[Ferro-Alloys.com]The quantity of molybdenum concentrates produced at Bingham Canyon Mine by Kennecott Utah Copper in the period from January to March in 2016 was 100 tons in pure Mo equivalent (equal to 220,000 lbs), drastically down by 96.3% from 2,700 tons (= 5.95 million lbs) in the year-earlier period. The production volume in terms of material quantity was 200 tons.

 

According to the production report released on April 18 by its parent company, Rio Tinto plc, such reasons are provided for the decreased production as the molybdenum content in the run-of-mine ore at Bingham Canyon Mine was an average of 0.015% which was extremely low compared with 0.041% in the year-earlier period and that, the ore treated volume was 7.39 million tons, down by 24.8% from the year-earlier period.

 

The Company's molybdenum production has continued to show a declining trend since peaking in the period from July to September in 2014.