Manganese Ore

Description

Manganese (Mn) is the twelfth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. Amongst some 300 minerals containing manganese, only about a dozen are of economic significance. The two main manganese minerals are pyrolusite (MnO₂) and rhodochrosite (MnCO₃).

Manganese is the fourth-most used metal in terms of tonnage after iron, aluminium and copper and 90% of all manganese consumed annually goes into steel as an alloying agent. No satisfactory substitute for manganese has been identified which combines a relatively low price with outstanding technical benefits such as the ability to combine with sulphur and a powerful de-oxidation capacity.

After steel, the second most important market for manganese is in the form of electrolytic manganese dioxide and electrolytic manganese metal, both of which are used in the production of rechargeable electric vehicle (EV) batteries in association with lithium, cobalt and nickel. The growth in production of EVs and battery storage technology is stimulating the interest of existing manganese miners in project expansion, and of explorers in re-evaluating historical mine deposits and prospects for potential development.

Manganese is also an important alloying element with aluminium and copper, being used in plant fertilisers and animal feeds and as a colorant in glass and ceramics.

The use of manganese in many essential modern technologies has resulted in it being designated a critical mineral by a number of countries including Australia, the United States of America, Canada and Japan.