Recent from talks
Climax mine
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Climax mine
The Climax mine, located in Climax, Colorado, United States, is a major molybdenum mine in Lake and Summit counties, Colorado. The operations encompass approximately 14,350 acres, consisting primarily of patented mining claims and other fee lands.
Shipments from the mine began in 1915. At its highest output, the Climax mine was the largest molybdenum mine in the world, and for many years it supplied three quarters of the world's supply of molybdenum.
After a long shutdown, the Climax mine reopened and resumed molybdenum shipment on May 10, 2012. The Climax open-pit mine currently includes a 25,000 metric ton-per-day mill facility, with the capacity to produce approximately 30 million pounds of molybdenum per year.
The mine is owned by Climax Molybdenum Company, a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan.
The prospector Charles Senter discovered and claimed the outcropping of molybdenite (molybdenum sulfide) veins in 1879, during the Leadville, Colorado Silver Boom, but had no idea what the mineral there was. Senter determined that the rock contained no gold or silver, but retained the claims. The following year he settled with his Ute wife a few miles north, and made a living working a nearby gold placer. Each year he performed the assessment work required to maintain his lode claims, convinced that his mystery mineral must be of value. In 1918 Senter received US$40,000 for his mining claims and "settled into a comfortable retirement in Denver."
Although Senter finally found a chemist who identified the gray mineral as containing molybdenum in 1895, at the time there was virtually no market for the metal. When steelmakers determined the utility of molybdenum as an alloy in producing hard steel, the Climax mine began full production in 1914, with the first ore shipments from the deposit in 1915. The main ore-bearing area was Bartlett Mountain, which was mined out during the early mining. The demand for molybdenum fell drastically at the end of World War I, and the Climax mine shut down in 1919. Molybdenum later found use in the metal alloys for the turbines of jet engines. Molybdenum is an important metal used in industrial work to increase the resistance of steel because of its much higher melting point compared to that of iron. Molybdenum was also used to fight weather erosion, friction, and chemical exposure of industrial equipment. The extraction of molybdenite hit its highest during World War I, when the army realized that the Germans were using molybdenum as an alloy to strengthen and increase the durability of their tanks and other weapons.
The Climax Molybdenum Company re-opened the mine in 1924, and operated it nearly continuously until the 1980s. The mine was shut down between 1995 and 2012 due to low molybdenum prices. The mine's owner, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, continued to work on environmental cleanup of past operations while holding the mine ready in the event of market changes.
In December 2007 Freeport-McMoRan reported that it planned to reopen the Climax mine and that production should start in 2010. An initial $500-million project involved the restart of open-pit mining and construction of state-of-the-art milling facilities. The company stated that the Climax mine had "... the largest, highest-grade and lowest-cost molybdenum ore body in the world.". The remaining ore reserves are estimated to contain about 500 million pounds of molybdenum, contained in ore at an average molybdenum percentage of 0.165%. Production was expected to be about 30 million pounds per year, starting in 2010.
Hub AI
Climax mine AI simulator
(@Climax mine_simulator)
Climax mine
The Climax mine, located in Climax, Colorado, United States, is a major molybdenum mine in Lake and Summit counties, Colorado. The operations encompass approximately 14,350 acres, consisting primarily of patented mining claims and other fee lands.
Shipments from the mine began in 1915. At its highest output, the Climax mine was the largest molybdenum mine in the world, and for many years it supplied three quarters of the world's supply of molybdenum.
After a long shutdown, the Climax mine reopened and resumed molybdenum shipment on May 10, 2012. The Climax open-pit mine currently includes a 25,000 metric ton-per-day mill facility, with the capacity to produce approximately 30 million pounds of molybdenum per year.
The mine is owned by Climax Molybdenum Company, a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan.
The prospector Charles Senter discovered and claimed the outcropping of molybdenite (molybdenum sulfide) veins in 1879, during the Leadville, Colorado Silver Boom, but had no idea what the mineral there was. Senter determined that the rock contained no gold or silver, but retained the claims. The following year he settled with his Ute wife a few miles north, and made a living working a nearby gold placer. Each year he performed the assessment work required to maintain his lode claims, convinced that his mystery mineral must be of value. In 1918 Senter received US$40,000 for his mining claims and "settled into a comfortable retirement in Denver."
Although Senter finally found a chemist who identified the gray mineral as containing molybdenum in 1895, at the time there was virtually no market for the metal. When steelmakers determined the utility of molybdenum as an alloy in producing hard steel, the Climax mine began full production in 1914, with the first ore shipments from the deposit in 1915. The main ore-bearing area was Bartlett Mountain, which was mined out during the early mining. The demand for molybdenum fell drastically at the end of World War I, and the Climax mine shut down in 1919. Molybdenum later found use in the metal alloys for the turbines of jet engines. Molybdenum is an important metal used in industrial work to increase the resistance of steel because of its much higher melting point compared to that of iron. Molybdenum was also used to fight weather erosion, friction, and chemical exposure of industrial equipment. The extraction of molybdenite hit its highest during World War I, when the army realized that the Germans were using molybdenum as an alloy to strengthen and increase the durability of their tanks and other weapons.
The Climax Molybdenum Company re-opened the mine in 1924, and operated it nearly continuously until the 1980s. The mine was shut down between 1995 and 2012 due to low molybdenum prices. The mine's owner, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, continued to work on environmental cleanup of past operations while holding the mine ready in the event of market changes.
In December 2007 Freeport-McMoRan reported that it planned to reopen the Climax mine and that production should start in 2010. An initial $500-million project involved the restart of open-pit mining and construction of state-of-the-art milling facilities. The company stated that the Climax mine had "... the largest, highest-grade and lowest-cost molybdenum ore body in the world.". The remaining ore reserves are estimated to contain about 500 million pounds of molybdenum, contained in ore at an average molybdenum percentage of 0.165%. Production was expected to be about 30 million pounds per year, starting in 2010.
Recent media