Manganese occurs as silvery grey in colour and is very hard and brittle in nature.
Manganese reserve in India is quite satisfactory. Like iron ore, manganese ores are also abundant in the Dharwar and Kuddapa series of the Pre-Cambrian era.
Manganese is not found as a free element in nature. It is often found in combination with iron, laterite and other minerals.
The most important manganese ore ispyrolusite.
Manganese is primarily used in the iron and steel industry. It is the basic raw material for manufacturing steel alloys.
6 kilogramsof manganese ore is required for manufacturing one tonne of steel.
It is also used in the manufacturing of bleaching powder, insecticides, paints, and batteries.
Manganese ores of major commercial importance are: (i) pyrolusite (MnO2, Mn about 63.2%); (ii) psilomelane (manganese oxide, containing water and varying amounts of oxides of Ba, K and Na as impurities; Mn commonly 45–60%); (iii) manganite (Mn2O3H2O, Mn about 62.4%); and (iv) braunite (3Mn2O3, MnSiO8, Mn about 62% and SiO2 about 10%).
Manganese Ore Distribution in India
India processes second largest reserves in the world after Zimbabwe; 430 million tonnes
India is the world’s fifth-largest producer after China, Gabon, South Africa, and Australia.
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka are the major manganese ore-producing states.
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh together produce more than half of India’s manganese.
Indian manganese ore deposits occur mainly as
metamorphosed bedded sedimentary depositsassociated with Gondite Series (Archaeans) of Madhya Pradesh (Balaghat, Chhindwara & Jhabua districts), Maharashtra (Bhandara & Nagpur districts), Gujarat (Panchmahal district), Odisha (Sundargarh district),
and with Kodurite Series (Archaeans) of Odisha (Ganjam & Koraput districts) and Andhra Pradesh (Srikakulam & Visakhapatnam districts).
Manganese Ore Distribution: State-wise reserves of Manganese
The total reserves/resources of manganese ore in the country as on 2015 has been placed at 495.87 million tonnes as per NMI database, based on UNFC system.
Out of these, 93.47 million tonnes are categorised as Reserves and the balance 402.40 million tonnes are in the Remaining Resources category.
Gradewise, Ferromanganese grade accounts for 7%, Medium grade 11%, BF grade 28% and the remaining 54% are of Mixed, Low, Others, Unclassified, and Not-known grades including 0.17 million tonnes of Battery/Chemical grade.
Statewise, Odisha tops the total reserves/ resources with 44% share followed by
Karnataka (22%),
Madhya Pradesh (12%),
Maharashtra & Goa (7%) each,
Andhra Pradesh (4%) and
Jharkhand (2%).
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Telangana and West Bengal together shared the remaining 2% resources.
Madhya Pradesh is the leading producing State of manganese ore accounting for 33% of total production during 2019-20 followed by Maharashtra 25% and Odisha 19%.
