Battery Minerals

Manganese

An essential steel additive and a growing battery cathode component.

MnStrategic score 66EU Critical Raw MaterialUS Critical Mineral (high-purity)

Price

$4.6 / USD/dmtu

Price change

-1.8%

Producing assets

Technologies

Context

Why it matters

Over 90% of manganese goes into steel, but high-purity manganese sulphate is a fast-growing battery input.

Profile

Applications: Steel alloying, LMFP and NMC cathodes, Aluminium alloys, Fertiliser micronutrients
Supply risk: Low for ore, high for battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate.
Geopolitics: South Africa, Gabon and Australia lead ore supply; refining to battery grade is almost entirely Chinese.
Substitutes: Within batteries, manganese is itself the low-cost substitute for nickel and cobalt.
Recycling: High within steel scrap loops.
Sustainability: Ferroalloy smelting is energy intensive; slag and dust management are the key issues.
Forecast: Battery-grade demand grows rapidly from a small base.
Key countries: 3 tracked producer and processing roles

Methodology

Version v0.1

Demand Outlook: 73 (weight 1.2) — Projected demand growth relative to the broader mineral economy over the next decade.
Supply Risk: 59 (weight 1.2) — Likelihood of supply falling short of demand, accounting for project pipeline and lead times.
Geographic Concentration: 68 (weight 1) — How concentrated mining and processing are across countries and companies.
Geopolitical Risk: 66 (weight 1) — Exposure to export controls, sanctions and jurisdictional instability.
Technology Importance: 69 (weight 1.1) — How central the mineral is to strategically important technologies.
Strategic Importance: 73 (weight 1) — Recognition in national critical mineral lists and defence supply chains.
Substitutability: 64 (weight 0.8) — How readily the mineral can be replaced without material performance loss. Higher is harder to substitute.
Recycling Potential: 53 (weight 0.7) — Ability of secondary supply to relieve primary demand. Higher means less relief available.

Assets

Operations in the Kalahari Manganese Field, the largest manganese resource on earth.

Materials

The lightest metal and the irreplaceable charge carrier in current lithium-ion battery chemistries.

Crystalline carbon and the dominant anode material in every commercial lithium-ion cell.

A cathode stabiliser that improves battery energy density and cycle life, produced mostly as a copper by-product.

A corrosion-resistant metal essential to stainless steel and to high-energy-density battery cathodes.