110 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



MANGANESE ORES. 



Traces and samples of Manganese ores are found in many 

 places. It is very widely disseminated, but the bodies, or 

 deposits of it, are usually small. It has become of much 

 importance in the arts, and hence always finds a ready mar- 

 ket. It is used for the manufacture of chlorine, and bromine, 

 and as a ready and easily available source of oxygen. It is 

 also largely used for the improvement of steel ; and for its 

 production by the "Bessemer process," as well as several 

 other purposes. The demand for it has more than kept 

 pace with the supply. At present the larger portion of it 

 used in the United States is imported from Europe. Yet 

 even there the supply is limited. The total amount of it 

 produced in the United States in 1882 was not quite 3,500 

 tons, while the importation the same year into the port of 

 Baltimore alone, of Manganiferous ores, was 17,100 tons. It 

 is probable that less than one-fourth of the amount used in 

 this country is of domestic production. *The existence of 

 deposits of Manganese ores in this region, is therefore a mat- 

 ter of much importance. And should the quantity prove as 

 great as appearances indicate, and the quality prove satis- 

 factory, it will add much value to this region. 



As the ores of Manganese are not generally known, a brief 

 description of the prominent ones will be properly pre- 

 sented here. There are three of them that are most com- 

 mon : 



1. BLACK OXIDE Pyrolusite. Binoxide, Dinoxide, 

 Dioxide or Deutoxide. One part of Manganese to 

 two of Oxygen, or Manganese 63, Oxygen 37. It varies 

 in color from light blue to dark grey, and to blue black or 

 black. Hardness always less than lime spar ; can be marked 



*The production of Manganese in the U. S. increased to 34,000 tons in 

 1887, since which time it has decreased; being about 25,600 tons in 1890. 



E. A. S. 



