Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc of the USA released recently the quantities of molybdenum and cobalt produced and sold by them in the second quarter of 2011.

Namely, Freeport produced 22 million pounds of molybdenum in molybdenum concentrates in the second quarter of 2011, which had a considerable increase of 29.4% compared with that of 17 million pounds in the same quarter of 2010 and consisted of 9 million pounds from primary mine and 13 million pounds from by product mines.

Owing to a favorable tone of copper price in April to June quarter of 2011, the output of molybdenum at by products mines in the quarter also increased. The sales of molybdenum, excluding purchases from outside sources, in the second quarter of 2011 reached 21 million pounds of molybdenum in concentrates, which increased by 31.3% compared to that of 16 million pounds in the same quarter of 2010 and exceeded an estimation of 17 million pounds made in April of this year.

For a reference, Freeport is scheduled to sell 18 million pounds of molybdenum in concentrates in July to September quarter of 2011 and the total quantity of molybdenum in concentrates to be sold in the calendar year of 2011 has been amended to 77 million pounds from 73 million pounds as estimated in a previous time.

Mo content in crude ore mined at the Hendeson primary molybdenum mine of the USA in April to June quarter of 2011 was 0.24% on the average, which continued to be lower than those in the preceding 3 quarters, and this lower Mo content resulted in a decrease of molybdenum production by 5.6% from that in January to March quarter. Also, Mo content in concentrates produced at by product mines of North America and South America remained on a similar level for the last 3 quarters but both mines increased the quantities mined by more than 3% in April to June quarter and, therefore, molybdenum production at by products mines recorded a stable output.

For a reference, Freeport produced 6 million pounds of cobalt metal in April to June quarter of 2011, having increased by 50% from that in the same quarter of 2010, and sold 7 million pounds in the quarter, which had a considerable increase of 75.0% as compared to that in the same quarter of 2010. Freeport produces cobalt metal as by product in the process of copper production at the Tenke Fungurume mine of DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Co content in crude ore mined in April to June quarter had a certain recovery but the volume of crude ore mined in the quarter had a decline. Accordingly, the output of cobalt in April to June quarter is supposed to have remained on a similar level to that in January to March quarter.

(Sourced from TEX Report Limited)