Manganese, Phosphate

and Coal Mining

A Comparative Study

This comparative study was undertaken in order to help Mr. Businessman, who have decided to increase his earnings through mining, choose wisely among three project proposals.

Introduction

All three mining industries entail a huge amount of financial investment, thus, requiring the expert advice of a mineral expert/geologist, an economist and an industrialist.

With this extensive comparative study, it is expected that Mr. Businessman will eventually be able to make the right decision and put his money into good use.

•Proposed by Company A

Manganese Mining

•Recommended by Company B

Phosphate Mining

•Envisioned by Company C

Coal Mining

Mineral Total Production

Major Countries

Major Companies Key Uses

Manganese 9.6 million tons (2009)

ChinaSouth Africa

SamancorAssmangComilog

Ferroalloys

Phosphate 158 million tons (2009)

ChinaU.S.A.

Morocco

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan

OCP

Fertilizer applications

Coal 5845 million tons (2008)

U.S.A.ChinaIndia

China Coal Energy Co.

BHP BillitonAnglo CoalCoal India

Energy generation

Manganese

Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn with an

atomic number of 25.

It is found as a free element in nature (often in combination with iron), and in many minerals.

It is a grey white, hard, yet brittle metal which resembles iron.

Manganese is also used as a key element of stainless steel

alloys and some aluminum alloys.

It has paramagnetic

properties, which means that it demonstrates

strong magnetic characteristics in the presence of

external magnetic field. It, however, is not magnetic by

itself.

Manganese is used as a key component in the iron and

steel manufacturing industries. The processing of iron is the largest consuming sector of manganese and it contributes to about about

85% of its production.

Manganese is a reactive element that easily combines with ions in water and air. In the Earth, manganese is found in a number of minerals of different chemical and physical properties, but is

never found as a free metal in nature. The most important mineral is pyrolusite, because it is the main ore mineral for

manganese.

Trace amounts of manganese are very important to good health. It makes bones strong yet flexible, and it aids the body

in absorbing Vitamin B1. It also is an important activator for the body to use enzymes. As little as 0.00002% Mn in the human

body is essential. Studies have shown that a lack of manganese leads to infertility in animals.

Sources of Manganese

Over 80% of the known world manganese resources are found in South Africa and Ukraine. Other important manganese deposits are in China, Australia, Brazil, Gabon, India, and

Mexico. The United States imports manganese ore because the manganese resources in the U.S. are relatively low in

manganese content per ton of ore. Importing these ores is presently more economic than mining them locally.

Most manganese ore imported to the United States is used to manufacture intermediate manganese ferroalloy products and

electrolytic manganese for use in dry-cell batteries. Only a small amount of the ore is directly used in the steel making

process.

Sources of Manganese

Deep-sea nodules of manganese and other metals are scattered on the ocean floor. They form when the hot waters from hot springs (called black smokers) on the ocean bottom meet the cold, deep ocean water. The

elements in the hot volcanic waters precipitate as nodules. Though rich in manganese (nearly 25%

manganese) they are very deep in the ocean and it would cost too much to make them worth retrieving.

This may prove to be an important source of manganese in the future should reserves in the Earth's crust be depleted and cost-effective deep-sea mining

methods are discovered.

Uses of Manganese

Steel becomes harder when it is alloyed with manganese. It has similar applications when alloyed with aluminum and copper. Hardened steel is important in the manufacture of construction materials like I-beams (24% of manganese consumption), machinery (14% of manganese consumption), and transportation (13% of manganese consumption).

Manganese dioxide is used to: manufacture ferroalloys; manufacture dry cell batteries (it's a depolarizer); to "decolorize" glass; to prepare some chemicals, like oxygen and chlorine; and to dry black paints. Manganese sulfate (MnSO4) is used as a chemical intermediate and as a micronutrient in animal feeds and plant fertilizers.

Uses of Manganese

Manganese metal is used as a brick and ceramic colorant, in copper and aluminum alloys, and as a chemical oxidizer and catalyst.

Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) is used as a bactericide and algicide in water and wastewater treatment, and as an oxidant in organic chemical synthesis.

Phosphate

A phosphate, also known as phosphorus, P or PO4, is, according to chemistry, a polyatomic ion or radical

which consists of one phosphorus atom and four oxygen. In organic chemistry,

the alkylated derivatives of phosphates are known as organophosphates. In biological systems, the phosphorus

are found in the form of phosphate ion and various phosphate esters. Among others, it is found as the compounds

DNA and RNA. Other compounds, like the substituted phosphines, do have

their uses in organic chemistry but they do not seem to have any natural

counterparts. Phosphate or phosphorus occurs naturally and is found in many

phosphate minerals. Rare phosphide minerals may be found in meteorites but

the elemental phosphorous and the phosphides are not found.

Phosphates are the naturally occurring

form of the element phosphorus, found

in many phosphate minerals.

In mineralogy and geology, phosphate refers to a rock or

ore containing phosphate ions.

Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain

phosphorus for use in agriculture and

industry.

The largest phosphorite or rock phosphate deposits in North America lie in the Bone Valley region of central

Florida, U.S.A., the Soda Springs region

of Idaho, and the coast of North

Carolina. Smaller deposits are located

in Montana, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina

near Charleston along Ashley

Phosphate road. The small island nation

of Nauru and its neighbor Banaba

Island, which used to have massive

phosphate deposits of the best quality, have been mined excessively. Rock

phosphate can also be found in Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Navassa Island,

Tunisia, Togo and Jordan, countries

that have large phosphate mining

industries.

Phosphorite mines are primarily found in:

North America: U.S.A., especially North Carolina,

with lesser deposits in Florida, Idaho and

Tennessee.Africa: Morocco, mainly

near Khouribga and Youssoufia; Senegal, Togo,

Tunisia and Western Sahara.

Middle East: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq,

at the town of Akashat, near to the Jordanian

borders.Oceania: Australia, Makatea, Nauru,

Ocean Island.

In 2007, at the current rate of consumption, the supply of phosphorus was estimated to run out in 345 years. However, scientists are now claiming that a "Peak Phosphorus" will occur in 30 years and that "At current rates, reserves will be depleted in the next 50 to

100 years."

• In ecological terms, because of its important role in biological systems, phosphate is a highly sought after resource. Once used, it is often a limiting nutrient in environments, and its availability may govern the rate of growth of organisms.

• This is generally true of freshwater environments, whereas nitrogen is more often the limiting nutrient in marine (seawater) environments. Addition of high levels of phosphate to environments and to micro-environments in which it is typically rare can have significant ecological consequences.

• For example, blooms in the populations of some organisms at the expense of others, and the collapse of populations deprived of resources such as oxygen (see eutrophication) can occur.

•In the context of pollution, phosphates are one component of total dissolved solids, a major indicator of water quality.

Phosphate deposits can contain significant amounts of naturally occurring heavy metals.

Mining operations processing phosphate rock can leave tailings piles containing elevated levels of cadmium, lead, nickel, copper, chromium, and uranium.

Unless carefully managed, these waste products can leach heavy metals into groundwater or nearby estuaries.

Uptake of these substances by plants and marine life can lead to concentration of toxic heavy metals in food products.

Coal

Coal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock

strata in layers or veins called coal beds.

The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later

exposure to elevated temperature and pressure.

Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly sulfur,

hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

Market Value of the three mining minerals for the past years …

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Cost of

Mining

Environmental and Social Impact

Conclusion