MANGANESE NODULES, ITS PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Manganese (Mn) is not only one of the important elements in the earths crust, which is essential to iron and steel production, aluminum alloys, an additive in unleaded gasoline, the reagent in organic chemistry etc, but also an essential element for human health, metabolism, and antioxidant system. The Mn deposits are of interest because they contain greater amounts of other metals that are found in todays known economically minable deposits. High quantity of Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn containing in the Mn deposits makes it a significant potential economic resource for these elements. The most identified deposits of manganese are in South Africa, Australia, China, Brazil, Gabon, Ukraine, India, Fiji, Ghana, and Kazakistan. Besides the inland deposits, a huge amount of Mn nodules deposits (several times more than the economically minable deposits on land today) have been identified in different ocean basins at approximately about 3500 to 6500 meter (m) depths especially in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. But mining Mn nodule in the ocean basin at an industrial scale is presently not usual because there are no market-ready mining machines. Moreover, at present, environmental impact on ocean basin due to mining takes attention to the society. Future research and time being mining technology will be economically feasible for Mn nodules mining in different ocean basins.