Rhenium, Without Which There Would Be No Modern Jet Aircraft, Is A Byproduct Of Molybdenum Mining

Implications: Luckily for the free world the US is the world's largest producer of the metal molybdenum. Rhenium is contained as trace element in both the primary molybdenum ore mined in North America-which is responsible for 40% of North American molybdenum production-and in the molybdenum itself contained as a byproduct in America's copper ores. Because the US is self sufficient in molybdenum it is also probably self sufficient in rhenium, approximately 40 tons of the world's annual production of 125 tons of the metal are recovered in North American mining operations. But there is a chance that there is much more rhenium in North America.

Analysis: Rhenium is a critical metal, one without which it would be impossible to produce modern military jet engines, the most efficient jet engines for civilian aircraft, and rocket engines for military use and space exploration.

This is because when it is used in concentrations of 2 to 6% to make superalloys those alloys can be used to make jet and rocket engine components to contain and direct the superheated exhaust of jet and rocket engines without melting or losing their strength.

The higher the temperature at which a jet or rocket engine operates the more efficient and powerful it is.

In just the last year and a half all of America's molybdenum miners and producers. have taken a hard look, for most a first look, at recovering rhenium from their molybdenum. America's largest copper mine, the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine in Utah owned now and operated by Kennecott has just announced that it will invest 270 million dollars to increase production and to upgrade itself so as to be able to recover both molybdenum and rhenium at maximum levels allowed by modern technology.

At the same time rhenium content has increased the value of and the interest in North American junior miners such as MetalCORP Limited in Canada, which claims that it has extensive mineralization of primary molybdenum showing more than 600 ppm of rhenium. If this mine can be put into operation and that level of rhenium is maintained then MetalCORP could be the world's largest producer of rhenium and allow its shareholders, bankers, and the US Department of Defense all to breathe a lot easier.

Rhenium is as of the time of this writing selling for more than $5000 a pound.