page_title: Climax mine
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Climax mine / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Climax molybdenum mine, Colorado, circa 1924 (USGS photo)
context_page_description: The Climax mine, located in Climax, Colorado, United States, is a major molybdenum mine in Lake and Summit counties, Colorado. 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-fourths of the world's supply of molybdenum.
  After a long shutdown, the Climax mine has reopened and resumed shipment of molybdenum on May 10, 2012. The mine is owned by Climax Molybdenum Company, a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan.
context_section_description: 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 he 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 $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 first ore shipments from the deposit began in 1915, and the Climax mine began full production in 1914. 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 weapons and tanks.
  The Climax Molybdenum Company re-opened the mine in 1924, and it operated the mine nearly continuously until the 1980s. The mine was shut down between 1995 and 2012, because of low molybdenum prices. The mine's current 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 involves the restart of open-pit mining and construction of state-of-the-art milling facilities. The company stated that the Climax mine has "... 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.
  Due to lower molybdenum prices, Freeport-McMoRan announced in November 2008 that it was deferring the plan to reopen the Climax mine. At the time, the company had spent about US$200 million preparing for a restart of the mine, with an estimated US$350 million more needed to complete the capital improvements and reopen. 
  In May 2012, following a 17-year shutdown, the Climax mine reopened and resumed shipment of molybdenum.
caption: Climax molybdenum mine, Colorado, circa 1924 (USGS photo)
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