Can You Make Money Investing in Titanium?
Question: When is a precious metal not a precious metal?
Answer: When it’s titanium.
Why isn’t titanium a precious metal? After all, it has come very unusual properties . . .
It is white, kind of like platinum, but has a bluish hue.
It is about as strong as steel but weighs 60% less.
It is an element with the symbol Ti and the atomic number 22.
It resists corrosion, like aluminum, but is much better at resisting abrasion. Also if you heat titanium to a high temperature and let it cool, its color changes and it looks tarnished.
It is non-ferrous and a magnet will not stick to it.
It doesn’t conduct electricity well, so you won’t find it in switches, printed circuit boards and other electrical components.
It is a good conductor of heat.
It can be alloyed with more other metals than you might expect – with steel, and even with aluminum.
It is difficult to machine into different shapes, which explains why you are more likely to find titanium rings than small industrial components like nozzles.
Titanium is imported into the U.S., but it is also mined here.
About 80% of titanium that is used every year goes into aerospace applications. An increasing amount of it is being used to make titanium rings, which are becoming more popular.
Titanium, like magnesium, can burn and even explode, especially when it is in powdered form.
So, Why Isn’t Titanium a Top Choice for Precious Metal Investors?
Given its many fascinating properties, why isn’t Titanium trading actively as a precious metal? The simple answer is, Titanium is not trading for very high prices. In fact, it is now trading at only $0.35/pound. One reason is that Titanium is actually the ninth most common element found in the earth’s crust. S0 although it’s white and fascinating to look at, there is just too much of it to be worth a lot of money.
That’s not a typographical error – you can buy or sell three pounds of the stuff for only about a buck! So although there is not much money to be made investing in this unusual white metal, people still remain fascinated by it. If you want to collect it, the main sources to concentrate on are aerospace scrap, medical scrap (like testing supplies), paints and coatings, and titanium rings and watch cases.
Better Choices for Precious Metal Investors
How Can You Tell if Your Scrap Contains Titanium, Platinum or Something Else?
Simple. Call our precious metal refiners at 800-426-2344. If you send us even a small sample of your scrap, we can quickly issue you a report that explains exactly what you have.
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