How manganese ore is mined
Manganese is why steel does not crack: it soaks up sulfur and oxygen before they can do harm.
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- things downstream
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The short version
Manganese ore is usually dug from open pits, and it only counts as commercial above about 35% manganese. Crews drill, blast, load and haul the rock to a plant that crushes and screens it, and some of it ships straight from there. Other ore is washed or run through gravity separation to raise its grade, while undersized pieces can be sintered into lumps.
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Drill and blast the beds
Conventional open-pit work breaks the ore with drilling and blasting, then loads and hauls it. South Africa's Kalahari field holds beds of pyrolusite and other oxides, and Tshipi Borwa near Hotazel is one of its big pits.
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Crush and screen
A plant crushes the rock, screens it and stockpiles it. Some of the output is ready to transport at this point, with no further treatment.
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Wash off the waste
Some ores are upgraded simply by washing, which raises the share of manganese before shipment.
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Split by density
At Tshipi, banded iron contaminants are broken down small and a gravity separation system turns out high-grade concentrate suited to steelmaking.
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Sinter the undersize
Pieces too small to use directly can be agglomerated by sintering, which binds them into larger lumps.
Worth repeating
- South Africa holds about 80% of the manganese resources known worldwide.
- South Africa's Kalahari manganese fields near Hotazel hold a 2011 estimate of 15 billion tons.
- Aluminum with roughly 1.5% manganese resists corrosion well enough to be used for most beverage cans.
Where it comes from
- South Africa3.4 million tons, the most of any nation
Manganese mined in 2011.
Where it goes next
Manganese ore feeds 2 lines directly and reaches 161 things in total.
Further down the line
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How manganese ore is mined." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/manganese-ore