Harrogate LTD Zambia Discusses Manganese Uses In 2021
Can you name a super important mineral commodity in the world that begins with the letter ‘m’?
Have you ever heard of manganese? Manganese is a mineral you may not have heard of but one you should know. Why is it an important mineral commodity? Because it is used in the production of steel, something every industrialized nation in the world needs for buildings, construction, machinery and infrastructure projects.
Zambia, a country in southern Africa, exports manganese. Harrogate LTD Zambia is a manganese and chrome ore exporter. They contribute to Zambia’s annual $27 million dollar export trade. Most of Zambia’s manganese exports go to China.
Manganese and Steel Production
Most people know steel is made from iron and some other elements. But few know that it is also is made of manganese. But simply put, you can’t make steel without manganese. Up to 90% of manganese consumption is for steel production worldwide.1
How does manganese help form steel? Harrogate LTD Zambia explains it’s an alloy, it is used to increase the strength of steel and reduce the brittleness in steel by removing the impurities of different metals such as sulfur and oxygen.
Where is manganese found?
Manganese is part of the Earth’s crust, so it is an abundant element though it’s not found in every country of the world. The United States is totally dependent on manganese imports for their steel production, which makes it a critical mineral commodity in the United States. Most manganese ores are extensive layers of manganese-rich sedimentary rocks that formed in ancient oceans under specialized conditions.2
The biggest mining areas for manganese are in China, Africa, Australia and Gabon.
What are other uses for manganese?
Manganese is used in dry cell batteries. An exciting new application will be for use in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Elon Musk and Tesla announced in 2020 that they will use high purity manganese in their next generation of electric vehicle batteries. This will be a major new application for manganese.
Today, most of the batteries that power electric cars today are lithium-ion batteries. They all include cobalt in them. Cobalt helps pack more power into a battery safely, but it has two problems, cost and where it’s found. It is an expensive metal to include in electric vehicle batteries and it is mined in many politically unstable countries. Manganese is a much cheaper alternative for electric vehicle batteries because it is much more abundantly found than cobalt. The market for manganese is likely to continue grow after Tesla’s announcement.
