TBANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 



537 



3. On Chilian Manganese Ore.^ 

 By John Pattinson, F.I.C, andH. S. Pattinson, Ph.D. 



Previous to the adoption of the "Weldon manf^anese-recovery process, nearly 

 the whole of the rich manganese ores imported into this country -were used to 

 generate chlorine in the manufacture of hleuching-powiier. Their value for this 

 purpose depended upon their yield of oxygen. In 18C8, about the time that 

 Weldon discovered his process, about 54,0U0 tons -were imported for generating 

 chlorine. In 1888 only about 7,000 tons were imported for this purpose, this 

 amount being sufficient to make up for the small current loss occurring in the 

 Weldon process, and for some other chemical purposes. 



In recent years the manufacture of ' ferro-manganese ' for use in steel-making 

 lias given rise to a new and large demand for rich manganese ores. For this pur- 

 pose their value depends upon their percentage of metallic manganese. 



Manganese ores are now imported from Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Greece, 

 Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, but by far the greatest quantities come from 

 Caucasia and from Chili. During the year 1888 about 85,000 tons of manganese 

 ore were imported for making ferro-manganese, of which quantity about ^5,000 

 tons came from Chili. 



So far as we are aware, no analyses of Chilian manganese ores have as yet been 

 published. The three following will therefore be of interest. They are made from 

 samples taken from cargoes of about 1,000 tons each, and may be regarded as 

 representing the nature of the Chilian ores heretofore imported. 



The analyses were made on the samples dried at 100*^0., at which temperature 

 they lost respectively 2-47 per cent., l-QB per cent., Q-OS per cent, of hygroscopic 

 moisture. 



No. I. comes from the neighbourhood of Santiago ; Nos. II. and III. are from 

 the vicinity of Coquimbo and ('arrizal, which are now the chief ports of shipment. 

 Nos. I. and II. are very bard, compact, amf)rphou3 ores, of a bluish-black colour, 

 and oftdn exhibit a conchoidal fracture ; No. III., which contains more peroxide 



' Printed in full in the Journal of the Soo. of Chem. Industry 1889, pp. 876-877. 



