manganese ore, iron balls , scrap, copeer , Manganese and Steelmaking Steel is basically an alloy of iron and carbon, consisting of an iron phase and iron carbides. Crude steel produced from iron contains an undesirable amount of oxygen and some sulphur. Manganese plays a key role because of two important properties: its ability to combine with sulphur and its powerful deoxidation capacity. When there is insufficient manganese the sulphur combines with iron to form a low melting point sulphide, which melts at hot rolling temperatures, causing a surface cracking phenomenon known as “hot shortness”. Desulphurisation processes reduce the need for manganese in this respect. Some 30% of the manganese used today is still used for its properties as a sulphide former and deoxidant.