Pyrometallurgical processing of manganese ore

Manganese ore contains valuable oxides, such as manganese oxide (MnO₂/Mn₂O₃/Mn₃O₄), iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) and silica (SiO₂). In the present study, an attempt has been made to separate these oxides through pyrometallurgical processing routes for the extraction of ferromanganese and silicomanganese. Lean manganese ores were subjected to ball milling followed by carbothermic reduction at a temperature of 1200 °C for 2 h. The reduced ores were then subjected to wet magnetic separation to obtain the magnetic constituents in the reduced ores. It was observed that it is not possible to remove the silica content from the ore. It appeared that the reduced sample had oxides of iron, silicon and manganese after its wet magnetic separation. The magnetic constituents were subjected to metallothermic reduction through pure aluminium powders to recover valuable metals/alloys.