The manganese dioxide powder under study, called Permanox is a byproduct of saccharin manufacture. It contains about 10% by weight of water and 7.5% KOH. The electric conductivity is highly dependent on pressure, water content, temperature and not least, the measuring procedure. Conductivity rises considerably in transverse electric fields. From Argand diagrams, the apparent powder resistivity can be split into two parts. To a first approximation, the first part belongs to the grain cores, the second to intergranular contacts. © 1979.