(3) Manganese.

Manganese ores have been exported uninterruptedly since the year 1878, when 2,516 tons, valued at £10,416, was the yield, but in only one succeeding year has the original figure been equalled, and the supply shows a falling off. The total quantity is 15,803 tons valued at £51,291 During 1890, the Colonial Manganese Company produced from Waiheke Island, Auckland, 1,020 tons, valued at £2 per ton, while 150 tons valued at £2 5s. per ton came from Whangarei. Pyrolusite occurs sparingly in the colony, having been discovered in Auckland in 1873, and the only other locality known is in the same province, where the mineral was found in 1878. Hausmannite and braunite have also been noted. Manganite, psilomelane, and wad, all hydrous ores, are very plentiful; manganite in Otago, in the alluvial drift of the Kawarau and Clutha Rivers, and also an apparently extensive deposit near Taieri Mouth. An attempt was made, in 1890, to work the ore in the last-mentioned locality. In Auckland it is found at Tararu Creek (Thames), at Kawakawa, on the island of Waiheke, and at Whangarei. Tory Channel (Marlborough) and Wellington are other known localities. Wad occurs in most of the places already mentioned, and in addition to the above commercially valuable ores are found diallogite (carbonate of manganese), rhodonite (silicate), and mangano-calcite.