Kennecott to build plant to process molybdenum

SOUTH JORDAN — Kennecott Utah Copper will soon process the molybdenum and rhenium it pulls out as a byproduct of its Bingham Canyon Mine copper production, instead of hiring someone else to do the job.

And that means more jobs, more efficiency and the potential to extend the life of the mine.

Rio Tinto, Kennecott's parent company, said Wednesday night from Australia that it will build a $340 million molybdenum autoclave process, or MAP, facility in Magna.

The facility, slated to be finished in 2012 and operating in 2013, will allow the company to more efficiently recover the silvery-white metal that's used primarily to strengthen steel and other metal alloys. It's also part of oil-refining catalysts used to remove sulfur from fuel and improve air quality, according to the company.

The facility will be used for Kennecott's existing operation, from which it extracts 30 million to 40 million pounds of "moly" a year, said project manager Doug Stauffer.

"We produce a concentrate that we ship to a third party for roasting to process it to a final, saleable product," he said. "This means we will do that here and sell it directly to end-use customers."

It will be sold as a powder that buyers will convert to metal, he noted.

The facility, which has extensive energy conservation features built into the plan, will mean 50 new jobs when second-phase construction is completed. Stauffer and Kennecott spokeswoman Jana Kettering note that the construction itself also will create jobs.

The company produces about 8 percent of the world's molybdenum. And it plans to expand the new facility in 2015, about the time it reaches a section of the existing mine that has a higher moly content. At that point, Stauffer said, they expect to retrieve about 60 million pounds of moly a year.

The concentrate also contains rhenium, which is even more rare and is used as an alloy in jet engine turbines, allowing manufacturers to turn the engines at a higher temperature and speed and create more fuel-efficient engines, Stauffer said. Kennecott will produce about 9,000 pounds of rhenium a year, which will increase in 2015. The average price in the last three months was $2,000 a pound.