite arranged parallel to (0001) inside the
ilmenite grains. The properties of these unmixings differ very little from those of the host ilmenite and are
analogous to the inclusions of hematite in hematite.

Alteration: Ilmenite is quite resistant to normal weathering processes, so much so that the ilmenites
contained in ocean beach sands are often unaltered. However, ilmenite can change in several ways:
(a) Magnetite is formed, usually alongside rutile: there are fusiform bodies, similar to unmixings, parallel to the
rhombohedron faces of the ilmenite.
(b) Fe2O3-rich ilmenites decompose into an irregular spotted aggregate of rutile + magnetite. These two
processes already start at high temperatures.
(c) Ilmenite forms rutile and hematite by the absorption of oxygen. Depending on the temperature, the products
are coarser and more clearly interwoven with the original mineral in an oriented manner. In some Alpine
tectonic rifts anatase was formed instead of rutile.
(d) In many rocks the ilmenites have altered at the edges or completely to leucoxene (see introductory text).
Normally, anatase is formed, whose crystals are generally not oriented in relation to the ilmenite. More rarely,
leucoxene is composed of rutile or brookite. In mixing crystals with demixing lamellae the components can
behave in different ways: sometimes the hematite lamellae or the magnetite lamellae were selectively removed
and transformed into other minerals.

Alteration of ilmenite in heavy sands of ocean beaches: in many cases the black sands of oceanic
placers, once without magnetites, contain in the concentrate more TiO2 than corresponding to the ilmenite
formula, without the presence of rutile or other titanium mineral. These are diffuse zones of altered color,
parallel to (0001), which are formed by an amorphous compound, practically isotropic of Fe and Ti, very rich
in Ti. These zones transition to a finely dispersed rutile leucoxene, sometimes to leucoxene from brookite or
anatase. This type of alteration is apparently restricted to tropical and subtropical climates.

Set of large grains of ilmenite (light grey) and gangue minerals (dark grey). On the left, in PPL, it is possible
to perceive the gray-brown color and the bireflectance of the ilmenite. On the right, in CPL, the grains
show the very marked anisotropy of ilmenite, which is the big difference between ilmenite and magnetite,
which is isotropic. The degree of grain anisotropy can vary greatly from weak to very strong.

Three ilmenite grains with different orientations and with hematite unmixings. In PPL (left), the
hematites are shown as thin, whitish, approximately parallel lines. In CPL (right), anisotropy makes
it evident that it is three ilmenite grains forming a triple junction.
Ilmenite grains in gabbro in PPL with a tabular shape. In the image on the right, below the ilmenite is
olivine; above the ilmenite is plagioclase.

The same situation in two different igneous rocks: in PPL, magnetite and ilmenite grains side by side.
Magnetite typically exhibits a very poor polish (many black holes), while ilmenite has a much better polish.
In PPL, the colors of magnetite and ilmenite are practically the same, but in CPL, it is easy to differentiate
the two, as magnetite is isotropic and ilmenite is anisotropic.

Above: ND, myrmekitic ilmenite with silicates.

Right: ND, ilmenite porphyroblast with many
inclusions, resembling “sieve texture”.
In many cases, as here, the pleochroism of ilmenite is very subtle. In PPL (left), is apparently a single grain
(in the center of the image, with silicates (gray) around it. Black hole.). However, in CPL (right), anisotropy
shows that there are three grains side by side.

In PPL, approximately spherical grain of ilmenite In PPL, ilmenite grains (light colors) tending to be
with a hole in the center. The forms of ilmenite polygonal. In this rock, there are grains like this
are the most diverse; can be of many types. and other round ones. In dark gray, silicates.

In PPL, side by side,

ilmenite grains without
white hematite
unmixings (left) and
with the unmixings
(right).

The yellow grain on the

right is pyrite, the ones
on the left are
pyrrhotite.

In dark gray, silicates.

Holes in black.
Unmixing lamellae of ilmenite in a titanomagnetite whose magnetite component has been removed and
replaced with a mixture of alteration minerals, including leucoxene, in PPL (left) and in CPL (right). The
rock is a gabbro and, in this case, this feature is common in the rock.

Left: in PPL, grain of ilmenite with its typical gray-brown reflection color, with thin white lamellae of hematite
unmixings. In CPL+2° (right) these lamellae become more visible when the grain is in the lightest anisotropy
color position.

In PPL and with image treatment to

highlight the unmixings, three
ilmenite grains side by side, each
one with its own pattern of hematite
unmixings:

- the one on the left has thin,

straight lamellae, quite parallel, but
discontinuous.

- the middle one has thin and

straight lamellae, very parallel and
continuous.

- the one on the right has coarse,

discontinuous, slightly parallel and
sinuous lamellae.

In yellow, pyrrhotite.
 Ilmenite grain with twin and fine hematite unmixings in PPL (left) and in CPL (right). Each half of
the twin has the unmixings under its own direction.

In PPL, ilmenite grain with twins. In fact, it is a In CPL+2º and image treatment, dispersed
twinned grain (twin plane vertical) where each half and irregular lamellar twins in ilmenite grain. In
has lamellar twins. PPL, these lamellae are not visible.

Two different ilmenites with complex twinning. On the left, in PPL, the pleochroism of the ilmenite allows the
visualization of the lamellar twins with ease, resembling the polysynthetic twins of the plagioclases. On the
right, ilmenite with a very complex pattern of twins.
 In igneous rocks with high Ti content, situations may occur in which ilmenites are enveloped by titanite.
Titanites can envelop only ilmenites, only titaniferous magnetites or ilmenites+titaniferous magnetites.
Envelopes can be of uniform thickness or not, be continuous or discontinuous, it is a very conspicuous feature.

Ilmenite grain (center of images) enveloped by titanite (Left: in PPL, bluish gray. Right: in CPL, clear
internal reflections and very strong anisotropy in gray). Around it, silicates.

These ilmenites “enveloped” by titanite can

occur side by side, “coalescing”.
Large aggregates of titanite can also occur
with small grains of ilmenite “floating”
randomly within them.
Image in PPL. Around the “enveloped”
ilmenites, silicates. Holes in black.

Titanite “island” containing several ilmenite

grains with parallel (white) hematite
unmixings.
Image in PPL. Around the “enveloped”
ilmenites, silicates. Holes in black.

The different tonalities illustrate the difficulty

in obtaining uniform photographs, as the
camera reacts differently even to the
exchange of oculars and objectives.

Edition of February 2022