Manganese ore: deposits, mining. Reserves of manganese ores in the world

Manganese ores are mineral minerals. They are of great industrial and economic importance. These include minerals such as Brownite, Rhodonite, Rhodochrosite, Bustamite, Pyrolusite, Manganite and others. Manganese ores are found on all continents (they also exist on the territory of the Russian Federation).

World reserves

To date, manganese ore has been found in 56 countries. Most of the deposits are in Africa (about 2/3). Total reserves of manganese ores in the world, according to theoretical calculations, are 21 billion tons (5 billion confirmed). Over 90% of these are stratiform deposits - deposits associated with sedimentary rocks. The rest refers to the weathering crust and hydrothermal sources.

95% of the reserves belong to 11 countries - Ukraine, South Africa, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Australia, Georgia, Brazil, Russia, China, India and Bulgaria. Despite the fact that in China the quality of natural ores is relatively low, China is considered the leader in the export of ore. In addition, it supplies many minerals derived from this raw material.

Zoning

The world mining of manganese ores differs zonality. For example, primary-oxide raw materials are deposited exclusively in coastal areas where clays and sandstones are common. Moving away from the seas and oceans, the ores become carbonate. These include calcium rhodochrosite, rhodochrosite and manganocalcite. Such manganese ore meets in regions with moldings and clays. Another type of deposits is metamorphosed. Similar mines are typical for India.

The most ancient ores

Like other sources of minerals, manganese ores in the world were formed in various periods of development of the crust of our planet. They appeared both in the Precambrian and in the Cenozoic era. Some concretions on the bottom of the World Ocean accumulate to this day.

Some of the most ancient are the Brazilian iron quartzites and Indian gondites, which appeared in the Precambrian metallogenic era together with geosynclinal formations. At the same time, manganese ore of Ghana (the Nsuta-Daghwin deposit) and South Africa (the southeast of the Kalahari Desert) appeared. Small reserves of the Early Paleozoic era exist in the USA, China and in the east of Russia. The largest deposit of the PRC of this period is Shanvutu in Hunan Province. Mining manganese ore in Russia is located in the Far East (in the mountains of the Lesser Khingan) and in the Kuznetsk Alatau.

Late Paleolithic and Cenozoic

Manganese ores of the late Paleozoic era are characteristic for Central Kazakhstan, where two main deposits are being developed - Ushkatyn-Sh and Dzhezdinskoye. The key minerals are Brownite, Hausmanite, Hematite, Manganite, Pyromorphite and Psilomelan. Late Cretaceous and Jurassic volcanism gave rise to manganese ore occurrences in Transbaikalia, Transcaucasia, New Zealand and the coast of North America. The largest deposit of this period Groote Island was discovered in the 1960s. in Australia.

In the Cenozoic era, there was a unique accumulation of manganese ore in the south of the East European platform (Mangyshlanskoe, Chiatura fields, Nikopol basin). At the same time, manganese ore appeared in other regions of the globe. In Bulgaria, the Obrochishte deposit was formed, and in Moab - Moanda. All of them are characterized by ore-bearing sandy-argillaceous deposits. Minerals in them are present in the form of oolites, concretions, earthy clusters and bonds. Another manganese ore basin (the Urals) appeared in the Tertiary period. It stretches for 300 kilometers. This layer of manganese ore with a thickness of 1 to 3 meters covers the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains.

Types of ores

There are several genetic types of deposits of manganese ores: volcanic-sedimentary, sedimentary, metamorphogenic and weathering. Of these four types, the most important for the world economy stands out. These are sedimentary deposits. They accounted for about 80% of all manganese ore reserves in the world.

The largest deposits were formed in lagoon and coastal-sea basins. This is the Georgian Chiatura deposit, the Kazakh Mangyshlak, Bulgarian Obrochishte. Also its large size is the Ukrainian Nikopol basin. Its ore-bearing areas are stretched along the rivers Ingulets and Dnepr. The nearest cities are Zaporozhye and Nikopol. The pool is an elongated strip 5 kilometers wide and 250 kilometers long. Plast is a sandy-argillaceous bundle with lenses, concretions and concretions. Manganese ore, the photo of which you see in the article, lies at a depth of 100 meters.

Submarine and volcanic deposits

Manganese ore is mined not only on the ground, but also under water. Do it mainly the US and Japan, which do not have large reserves on the "dry" territory. A typical underwater mine of manganese ore under development is located at a depth of 5 kilometers.

Another type of formation is volcanic. Such deposits are characterized by a connection with ferruginous and carbonate rocks. Ore bodies, as a rule, are rapidly wedging out wrong lenses, layers and lentils. They are composed of carbonates of iron and manganese. The thickness of such ore bodies is from 1 to 10 meters. The volcanogenic-sedimentary type includes the deposits of Kazakhstan and Russia (Ir-Nili and Pre-Magnitogorsk). Also these are the ores of the Salair Ridge (porphyry-siliceous formations).

Weathering crusts and metamorphogenic ores

Deposits of weathering crusts are formed as a result of the decomposition of manganese ores. Specialists also call such a cluster of hats. Breeds of this type are in Brazil, India, Venezuela, Australia, South Africa, Canada. These ores include vernadite, psilomelan and pyrolusite. They are formed as a result of the oxidation of rhodonite, manganocalcite and rhodochrosite.

Metamorphogenic ores are formed during contact or regional metamorphism of manganese-containing rocks and sedimentary ores. So there are rhodonite and bustamite. An example of such a field is Karsakpaiskoye in Kazakhstan.

Russian deposits of manganese ore

The Urals is the key region for the extraction of manganese ore in Russia. Industrial deposits of the Stone Belt can be attributed to two types: volcanic and sedimentary. The latter are located in the Ordovician deposits. This group includes the Chuval group in the Perm region. The Parnock deposit in Komi is very similar to it. It was discovered in 1987 by a geological expedition from Vorkuta. The deposit is located in the foothills of the Polar Urals , 70 kilometers from Inta. This formation is located on the boundary between shale and limestone. There are several key ore-bearing areas: Pachvozhsky, Magnetic, Far, and Eastern.

Like in other deposits of this type, the Parnock deposit has the most carbonate, oxidized and manganese rocks. They differ in cream or brown color and consist of rhodonite and rhodochrosite. The level of manganese in them is about 24%.

Wealth of the Urals

The Verkhne-Chuvalskoye deposits located in the Perm Krai are comparatively poorly studied. On the upper horizons in the oxidation zone, brown and black ferromanganese ores are developed in them. Sedimentary deposits are widespread on the eastern slope of the Urals (Kipchakskoe in the Chelyabinsk region, Akkermanov in the Orenburg region). The development of the latter began as early as during the Great Patriotic War.

Seventy kilometers from the capital of Bashkiria, the city of Ufa, is the Upper Permian sedimentary deposit of Ulu-Telyak. The manganese limestones here are distinguished by a light brown color. Basically, this is clastic material formed after the destruction of primary ores. It is composed of vernadite, chalcedony and psilomelan.

In the Sverdlovsk region there are Paleogene sedimentary deposits. Here stands out a large North-Urals basin, stretching for almost 300 kilometers. It has the largest explored reserves of manganese ores in the region. The pool includes fifteen deposits. The largest of them - Catherine, South Berezovsky, Novo-Berezovsky, Berezovsky, Yurkinsky, Marsyatskoye, Ivdelskoe, Lozvinskoye, Tyninsky. The local layers lie among sand, clay, sandstone, siltstone and pebble.