Manganese
Indispensable for steelmaking and increasingly used in battery cathodes (LMFP, NMC). China refines over 90% of battery-grade manganese.
Steel for data-center structures and transformers, and manganese-rich cathodes in stationary storage.
Mining is spread across South Africa, Gabon and Australia, but refining for batteries is >90% concentrated in China.
Where it's produced
Share of 2025 world mine production (Mn content) (thousand metric tons). Source: USGS MCS 2026.
Where the reserves are
Share of known economic reserves (thousand metric tons). World total: 1.7B t. ≈ 85 years at 2025 output.
Who calls it critical
Membership on each government list. “Strategic” marks a higher tier where the list has one; “group” means included as part of a group such as rare earths or PGMs.
Manganese: key questions
- Where is manganese mined or produced?
- According to USGS 2025 data, the largest producers are South Africa (38%), Gabon (25%) and Ghana (10%) of world mine production (Mn content). China accounts for about 4%.
- Is manganese a critical mineral?
- Manganese appears on 7 of the 10 official lists we track (United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada).
- Is manganese in short supply?
- Our supply status: Watch. Mining is spread across South Africa, Gabon and Australia, but refining for batteries is >90% concentrated in China.
- Why does manganese matter for AI infrastructure?
- Steel for data-center structures and transformers, and manganese-rich cathodes in stationary storage.
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