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Molybdenum mining depends on location, with deep underground mines or surface mining techniques used. Molybdenum is found in China, Russia, Chile, Canada, Peru, and the US. The process involves using a dragline excavator, beneficiation, and transforming molybdenum disulfide into molybdenum oxide.
The molybdenum mining process depends on the laws in places within the country where veins of the ore have been discovered. If the ore is found deep underground mines are dug. If it is found on the surface or at a shallow depth, surface mining techniques are employed. The United States Environmental Protection Agency is a good source of information on molybdenum strip mining. When a mineral discovery is made in the United States near the surface, the procedure for extracting molybdenum is as follows: clear the site of brush and topsoil, remove the ore, and restore the location to its former appearance.
Molybdenum, also known as molybdenum, is element 42 of the periodic table of elements, a chart that lists the different types of atoms that exist and the characteristics each possesses. Molybdenum ore, or molybdenite, is slippery to the touch and leaves a black mark when moved across a light surface. It was originally mistaken by many for lead. In 1781, Peter Jacob Hjelm isolated molybdenum as a pure element, belonging to the same chemical family as chromium and tungsten, elements known for their strength and heat tolerance.
Molybdenite has been located and mined in China, the Russian States, Chile, Canada, Peru and the United States near the continental divide. Mines can produce different products or combinations of products: molybdenum in primary sources only, copper ores in byproduct sources, and both molybdenum and copper in byproduct sources. Moly prospectors drill proposed exploration sites and extract core samples every few thousand feet (1000 feet = approximately 305m). These cylindrical specimens are removed from hundreds of feet (100 feet = approximately 30.5m) in the bedrock.
The first step in mining for molybdenum is using a dragline excavator. Weighing thousands of tons, the excavator looks like a giant mobile crane with a bucket attached to the end of the boom. With the use of ropes and pulleys, the bucket is dragged along the ground collecting plants, topsoil and finally the bedrock. Once all the ore has been recovered, the excavator moves to a new location and repeats the process.
After the ore has been removed from the excavator’s bucket, it is dumped into nearby large diameter dug shafts. High pressure water is forced over the ore to form a rock slurry which is drawn down 2cm diameter pipes and sent to the mill for processing. Pieces of bedrock removed from the site, on the way to the mill, may be 60.96 cm (9 inches) in diameter.
The next process is beneficiation, where rocks are ground up and then separated into minerals and waste products. The purification consists of three parts: washing, separation by density to remove magnesium oxides and flotation. The ore debris is subjected to repeated cycles of rinsing, ball milling, and screen sizing to produce a concentrated batch consisting primarily of molybdenite ore in the form of molybdenum disulfide. Molybdenite is the only molybdenum ore that separates easily through the flotation process, possibly due to the way it, as a fine particle, repels or is repelled by water molecules.
Molybdenum disulfide is transformed into molybdenum oxide by heating it in air. The sulfur is removed as sulfur dioxide gas. Although molybdenum oxide is usually the export product from molybdenum mining, it can be transformed into molybdenum by heating it in the presence of hydrogen gas. The oxygen, within the molybdenum oxide, bonds with the hydrogen to form a solution of water and pure molybdenum atoms.
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