Manganese ores are mineral minerals. They are of great industrial and economic importance. These include minerals such as brownite, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, bustamite, pyrolusite, manganite and others. Manganese ores are found on all continents (they are also on the territory of the Russian Federation).
Global reserves
To date, manganese ore has been discovered in 56 countries. Most of the deposits are in Africa (about 2/3). The total reserves of manganese ores in the world, according to theoretical calculations, amount to 21 billion tons (5 billion are confirmed). More than 90% of them are stratiform deposits - deposits associated with sedimentary rocks. The rest refers to the weathering crust and hydrothermal vents.
95% of reserves belong to 11 countries - Ukraine, South Africa, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Australia, Georgia, Brazil, Russia, China, India and Bulgaria. Despite the fact that the quality of natural ores in the Celestial Empire is relatively low, China is considered the leader in the production of export ore. In addition, it supplies many of the minerals derived from these raw materials.
Zonality
Global production of manganese oresdiffers in zonation. For example, primary oxide raw materials are deposited exclusively in coastal areas, where clays and sandstones are common. Moving away from the seas and oceans, the ores become carbonate. These include calcium rhodochrosite, rhodochrosite and manganocalcite. Such manganese ore is found in regions with flasks and clays. Another type of deposits is metamorphosed. Similar mines are typical for India.
Ancient ores
Like other sources of minerals, manganese ores in the world were formed in various periods of the development of the crust of our planet. They appeared both in the Precambrian and in the Cenozoic era. Some concretions at the bottom of the oceans accumulate to this day.
Brazilian iron quartzites and Indian gondites, which appeared in the Precambrian metallogenic era along with geosynclinal formations, are considered to be among the most ancient. In the same period, manganese ore appeared in Ghana (the Nsuta-Dagwin deposit) and South Africa (the southeast of the Kalahari Desert). There are small reserves of the Early Paleozoic era in the USA, China and eastern Russia. The largest deposit of the People's Republic of China of this period is Shanvutu in the province of Hunan. Mined manganese ores in Russia are located in the Far East (in the mountains of the Lesser Khingan) and in the Kuznetsk Alatau.
Late Paleolithic and Cenozoic
Manganese ores of the late Paleozoic era are typical for Central Kazakhstan, where two main deposits are being developed - Ushkatyn-Sh and Dzhezdinsky. Key minerals - brownite,hausmanite, hematite, manganite, pyromorphite and psilomelane. Late Cretaceous and Jurassic volcanism gave rise to manganese ore occurrences in Transbaikalia, Transcaucasia, New Zealand and on the coast of North America. The largest field of this period, Groote Island, was discovered in the 1960s. in Australia.
In the Cenozoic era, a unique in scale accumulation of manganese ore occurred in the south of the East European Platform (Mangyshlanskoye, Chiatura deposits, Nikopol basin). At the same time, manganese ore appeared in other regions of the globe. In Bulgaria, the Obrochishte deposit was formed, and in Gabon - Moanda. All of them are characterized by ore-bearing sandy-argillaceous deposits. Minerals are present in them in the form of oolites, concretions, earthy accumulations and nodules. Another manganese ore basin (Ural) appeared in the Tertiary period. It stretches for 300 kilometers. This layer of manganese ores with a thickness of 1 to 3 meters covers the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains.
Ore types
There are several genetic types of manganese ore deposits: volcanic-sedimentary, sedimentary, metamorphogenic and weathering. Of these four types, the most important for the world economy stands out clearly. We are talking about sedimentary deposits. They contain about 80% of all reserves of manganese ores in the world.
The largest deposits were formed in lagoonal and coastal-marine basins. These are the Georgian Chiatura deposit, the Kazakh Mangyshlak, the Bulgarian Obrochishte. Alsothe Ukrainian Nikopol basin is distinguished by its large size. Its ore-bearing areas stretch along the Ingulets and Dnieper rivers. The nearest cities are Zaporozhye and Nikopol. The basin is an elongated strip 5 kilometers wide and 250 kilometers long. The reservoir is a sandy-clayey member with lenses, concretions and nodules. Manganese ore, the photo of which you see in the article, lies at a depth of up to 100 meters.
Submarine and volcanic deposits
Manganese ore is mined not only on land, but also under water. This is done mainly by the United States and Japan, which do not have large reserves in the "dry" territory. A typical developing underwater manganese ore deposit is located at a depth of up to 5 kilometers.
Another type of formation is volcanic. Such deposits are characterized by association with ferruginous and carbonate rocks. Ore bodies are usually rapidly wedged out irregular lenses, seams and lenticels. They are composed of iron and manganese carbonates. The thickness of such ore bodies ranges from 1 to 10 meters. The volcanogenic-sedimentary type includes the deposits of Kazakhstan and Russia (Ir-Nili and Magnitogorsk). Also, these are the ores of the Salair Range (porphyritic-siliceous formations).
Weathering crusts and metamorphic ores
Deposits of weathering crusts are formed as a result of decomposition of manganese ores. Experts also call such clusters hats. Breeds of this type are found in Brazil,India, Venezuela, Australia, South Africa, Canada. These ores include vernadite, psilomelane, and pyrolusite. They are formed as a result of the oxidation of rhodonite, manganocalcite and rhodochrosite.
Metamorphogenic ores are formed by contact or regional metamorphism of manganese-bearing rocks and sedimentary ores. This is how rhodonite and bustamite appear. An example of such a deposit is Karsakpai in Kazakhstan.
Russian manganese ore deposits
Ural is a key manganese ore mining region in Russia. Industrial deposits of the Stone Belt can be attributed to two types: volcanogenic and sedimentary. The latter are located in the Ordovician deposits. This group includes the Chuvalskaya group in the Perm region. The Parnokskoye deposit in Komi is extremely similar to it. It was discovered in 1987 by a geological expedition from Vorkuta. The deposit is located in the foothills of the Polar Urals, 70 kilometers from Inta. This formation is located on the border between clay shales and limestones. There are several key ore-bearing areas: Pachvozhsky, Magnitny, Dalniy, and Vostochny.
Like other deposits of this type, the Parnok deposit has the most carbonate, oxidized and manganese rocks. They differ in cream or brown color and consist of rhodonite and rhodochrosite. The level of manganese in them is about 24%.
We alth of the Urals
The Verkhne-Chuval deposits located inPerm region. Brown and black ferromanganese ores are developed in the upper horizons in the oxidation zone. Sedimentary deposits are widespread on the eastern slope of the Urals (Kipchakskoye in the Chelyabinsk region, Akkermanovskoye in the Orenburg region). The development of the latter began during the Great Patriotic War.
Seventy kilometers from the capital of Bashkiria, the city of Ufa, is the Upper Permian sedimentary deposit Ulu-Telyak. The manganese limestones located here are distinguished by a light brown color. This is mainly clastic material formed after the destruction of primary ores. It is composed of vernadite, chalcedony and psilomelan.
In the Sverdlovsk region there are Paleogene sedimentary deposits. The large North Ural basin stands out here, stretching for nearly 300 kilometers. It has the largest proven reserves of manganese ores in the region. The basin includes fifteen deposits. The largest of them are Ekaterininskoye, Yuzhno-Berezovskoye, Novo-Berezovskoye, Berezovskoye, Yurkinskoye, Marsyatskoye, Ivdelskoye, Lozvinskoye, Tyninskoye. The local layers occur among sands, clays, sandstones, siltstones and pebbles.
