3.3.3.1 Availability and Consumption

In 1997, the output of crude ores was 5.976 million tons and that of processed ores 3.694 million tons, among which 91,000 tons were produced by key enterprises, amounting to 2.46% of the total output; 1.126 million tons by local enterprises and 2.448 million tons by township collective-owned and self-employed enterprises. On the whole, the output of manganese ores has increased year by year in China. In the 1990s the annual output varied very slightly between 3.5 million and 4.5 million tons and the production of township collective-owned and self-employed enterprises occupied 65% of the total output of manganese ores.

With the development of iron and steel production and the growing demand of other industrial sectors for manganese ore, the domestic Mn ores cannot meet the domestic demand and import has become necessary. In recent years, the proportion of imported ores has been amplified gradually. In 1993 the domestic consumption of Mn ores was 4.431 million tons (including the ores used for the export of Mn-series products, hereinafter), among which 3.866 million tons (excluding 5,000 tons of exported ores) were produced in China, amounting to 87.1% of the consumption. The imported rich ores were 570,000 tons, amounting to 12.9% of the consumption. In 1996, the domestic consumption of Mn ores was 5.998 million tons, among which there were 4.417 million tons of domestic ores (excluding 4,000 tons of exported ores), amounting to 73.6% of the consumption, decreased by 13.5 percent points compared with 1993. The imported rich ores were 1.585 million tons, accounting for 26.4% of the consumption, an increase of 13.5 percent points from 1993. Although the import (268,000 tons) was decreased in 1997, its proportion in the consumption, being 26.28%, changed very slightly (Table 3.3.3).

Table 3.3.3 Proportion of imported manganese ore in the domestic consumption (1993~1997)

3.3.3.2 Trends     

Manganese ores are mainly used in iron and steel industries and the ratio of the ore consumption to the iron and steel output ranges from 3.6% to 4% in China. If China produces 120 million tons of iron and steel, then 4.8 million tons of manganese ores are needed. In recent years, the export of Mn-series alloys has had favorable conditions, especially in 1995 when 177,000 tons of Mn-Fe alloy and 447,000 tons of Mn-Si alloy were exported. The export volume of Mn-series products of 2010 is estimated at 700,000 tons, which will need 2.1 million tons of ores (one ton of alloy consuming three tons of ores). As the addition of the above two items, 6.9 million tons of processed ore will be consumed in 2010. It is estimated based on the resources and production that the output of processed ores will be up to 5 million tons in 2010 and thus there will be a shortage of about 2 million tons to meet the demand. The following measures are to be taken to solve the problem of short supply and low grade of manganese ores in China.

(1) Strengthening the exploration of manganese ore, especially rich manganese ore

China has fairly good metallogenic conditions of manganese ore and is endowed with abundant manganese resources. There are a great number of prospective areas, such as weathering Fe-Mn ore deposits in the Lanshan area in Hunan Province, southwestern Fujian Province, and Mengsong, Yunxian-Lancang and Menglian-Cangyuan areas in Yunnan, as well as southwestern Guangxi, southeastern Yunnan, Hunan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces. Further exploration should be carried out to expand ore reserves and seek for new deposits in these areas.

(2) Making more efforts to study technological mineralogy and dressing technology

In consideration of low grade, fine grain size and high content of phosphorus and iron from the manganese ore in China, technological mineralogy is important for improving ore-dressing techniques to deal with the sorting and dephosphoration of hundreds of millions of tons of microgranular or fine-grained manganese ores.

(3) Further developing rich-Mn slagging technology

This technique can be used to effectively separate Fe and P from manganese ores to obtain rich Mn-slagging products with high Mn but low Fe and P. This technique has been employed in China for years. This technology is to be further applied on a large scale, so that high-P, high-Fe and low-Mn ores can be rationally used.

(4) Rationally utilizing both domestic and foreign Mn resources

Since there is a prominent unbalance between supply and demand, and on the other hand the grade of manganese ore is rather low, the import of rich manganese ore will be necessary for a period of considerable length in the future and will increase annually to reach 2 million tons in 2010.

(5) Paying attention to total utilization of manganese ore

China's manganese deposits usually have various beneficial components. In currently employed ore-dressing processes, Fe, Pb, Zn and Ag can be recovered, but many other elements such as Cu, Co, Ni, Bi, S, P, B, Ga, In and Tl still await recovery. The utilization of so-called "three wastes", i.e. tailings, waste residues and waste gases, is also an significant research subject. The utilization of "three wastes" will not only turn wastes into things of value and increase economic profits of enterprises, but also be beneficial to environmental protection and future generations.