The Cariboo Gold District in BC

Molybdenum is mined by itself or with other metals such as copper. The largest producers are the USA, China and Chile. The first was in 1910 as a filament support for incandescent lamps. The main uses of molybdenum is as a steel strengthener which is a powerful anti-corrosive in steel improving weldability, reducing brittleness and helping steel perform in very high or low temperatures. The key effect of all this is using molybdenum in very small amounts can reduce the total tonnage of steel needed for a particular application. The net is that molybdenum is an essential metal for out industrial economy.

Worldwide molybdenum consumption about 470 million lbs in 2008 and growing at an approximately 4% average annual rate in past 50 years. The growth of molybdenum usage is cause by the boom in energy and a growing need for pipelines, offshore oil and gas, nuclear power. Automakers seeking reduced weight and an ongoing drive to lower costs via reducing total tonnage used.

In 2003, 2004 and 2005 the molybdenum price went up to record prices. In 2005 molybdenum prices reached $45.00 per ton and miners were raking it in. In 2008, with the credit crunch occurring, it crashed to $8.00 per ton and ahs recovered slightly since.

Pricing of Molybdenum can be tricky since it is not an exchange-traded metal with any daily inventory data to monitor. However, in 2009 there has been an uptick in the inventories of the two largest North American producers (Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Thompson Creek Metals Co.) and it is likely that inventories also are building at other large producers. This does not bode well for the Molybdenum price in the near term; however Chinese demand is the wild card.

The Cariboo region has molybdenum mostly as a byproduct of certain mines but it is certainly a bonus when it is there and the price is high. There are some mines, outside of but close to the Cariboo Region, that are primary molybdenum producers.

A price chart of Molybdenum from the London Metals Exchange: