The significance of manganese ores is very weil known in cast iron and
steel production, as weil as in various types of chemical raw material
and agricultural fertilizers. The world industry development in recent
years requires their increased production in the vicinity of the
metallurgical centers in different regions of the world; high grade
manganese and associated metalores are needed. Analysis of the world
production and consumption of manganese ores by industrial countries
indicates convincingly that the highest commercial value belongs to the
ores associated with the supergene zone (National Minerals Advi- sory
Board, 1981; Coffman and Palencia, 1984; Doncoisne, 1985; Iones, 1990,
1991; Manganese, 1990; McMichael, 1989). The remarkable property of
manganese, in contrast to many other types of mineral resources, is that
the ore accumulations of this metal are distributed in the wide
geochrono- logical interval from the Archean to the present time; these
ores are deposited in basins and supergene environments of different
types from lakes, internal seas to pelagic and abyssal regions of the
World ocean, as weIl as different types of weathering crusts and karst.
At the same time the manganese accumulations and features of their
mineral and chemical compositions are relatively sensitive indicators,
reflecting facies and geodynamic condi- tions of their formation. These
properties aid the investigation of the Earth's evolution processes.
