Kennecott Utah Copper (Kennecott) of the USA produced 12,900 tonnes of Mo in molybdenum concentrates in the calendar year of 2010, which increased by 14% YoY as compared with that of 11,300 tonnes in the preceding year of 2009 and continued to increase for the last two years but were still unable to reach the high level produced in 2006. The figures mentioned in the report by Rio Tinto were rounded to the nearest whole number and, therefore, the figures compared with those in other periods had remained as announced by Rio Tinto.

For a reference, Kennecott produced 4,200 tonnes of Mo in molybdenum concentrates in October to December quarter of 2010, which had a considerable increase of 56% compared with that of 2,700 tonnes in the preceding quarter of July to September and also increased by 22% compared to that of 3,400 tonnes in the same quarter of 2009.

The reasons, why the output of Mo in concentrates by Kennecott in October to December quarter of 2010 had a substantial increase, were due to the facts that Mo content in crude ore produced at Bingham Canyon Mine in the quarter was high and the increased production of copper in that quarter also caused an increase of Mo extracted in the process of copper production.

(Sourced from TEX Report Limited)