Manganese Industry Overview

Steel production

Manganese (Mn) is an industrial metal that has a wide range of applications. The most significant use (about 90%) of manganese is in steel production where every tonne of steel requires approximately 1 to 2 % of manganese in the form of manganese alloys.

Manganese acts as deoxidiser and desulfuriser agents in steel production to remove oxygen and sulphur to increase the quality of steel products. Specifically, manganese helps to prevent corrosion, make steel more resistant to abrasion, and increases the hardenability rate.

lithium-ion batteries

Increasingly, manganese is being consumed in energy storage sector as a key raw material for both dry cell batteries through Electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) and High-purity manganese sulphate (HPMS) lithium-ion batteries.

EMD is produced through the process of electrolysis with sulfuric acid leaching removing impurities and is the main cathode ingredients for dry cell batteries. EMD can also be used in lithium-ion cathode in the form of lithium-ion manganese oxide.

HPMS has very low levels of impurities. It can be produced through manganese ore. However, due to the very strict low impurity levels required, a more popular approach is to use EMM as a feedstock to convert into HPMSM through sulfuric acid leaching. There are several forms of cathode materials produced by combining HPMSM and other materials.

What is Manganese?

EMD and HPMSM

Seaborne Manganese Market

South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Ghana and Gabon are major producing countries of global manganese ore.

Once mined, manganese ore is smelted to make manganese alloy, with China being largest importer of manganese and largest producer of manganese alloys. According to International Manganese Institute, China imported more than 30 million tonnes of manganese in 2019. This is a substantial increase from around 10 million tonnes of manganese 10 years earlier. The significant increase in import is mainly due to a combination of depleting domestic mines and stricter environmental regulations.

It is generally accepted that seaborne manganese can be classified as high, medium and low grades in terms of their manganese contents. Below is a summary of their classification:

high grade > 44% Mn
medium grade between 30% and 44% Mn; and
low grade < 30% Mn.

Manganese ore is predominantly mined in the form of carbonate, semi-carbonate or an oxide and is smelted into a manganese alloy, with the main types of manganese alloys being:

Silicomanganese (SiMn) – Silicomanganese is the most common alloy consumed and is used principally in the production of construction steels, such as long steels products, such as rebar. Typically contains up to 2% carbon;

High carbon ferromanganese (HCFeMn) – Used mainly in flat-steel products destined for manufacturing and consumer appliances. Typically contains up to 8% carbon; and

Refined Alloys (Medium carbon MCFeMn and Low carbon ferromanganese LCFeMn) – Used mainly in higher-quality steels sector where impurities need to be closely controlled.

Seaborne trade is mostly done on a US$ CIF basis quoting price is in dry metric tonne unit (dmtu), effectively price for 1% of manganese content. With the price reflecting not only manganese content of the ore but important ratios of manganese to iron (Mn:Fe), manganese to phosphorous ratio (Mn:P) and manganese to silica ratio (Mn:SiO2) also driving value in use of the ore.

Steel production

lithium-ion batteries

What is Manganese?

EMD and HPMSM

Seaborne Manganese Market

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