Molybdenum

Molybdenum price: 12 months

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Molybdenum price:15 years

Links to molybdenum supply and demand

• International Molybdenum Association
• Sprott Molybdenum Participation Corporation

The USGS puts the world molybdenum resources at 19 million tonnes, with China accounting for 8,3 million tonnes. About 60% of current global molybdenum production is as a by-product of copper or gold mining. Phelps Dodge, Codelco, Rio Tinto, Grupo Mexico, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Anglo American produce molybdenum as a by-product of copper porphyry operations. The molybdenum market in 2007 was around 400 million pounds a year, and said to be growing at a minimum of 4% annually.

Sixty percent of molybdenum consumption is used for stain­less steels, super alloys or lower alloy steel. An example is a pop­ular form of stainless steel containing three to four percent molybdenum. This type of stainless steel was used to clad the exterior of the tallest building in the world – the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Source: Sprott Asset Management

The petroleum industry depends upon molybdenum’s complex and unique properties and the pipelines on molybdenum’s corrosive-resistance properties.

Source: Sprott Asset Management