: But quite possibly the dwarves were only able to extract Titanium from only one particular compound, and that particular compound was quite rare.

The problem isn't so much the finding of titanium but in the distilling of the titanium for use. It was first found in the mineral menachanite by the British clergyman William Gregor, who named the new element menachite. Four years later, the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth rediscovered the element in the mineral rutile and named it titanium in allusion to the strength of the mythological Greek Titans. The metal was isolated in 1910.

The following is taken from one of my resources as the method in which titanium must be extracted from the ore in order to be used as part of an alloy:

To obtain titanium oxide, the mineral is ground and mixed with potassium carbonate and aqueous hydrofluoric acid to yield potassium fluorotitanate, K2TiF6. The fluorotitanate is extracted with hot water and decomposed with ammonia. The resulting ammoniacal hydrated oxide, when ignited in a platinum vessel, yields titanium dioxide, TiO2. Titanium is obtained in the pure form by first treating the oxide with chlorine to form titanium tetrachloride, a volatile liquid, and then reducing the liquid with magnesium in a closed iron chamber to yield metallic titanium. The metal is then melted and cast into ingots.

I would say that if the dwarves could accomplish all that (if titanium is mithril) then they would have no problem finding the ore itself in either of its rough forms in either menachite, rutile or any of the others minerals it is found in.

-RR