T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y

Ferromanganese and Manganese O r e for Export

G. C. Mitter

WO R L D shortage, of steel focuses ou r a t t en t ion no t on ly on the

quest ion of augmen t ing the capa­c i ty of steel works bu t also on the need for wider search for r a w mate­rials necessary for the manufac tu re of steel. Manganese is an i m p o r ­tan t anc i l l a ry meta l for the m a n u ­facture of steel in w h i c h i t is used in the f o r m of ferro-manganese, an a l loy of manganese and i r o n . Steel manufacturers have to use manga­nese in greater quanti t ies t h a n any o ther meta l except i r o n itself. No ma t t e r h o w the steel is made, by Bessemer, electric furnace or the open hea r th process, 11 to 14 lbs. of manganese in the f o r m of ferro-manganese go in to every t on of steel. Ferro-manganese is n o r m a l l y p ro­duced in blast furnaces and in fact the same blast furnace tha t produces p i g i r o n is of ten used at the fag end of its l ife for the p r o d u c t i o n of ferro-manganese f r o m the ores of manganese and i ron .

Ferro-manganese was first manu­factured at Jamshedpur between 1915 and 191 7. The K u l t i factory of the Bengal I r o n C o m p a n y started its manufac ture in 1917 and con­t inued t i l l the end of the last w a r w h e n p r o d u c t i o n a t K u l t i ceased and was taken up at Jamshedpur.

The indigenous p r o d u c t i o n of ferro-manganese was al l consumed by the steel producers of the coun­t ry . I t was only d u r i n g W o r l d W a r I I that a small consignment of about 4500 tons of ferro-manga­nese was expor ted to U S A .

T h e exportable qua l i ty of ferro-manganese has to satisfy the speci­f ica t ion for the phosphorous content w h i c h should be below 0.3 per cent. I t is the d i f f icul ty of keeping the phosphorous content w i t h i n this l i m i t t ha t now stands in the way of de­ve lop ing the manufac ture and ex­po r t of this p roduc t . Fe r ro -man-

(Continued from page 76)

complex , reciprocal ly , in te rac t ing c o m m u n i t y l ike this b i g v i l lage , the emergence of leaders, of social sanc­tions and of new social forms of ex­pression of o p i n i o n cannot be ac­complished by act of pa r l i ament , however we l l thought out . I t i s an organic process, the product of a m u l t i t u d e of thrusts and stresses. In Fa t chpura , as in villages a l l over Rajas than, the process is go ing on apace.

ganese p roduced in I n d i a has a m a n ­ganese content of 0.5 to 0.6 per cent. T h e h i g h percentage o f phosphorous in the indigenous ore is due to the h i g h ash content of I n d i a n coke w h i c h is responsible for as m u c h as 0.4 of the 0.5 to 0.6 per cent phos­phorous content of the fe r ro -man­ganese manufac tu red in this count ry . Because of our i nab i l i t y to produce ferro-manganese of the qua l i ty ac­ceptable abroad, we are content to­day to export large quant i t ies of raw manganese ore at very low prices to the steel p r o d u c i n g coun­tries outside I n d i a ,

It is possible to manufac ture ex­portable qua l i ty of ferro-manganese in t w o ways. F i rs t ly , by the instal­l a t ion of one or t w o blast furnaces and using low-phosphorous manga­nese ore and low-phosphorous coke. But as India ' s resources in low-phosphorous manganese ore and coal are l i m i t e d , it is not a feasible pro­posi t ion to produce a large quan t i t y of ferro-manganese of this qua l i t y by this method .

The other a l ternat ive is to employ electric furnace for the p roduc t ion of exportable qua l i ty of fe r ro-man­ganese. It has been argued tha t the cost of ferro-manganese produced by the electric furnace method is l ikely to be considerably higher t han that of the blast furnaces product . But it is to be remembered tha t the electric furnace produc t , because of its pu r i t y , is mostly used in the m a n u ­facture of h igh qua l i ty low-carbon steels. The indigenous demand for the electric furnace product w i l l g radual ly g row in this count ry . I t also fetches a higher price.

T h e s tandard requi rement for the p roduc t ion of 78 to 80 per cent ferro-manganese by this method is to m a i n t a i n in the ore a ra t io of 6 to 1 of manganese to i ron . T h a t is, w i t h 48 per cent manganese ore, there should not be over 8 per cent i r o n ; otherwise there w i l l be too m u c h i r o n in the alloy and only a substandard grade of ferro-manga­nese w i l l be produced.

Fo r the p r o d u c t i o n of one ton of ferro-manganese f r o m an ore con­t a i n i n g 48 per cent manganese and 8 per cent i r o n , the charge should be approx imate ly the f o l l o w i n g :

4800 lbs. manganese ore ; 1400 lbs. of coke, 15 per cent

ash; and 800 to 1400 lbs. of limestone.

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January a6, 1952

A s tandard electric furnace may be used for smelt ing. T h e US Bureau of Mines a t Salt L a k e C i t y uses a s imi lar type and the f o l l o w i n g table gives an approx imate idea of the cost of one ton of ferro-manga­nese in the U S A

4800 lbs. of manganese ore at $ 3 5 0 0 per net t o n ' $ 84.20

1200 lbs. of limestone at $3.50 per ton $ 2.10

1400 lbs. of coke & coke breeze m i x t u r e at $12,00 per ton $ 8.40

75 lbs. of electrodes at .$.07 per p o u n d $ 5.25

3000 K W H a t $.oo3$ per K W H * $ 9.00

3 m a n hours per ton $ 4.50 Main tenance and repairs $ 1.00 Depreciat ions, taxes etc. $ 2.00

Total cost for the pro­d u c t i o n of one ton $116.45

A t t e n t i o n of bo th industrial ists and of the Governmen t is p a r t i c u ­lar ly d r a w n to the place tha t should be g iven to the p r o d u c t i o n of ferro-manganese in any scheme for produc­ing processed articles for expor t . T h e p roduc t i on of ferro-manganese w i l l benefit the count ry by v i r tue of the technical experience i t w i l l b r i ng , the large labour force i t w i l l employ and the substantial foreign exchange i t w i l l earn, pa r t i cu la r ly f rom the hard currency areas.

At the. last session of the Science Congress in Ca lcu t t a , the p roduc t i on of ferro-manganese formed the sub­ject of an interesting symposium. T h e Tatas, i t appeared, have deve­loped a method of p roduc ing ferro-manganese w i t h low phosphorus con­tent by using manganese obta ined by t rea tment of the ore w i t h i ron in an electric furnace where the p ig i ron formed takes away most of the phosphorus, leaving the manganese w i t h l i t t l e or no phosphorus in i t . This exper iment , if it proves suc­

cessful on a commerc ia l scale, w i l l solve the problem of p repar ing ferro-manganese of exportable qua l i ty even I ron manganese ore of poor qua­l i ty, Poor qua l i ty manganese ore is now wasted as it" has no expor t market or indust r ia l uses. Consider­ing that in order to ob ta in manga-nese ore of value, 80 per cent of the ore is wasted for its poor qua l i ty , the experiments at Jamshed­pur w i l l be watched w i t h consider­able interest, if it is extended to such poor qua l i ty ore and succeeds in using the lat ter for the p r o d u c t i o n of low-phosphorus ferro-manganese.

January 36, 1952 T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y