Review and Outlook of Chinese Manganese Mining Industry

According to the publication by US Minerals Survey in 1999, the total reserve of manganese ore in the world is 0.66 billion tons. See Table 1. Table 1 World Manganese ore reserve(Mn metal weight, million tons) __________________________________________ Name of counties Reserve in 1999 __________________________________________ South Africa 370 Ukraine 135 China 40 India 34 Australia 26 Gabon 20 Brazil 18 Mexico 4 Others small Total 660 __________________________________________ It is noted that manganese ore reserve in China ranks number 3 in the world. But it is much less than the reserve of the first two countries. It has been more 100 years since Xingguo Manganese Mine, Hubei started its operation in 1890. At present, a great number of engineers in China is engaged in prospecting, mining, beneficiation and ore processing. The technology of manganese mining, which has been developed greatly, has its position in the world. 1 Manganese resource 1.1 Reserve Till 1999, around 200 manganese mine in China were explored. It is known that there is hundreds millions tons manganese reserve in China. However, from the point of economy the recoverable manganese resource is 46% of the total reserve. 1.2 Geology Characteristics The geology characteristics of the Chinese manganese ore is characterized that the major ore body consists of marine deposit of manganese carbonate, which takes more than 80% of the total reserve. The second is the layer controlled iron-manganese ore, the other ore like silver-lead-zinc ore and weathered leaching manganese ore and the manganese ore body of volcanic rock characterized as small and complicated ore deposit. 1.3 Distribution Manganese ore bodies, mainly located in the province of Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan and Liaoning in China distribute extremely uneven. There is less manganese ore reserve in the other places like coast areas and northwest areas.