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A new report
submitted by Kemetco Research Inc. on behalf of American Manganese Inc. and
partially funded by the National Research Council of Canada, should at some
point have major reverberations throughout the manganese mining sector and
especially in the United States – most notably for those mining
companies with lower grade manganese deposits once deemed marginally
economic.
For the sake of
including the specific details of the process – which are somewhat
technical – I quote below from some of the information in the
company’s announcement earlier this month of the report prepared
by Kemetco of Richmond, British Columbia, on "The Recovery of Manganese
From Low Grade Resources: Bench Scale Test Program Completed:"
“The report
describes and summarizes the extensive bench-scale metallurgical tests of the
unit operations – operations which when linked together form the basis
of a complete innovative conceptual flow sheet, complete with heat, mass and
energy balances – designed to process lower-grade manganese
("Mn") mineralization into high purity manganese metal.”
American
Manganese executives went on to say that In May 2009 they had commissioned
Kemetco to develop a robust, energy efficient hydrometallurgical process which
would yield high purity manganese metal and/or manganese dioxide while
minimizing potential environmental impacts.
The work was
described as integrating and building upon extensive research carried out in
large part by the U.S. Bureau of Mines intermittently from the 1940s through
the 1980s as well as proprietary third party research conducted by other
mining companies.
“The report
confirms that American Manganese's proprietary process can extract manganese
at greater than 90% efficiency while minimizing water use and potential
environmental impacts,” the announcement said.
“The
conceptual process flow sheet developed during this test program is based on
a unique application of commercially available process equipment so that the
process is deemed to be robust and energy efficient. In addition to the
production of electrolytic manganese metal, a saleable anhydrous sulfate
by-product will also be produced.
“Treatment
of typical manganese samples containing between 4% and 7% Mn by weight
(primarily in the form of pyrolusite, psilomelane and wad), is carried out in
a hydrometallurgical process whereby four-valent Mn is reduced and leached by
sulfur dioxide (SO2) dissolved in water.
“The
hydrometallurgical processing of friable lower-grade material avoids
intensive crushing and grinding, as well as the undesirable high temperature
reduction roasting that is conventionally used in processing hard high-grade
material. Roasting at temperatures typically between 800 degrees C and 1,000
degrees C is energy intensive and would not be economical for lower-grade
material.
“Leaching
studies performed on typical manganese samples of large particle size
(greater than 9.5 mm) with dilute SO2 in stirred tanks indicates that the
material is readily leachable. The material is friable and large particles
break down easily during stirred tank leaching. SO2 leachant is produced
on-site by burning elemental sulfur with 20% excess air.
“At a feed
processing rate of 3,500 tonnes/day, heat exchanging the exhaust gases from
the sulfur burner will produce an estimated 20 tonnes per hour of steam at
400 degrees C and 45 bar pressure. In a condensing turbine, this steam can
produce 5 MW of continuous electrical power.
“The
pregnant leach solution (PLS) is purified in 2 stages prior to separating the
manganese by precipitation. Dissolving the precipitate with recycled
electrolyte produces a Mn-containing solution that is conducive to producing
high-grade Mn metal by electro-winning.
“Solid
tailings with minimum water content are produced by filtration of the final
counter current decantation underflow material, minimizing water requirements
for the overall process. The solid tailings produced from test work were
shown to be benign by the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure, and can
be returned to mined-out areas of an open pit facilitating immediate
progressive reclamation of disturbed areas.
“Based on
the successful test work, conceptual flow sheets have been developed which
include applications of novel, proprietary, innovative technology to minimize
process operating costs through low water use, low overall energy use and
economic destruction of unwanted by-products.”
American
Manganese executives saidthey had asked Kemetco to file an application for
patent protection of the process.
Now the reason I
mentioned earlier that this announcement was of great importance for
manganese mining in the United States is the fact that the U.S. has several
rather large-scale and long-known deposits of lower grade manganese in
various parts of the country but no domestic manganese mine currently
underway.
The process
outlined may not be applicable to all types of low grade manganese ore
deposits due to the manganese ore mineral composition and other extenuating
factors but:
- Manganese
has been the country’s top strategic metal and is still near the
top of the federal government’s list of strategic metals today,
especially for the munitions and defense Industry;
- Manganese is
the world’s fourth largest traded metal commodity;
- World
manganese consumption stands at 30 billion pounds per year;
- Manganese
demand is currently growing at 8% or 1.5 billion pounds per year;
- Electrolytic
manganese metal (EMM) demand has been growing at 26% per year for the
past five years;
- The U.S.
government has essentially sold off all of its strategic stockpiles of
manganese over the last few years;
- Manganese is
a key alloy in not only carbon steel but is also used in stainless
steel, aluminum, chemicals and various types of existing battery
technologies as well as hybrid batteries now being developed;
- And many
stainless steel applications use 6% manganese and series 200 stainless
steel requires 12% manganese, replacing nickel.
