Manganese
Gloria
Gloria Mine commenced production in 1978. The strata-bound manganese body has a regular and gentle dip. The ore has a higher manganese-to-iron ratio than the Nchwaning ore and is an excellent metallurgical blending ore. The deposit at Gloria is well-suited to mechanised mining methods. The mine has a vertical and an inclined shaft. Ore is crushed underground and is conveyed over a distance of about 1 000 metres to surface by means of a conveyor belt system in the inclined shaft.
The mine has a production capacity of one million tons of ore per annum.
Ore processing
Ore at the Nchwaning and Gloria mines is crushed, washed and screened to various sizes. After passing through the plants the ore is stacked according to size and grade. The stacks have nominal capacities of 280 to 320 tons each and are numbered and sampled.Ore quality
Typical analyses of manganese ore grades.
| Element | 37% Gloria | Gloria fines | ||
| Mn % | 38.0 | 37.0 | ||
| Fe % | 4.9 | 5.0 | ||
| Si02 % | 5.9 | 6.2 | ||
| P % | 0.02 | 0.03 | ||
| S % | 0.04 | 0.08 | ||
| Al203 | 0.2 | 0.2 | ||
| CaO | 13.5 | 15.0 | ||
| MgO | 3.6 | 3.8 | ||
| K20 | <0.1 | <0.2 | ||
| Na20 | <0.1 | <0.2 |
Sizing
| Lumpy | minus 75 millimetres plus 6 millimetres |
| Fines | minus 6 millimetres |