European War, the United States produced only 1 to 2 per cent of its needed supply of manganese, the rest being imported mainly from India, Russia, and Brazil, in the form of ore, and from England in the form of ferromanganese (about half of the total requirement). The partial closing of the first two and the fourth of these sources of supply under war conditions made it necessary to turn for ore to Brazil and also to Cuba, where American interests developed a considerable industry in medium-grade ores. At the same time steps were taken to develop domestic resources; and with the high prices imposed by war conditions, the domestic production, both of high- and low-grade ore, was increased largely, but still was able to supply only 35 per cent of the total requirements of manganese.
At the close of the war sufficient progress had been made—in the discovery of many new deposits in the United States, in the use of low-grade domestic ores, which before had not been able to compete with imported ores, and in the increased use of spiegel, allowing wider use of low-grade ores,—to demonstrate that, if absolutely necessary, and at high cost, the United States in another year or two could have been nearly self-sufficing in regard to its manganese requirements. The release of shipping from war demands resulted immediately in larger offerings of foreign manganese ore and of ferromanganese from England, at prices which would not allow of competition from much of the domestic or Cuban ore production or from the domestic manufacture of alloys. The result was a rather dramatic closing down of the manganese industry, with much financial loss, the passage of a bill for reimbursement of producers, and a demand on the part of the producers, though not of consumers, for a protective tariff. In the questions thus raised it is desirable that geologists and engineers professionally connected with the industry thoroughly understand the basic facts; for they are liable to be called upon for advice, not only on questions relating to domestic supplies affected by possible future foreign policies, but on the formulation of the policies themselves. Conservation, cheaper steel, and future trade relations of the United States all require consideration, before action is taken to protect this one of several similarly situated mineral industries, in the effort to make the country self-supporting. These questions are further dealt with in Chapters XVII and XVIII.
Manganese production was also developed during the war in the Gold Coast of West Africa, in Costa Rica, in Panama, in Java, and elsewhere; but with the possible exception of Java and Chile, none of these sources are likely to be factors in the world situation. The war-developed manganese production of Italy, France, Sweden, and United Kingdom is also unlikely to continue on any important scale.
Geologic Features
Like iron ores, manganese ores consist principally of the oxides of manganese (pyrolusite, psilomelane, manganite, wad, and others), and rarely the carbonate of manganese (rhodochrosite). They are similar in their geologic occurrence to many of the iron ores and are often mixed with iron ores as manganiferous iron ores and ferruginous manganese ores.
The higher grade manganese ores are of two general types. Those of the Caucasus district in Russia are sedimentary beds, oölitic in texture, which were originally deposited as rather pure manganese oxides, and which have undergone little secondary concentration.