Manganese Manganese Manganese is a chemical element with symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is not found as a free element in nature; it is often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a metal with important industrial metal alloy uses, particularly in stainless steels. Historically, manganese is named for pyrolusite and other black minerals from the region of Magnesia in Greece, which also gave its name to magnesium and the iron ore magnetite. By the mid-18th century, Swedish-German chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele had used pyrolusite to produce chlorine. Scheele and others were aware that pyrolusite (now known
Manganese recovery of the manganese. For further purification, the manganese can then be sent to an electrowinning facility. In 1972 the CIA's Project Azorian, through billionaire Howard Hughes, commissioned the ship "Hughes Glomar Explorer" with the cover story of harvesting manganese nodules from the sea floor. That triggered a rush of activity to collect manganese nodules, which was not actually practical. The real mission of "Hughes Glomar Explorer" was to raise a sunken Soviet submarine, the K-129, with the goal of retrieving Soviet code books. Manganese has no satisfactory substitute in its major applications in metallurgy. In minor applications, (e.g., manganese