Investigation of the beneficiation of manganese ore in the Karaburun region by leaching

Manganese is an important metal required for various industries including the iron and steel industry, chemical industry, and in recent years, especially in energy storage systems and batteries. There are many regions in our country where low-grade manganese ores are found, and it is important to evaluate these deposits and contribute to the economy. With the depletion of high-grade ores in the world, the necessity to obtain manganese from low-grade ores is increasing. The aim of this study is to investigate the beneficiation of low grade manganese ore obtained from Karaburun District of İzmir Province (Türkiye). Mineralogical investigations of the related ore were made and the manganese grade of the ore containing high pyrolusite was determined as 16.55%. Pre-enrichment studies were conducted on the ore and the literature was examined. In order to prepare the sample, size reduction studies were carried out first in the jaw crusher and then in the roller crusher. Microscopic examinations, XRD and XRF analyzes, wet and dry sieve analysis were conducted, and density was determined as part of mineralogical studies on the ore sized -1150 microns. In the light of the data obtained, the ore was reduced to -150 micron size due to its low liberation size and enriched with a high field intensity wet magnetic separator. At the end of wet magnetic separation, 31.24% manganese grade was reached with 49.63% efficiency. In order to reach higher manganese grade values, leaching process was applied to the ore. The experimental design was created by analyzing the samples prepared for leaching with Mastersizer and XRF. The results of the leaching experiments were obtained through AAS analysis. In the experiments, sulfuric acid was used as a solvent and hydrogen peroxide was used as a reducing agent. From the concentrate obtained at the end of high field intensity wet magnetic separation; 95.86% manganese recovery efficiency could be obtained after 30 minutes of leaching at 32.12°C at 400 rpm mixing speed, 2.97 M acid concentration and 2 M reductant concentration with 1/10 solids ratio.