Global Environmental Risk Assessment of Manganese

A global environmental risk assessment (ERA) was conducted in order to assess the environmental risk from the production and processing of manganese and its compounds  around the world. In order to obtain information on manganese uses and emissions, a site specific questionnaire was developed to collect the required information from the sites. The principal sites producing or using manganese fall into three broad categories. These are mining sites, refining sites, and sites producing chemicals and pigments. There are two principal approaches towards waste disposal, these are the treatment of liquid wastes to separate solids for disposal off-site with a consented wastewater discharge, or disposal onsite through the use of evaporation or settlement ponds in order to maintain the waste materials in a suitable manner following site closure.