Ch. 3— Minerals Supply, Demand, and Future Trends • 95 



Table 3-5.— Status of Manganese in the National 

 Defense Stockpile— 1986 (as of Sept. 30, 1986) 



^stockpiled metallurgical grade ore is being converted to higti-carbon ferroman- 

 ganese which will add about 472,000 tons of ferromanganese to the stockpile 

 and reduces the amount of manganese ore. 



SOURCE: T.Jones, "Manganese," M/nera/Commod/ry Summaries— r9S7(Wash- 

 ington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1987), p. 99. 



estimated to contain as much as 41 million tons of 

 manganese. Similar deposits off Hawaii and the Pa- 

 cific Islands represent even more manganese on the 

 seafloor within the U.S. EEZ.^^ 



At current prices, there are no reserves of man- 

 ganese ore in the continental United States that con- 

 tain 35 percent or more manganese, nor are there 

 resources from which concentrates of that grade 

 could be economically produced. The 70 million 

 tons of contained manganese resources estimated 

 to exist in the United States average less than 20 

 percent and generally contain less than 10 percent 

 manganese. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates 

 that the domestic land-based subeconomic resources 

 would require from 5 to 20 times the current world 

 price of manganese to become commercially via- 

 ble.*'' 



Should an emergency require that economically 

 submarginal domestic deposits be brought into pro- 

 duction, the most likely would be in the north 

 Aroostook district of Maine and the Cuyuna north 

 range in Minnesota.*' 



It is unlikely that there will be much improve- 

 ment in the U.S. manganese supply position. Past 

 efforts to discover rich ore bodies or to improve the 

 efficiency of processing technology have not been 

 successful. What is known about seabed resources 



"F. Majiheim, "Marine Cobalt Resources," Science, vol. 232, May 

 2, 1986, pp. 600-608. 



'°T. Jones, "Manganese," Mineral Facts and Problems — 1985 Edi- 

 tion, Bulletin 675 (Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1986), 

 p. 486. 



"National Materials Advisory Board, Manganese Recovery Tech- 

 nology, NMAB-323 (Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 

 1976). 



of manganese pavement and nodules indicates that 

 manganese content may range between 15 and 30 

 percent, which makes offshore deposits at least com- 

 parable with some onshore deposits. But the un- 

 certainties of offshore mining ventures and their 

 associated costs, coupled with marginal mineral 

 prices, raise doubts as to their economic feasibility 

 as well.*^ 



Future Demand and Technological Trends 



Future manganese consumption will be deter- 

 mined mainly by requirements for steelmaking. 

 The amount of manganese required for steelmak- 

 ing depends on two factors: 1) the quantity of man- 

 ganese used per ton of steel produced, and 2) the 

 total amount of steel produced in the United States. 

 Comparing 1982 with 1977, the intensity of use of 

 managenese in the steel sector was reduced by half, 

 and the total consumption of manganese used for 

 producing steel also dropped around 50 percent.*^ 



Although there has been a trend toward the use 

 of higher manganese contents for alloying in high- 

 strength steels and steels needed for cryogenic ap- 

 plications, the reduction in the intensity of use for 

 steels used in large volumes has far exceeded the 

 increases for the high-performance steels. Because 

 manganese is an inexpensive commodity, there is 

 litde incentive to develop conservation technologies 

 further. 



The U.S. Bureau of Mines expects domestic 

 manganese demand in 2000 to range between 

 700,000 and 1.3 million tons (manganese content), 

 with probable demand placed at 900,000 tons (ta- 

 ble 3-6). With 1986 apparent consumption about 

 665 million tons, only modest growth in demand 

 is expected through the end of the century. 



Nickel 

 Properties and Uses 



Nickel imparts strength, hardness, and corrosion 

 resistance over a wide range of temperatures when 



■*^C. Hillman, Manganese Nodule Resources of Three Areas in the 

 Northeast Pacific Ocean: With Proposed Mining-Beneficiation Sys- 

 tems and Costs, IC 8933 (Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Mines, 

 1983). 



"Domestic Consumption Trends. 1972-82, and Forecasts to 1993 

 for Twelve Major Metals, Open File Report 27-86 (Washington, DC: 

 U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1986), p. 77. 