As I have
outlined in previous commentaries on manganese, China currently controls 97%
of the world’s supply of electrolytic manganese and steel cannot be
made without manganese being added as an alloying agent to prevent
brittleness in the steel. In effect, 10 to 20 pounds of manganese is
required per tonne ofsteel and no substitution is possible.
When one
considerers the state of the U.S. steel industry today and the industrial
competitiveness of other nations involved in steel production that are not
truly still third world in status still have much cheaper labor, I the
question is what can be done to help level the playing field?
“What
most Americans do not know is that their own steel industry is bigger than
those of all the other nations on earth put together. No other nation
could have matched that record. It is a record that stands as a glorious
tribute to the men who make steel and the men who built steel in
America.”
–
Ben Fairless, chairman of U.S. Steel Corp., January 1951
How things have
changed since those glory days!
Steel is one of
the basic building blocks of the modern world and in the words of Brian
Gilbertson, former CEO of BHP Billiton and currently CEO of Pallinghurst
Resources: “You cannot make steel without Manganese and if you
can’t make steel the world stops.”
Courtesy of
www.steel-grips.com
In 2009 the five
largest steel producing countries were:
- China, produding 567.8 million
metric tonnes
- Japan, 87.5 mmt
- Russia, 59.9 mmt
- United States, 58.1 mmt
- India, 56.5 mmt
When you consider
that China just keeps tightening the economic noose on natural resources
worldwide, then factor in the 20% export tax they have on electrolytic
manganese exported to world steel producers and a multitude of other end
users and a 14% import tax the U.S. government adds in the mix, one can see
part of the uneven playing field U.S. steel producers have to work with. Also
noteworthy is the fact that much of the Chinese manganese is of poor quality
to begin with.
The western world
and primarily the United States needs to wake up and act in order to keep
their technology, industry and military on an even playing field with
China. Research shows that the U.S. is 100% dependent on imports of 18
different key metals and 90% import dependent on four others.
With all the
fanfare now being dedicated to rare earths and calls for government grants
and loan guarantees to create rare earth mines in the U.S., I can only wonder
why nothing is said about domestic manganese mines and the state of the U.S.
steel industry.
Sen. Lisa
Murkowski (R-Alaska) are you listening? President Obama, you need a lot
more than just rare earthss for your electric cars and wind-farms! As the
billionaire T. Boone Pickens has said, “We need to take control of our
own natural resources.” I take that to mean not just oil and gas, but
all natural resources.
Sen. Evan Bayh
(D-Ind.) recently stated, “Without a secure, domestic supply of rare
earth metals, our country is forced to rely on China for these materials, an
unacceptable situation that jeopardizes our economy, our energy supply and
our National Security interests.” That statement would and should also
apply to manganese and not just rare earths.
The continental
United States has more than enough good quality, although lower grade,
manganese deposits to supply domestic needs as well as exports for the world
but they sit idle in the ground. Jobs are needed in the U.S. economy
but none are being created by mining.
It appears that
now there is, at long last, an efficient and low cost manganese recovery
process. It was pioneered by the Bureau of Mines in the 1940s and used for
production at the Three Kids Mine in Henderson, Nev., in late 1940s and 1950s
for U.S. steel companies.
The process has
been refined, modernized with new equipment and technology and tested
extensively over the last year by Kemetco on behalf of a junior mining
company with a clear vision and a large low grade manganese deposit in
mine-friendly Arizona. This may just prove to be the defining factor in the
U.S. becoming independent of one very important strategic metal that China has
a world stranglehold on at present.
When I recently
contacted the COO of American Manganese and asked if this process could be
termed as a somewhat “green” or “environmentally
friendly” mine operation as it appeared to be at first glance, the
response was a firm “yes”. He stated that with the ore
mineralogy and this Kemetco process they had no grinding costs since the ore
was “friable” and they used very little water and no toxic
chemicals in the leach process.
Cogeneration of
electrical power from steam generated in the process would off-set electrical
use and costs, the process requires no roasting of ore and the toxically
benign solid waste tailings are able to be replaced back into mined out areas
with no effect on the environment. Not often you hear the words
environmentally friendly in mining discussions.
There you have it
in a nutshell: one more small potential step for American independence from
Chinese Imports of strategic metals, but a step as yet untaken by the U.S.
government and mining experts who claim to keep us informed.
Let’s hope
when all are worn out from the rare earth chatter and fanfare they
might take a reality check on the vast importance of manganese to the
economy, national security and the fact that you can’t mine everything
in somebody else’s backyard and be competitive or secure, much less
create new jobs.
North America has
some of the best mining people and technology in the world and it’s
time to get back to utilizing them.
As always, thanks
for reading.
Ken
Reser
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