Climax
At Climax, the ore occurs scattered through the intrusive Climax [Granite] [Porphyry] and the intruded Idaho Springs Formation. Visitors can tour the surface workings during the summer months.
Tertiary [dikes] Shell of Climax [stock] Core of Climax stock Ore zone Precambrian [granite] [Fault] Dykes
Molybdenum now ranks as the number one metal mined in Colorado. Over $105,000,000 of “moly” was mined here during 1969, almost all of it from the Climax Mine, the world’s largest single source of this metal. The Climax deposit is located high on the west slope of Ten Mile Range in central Colorado, about 100 miles southwest of Denver. It is in the central part of the Colorado mineral belt, near the Mosquito [Fault], a prominent structural feature which extends about sixty miles along the north-south trend of the mountains. Rocks on both sides of this fault are intruded by Tertiary [granite] [dikes], sills, and stocks. The Climax Mine is in a [stock] just east of the fault, near the axis of a broad [anticline] in Precambrian metamorphic rocks.
Ore minerals at Climax are [molybdenite], [huebnerite], and [cassiterite]; [pyrite] is recovered also for the manufacture of sulfuric acid. The ore is very low in metal content, containing only one-third of a percent of molybdenum, 0.005% tungsten trioxide, and 0.0001% tin. The great size of the ore body and efficient recovery by modern methods make Climax a profitable mine, however. Production has risen each year since the mine began operation.
Urad Mine near Berthoud Pass is a newly developed near-surface molybdenum mine similar to Climax. Nearby at the Henderson Mine the ore body is more than half a mile below the surface of the ground.