Manganese is a hard, silvery metal with many uses in the world driving demand today. Manganese mines in Australia are working to meet that demand.
Manganese prices may be heavily driven by the steel sector, but it is the EV battery industry that has investors excited about manganese’s future.
In fact, demand for manganese sulphate is expected to double in the next 10 years thanks to the lithium-ion battery market. Though the steel sector will still be the biggest consumer of manganese, the battery industry is expected to impact the manganese supply chain.
“We expect ore prices to remain under pressure moving into 2024 due to the uncertainty facing the Chinese steel and construction market,” they wrote. The firm sees Chinese domestic demand supporting higher ore and alloy prices in the short term, and a potential global economic recovery in 2024 returning prices to a cost-driven level in the medium term.
“Thereafter, our price forecast is more driven by fundamentals and the need for new capacity to be developed,” the analysts added. “We expect prices in China to rise in the second half of the decade.”
South Africa, Gabon and Australia are the world’s largest producers of manganese, and combined they hold about 61 percent of global reserves.
South32 and Anglo American are both significant companies in the manganese space, with operations in top producer South Africa and other countries.
The storm’s impact on critical infrastructure at South32’s manganese site included the wharf from which the company shipped its manganese ore as well as a haulage bridge that connected mining areas to processing facilities. South32’s management is looking to January to March 2025 for the full resumption of activities at Groote Eylandt.
Firebird Metals’ Oakover high-purity manganese project hosts a mineral resource estimate of 172 million tonnes at 9.9 percent manganese and an indicated resource of 105.8 million tonnes at 10.1 percent manganese. According to a recent scoping study, the site could host production of 1.2 million tonnes per year of manganese concentrate with an 18 year mine life.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2022.
Securities Disclosure: I, Matthew Flood, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Firebird Metals and Element 25 are clients of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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