The potential for manganese in the UK

Elemental manganese is a silver to grey metal, which only occurs in nature as a compound with other elements (Holmes, 1994). Manganese is a ferrous metal that has chemical properties important for desulfurizing, deoxidising, and alloying. Accordingly, its main use globally and in the UK is in steel production, in which it is used as a purifying agent during iron-ore refining (removing oxygen and sulfur), and as an essential alloy that helps convert iron into steel (Cannon et al. 2017). Increasing amounts of manganese are now used in the emerging battery market.