Nodulizing Practice at Manganese Inc.

At Henderson, Nev., Manganese Inc. is mining by open pit methods a low grade manganese ore averaging 21 pct Mn, concentrating it to 42 pct by flotation, and agglomerating it to produce nodules of metallurgical grade-about 48 pct Mn. The striking aspect of the whole operation, and one that has considerable effect on nodulizing, is the use of approximately 250 lb of reagent per ton of mill feed. For many years rotary kilns have been used for drying, calcining, clinkering cement and other products, and burning lime. Their use for nodulizing or agglomerating a metallic ore is new-first reported in this country in 1904, when a small rotary kiln at South Chicago was employed to nodulize flue dust from a blast furnace. After a short time this process was replaced by sintering.