Characterization of Sumbawa manganese ore and recovery of manganese sulfate as leaching products

The aims of this research were to study the leaching process of manganese ore which originated from Sumbawa, Indonesia and its characterization. A high grade Indonesian manganese ore from Sumbawa, West of Nusa Tenggara was characterized by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). The result showed composition of 78.8 % Mn, 17.77% Fe and the rest were trace elements such as Si, Co, Ti, Zn, V and Zr contents. X-Ray Diffraction analysis showed that the manganese ore was consisted of pyrolusite (MnO2), rhodonite (MnSiO3), rhodochrosite (MnCO3) and hematite (Fe2O3). Manganese ore was also analyzed by thermal analysis to observe their thermal decomposition character. In this study, sulphuric acid (H2SO4, 6 M) was deployed as leaching agent. The leaching process was performed at 90 °C for two hours with the addition of NH4OH to control pH. Recovery percentage of leaching process yielded of 87 % Mn extracted. The crystallization process result at heating temperature of 200 °C was confirmed by XRD as manganese sulfate.