About Manganese

What Manganese is Used for:

The primary use of manganese ore is for steel and alloy production; high-grade manganese is used in the chemical industry.

High-grade manganese is a valuable and incredibly important chemical commodity. It is a key component to make batteries that are used in electric vehicles and other devices, and in energy storage systems.

High-grade manganese is a critical commodity in the production of conventional and lithium-ion batteries, used for the Electric Vehicle and Mobile Energy Storage (computers, cell phones, etc.) industries. The principal commodity is MnO₂ (manganese dioxide), an inorganic chemical.

About 70-80% of the new lithium-ion batteries use high-grade chemical manganese.

While the Emily manganese deposit has been known for years, the demand and value for the high-grade manganese has recently increased with the increased demand in the battery, electric vehicle, and electric storage markets.

As the demand for high-grade manganese has increased, the global supply of the high-grade chemical is limited, and all qualities of manganese used in the United States is imported from other countries.

High grade-manganese is essential for the future U.S. energy independence in regard to critical materials for the green economy, specifically electric batteries.

History

Minnesota is the founding state for modern batteries, with the Manganese Chemical Corporation organized in Minnesota in 1950.

The technology developed at that time is still the basis for modern standard batteries. Manganese Chemical Corporation left Minnesota in the mid-1960s with the decline in manganese production.

In the 1970s, the U.S. halted manganese production and has been fully dependent on foreign manganese imports since that time.

Today, Minnesota and the rest of the country are dependent on foreign sources of manganese, mainly from Africa, as the market demand for lithium batteries continues to increase. There are currently no operating manganese mines in North America.

Currently, approximately 80 percent of global manganese resources are found in South Africa, with almost all other manganese being imported from Asia and Australia. Much of the manganese mined in the world today is done in places with signifyingly less regulation or environmental review to protect workers and the environment than in the Minnesota.

Minnesota’s strong rules would mean any mining would be done to the highest standards with the strongest protections focused on environmental compliance and worker safety.

The Emily Manganese deposit creates a real potential for this project to become a competitive domestic source of this important mineral to meet the needs of multiple industries across the United States.