Manganese

Abstract

Manganese is one of the more abundant elements in the crust, and enrichments are accordingly common Most production, however, comes from a few giant deposits, particularly Nikopol in the Ukraine, which contains some 75 percent of the world’s reserves (Table 5-1). Also, note another large group of deposits in the Proterozoic, that occur at the same time as the largest iron ore accumulation. Geochemically, manganese behavior is controlled by the oxidation state of the environment. A number of Mn oxidation states are known from laboratory experiments, but only two, Mn²⁺ and Mn⁴⁺ are common in nature. They often occur together in the same mineral or in closely intergrown mineral aggregates giving a continuous series of net oxidation states. The geochemical properties of manganese are similar to those of iron, so that its segregation into economic deposits is largely a problem of separating it from iron.

“He is Poseidon’s head man and knows every inch of ground all over the bottom of the sea. If you can snare him and hold him tight, he will tell you about your voyage, what course you are to take, and how you are to sail the sea so as to reach your home.”

Idothea to Menelaus in The Odyssey, Book IV. From Samuel Butler (trans.), The Odyssey of Homer. (Roslyn, New York: Walter J. Black, Inc., for the Classics Club®, 1944, p.47.) Reprinted with permission of the publisher.