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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Climax Mill (Facility)

Producer in Lake county in Colorado, United States with commodities Molybdenum, Tungsten, Tin, Sulfur-Pyrite, REE
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Land status
  11. Ownership information
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10239660
MAS/MILS ID 0080650144
Record type Site
Current site name Climax Mill (Facility)
Alternate or previous names Climax Concentrator

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Plant
Geographic coordinates: -106.18394, 39.36805 (WGS84)
Elevation 3475
Location accuracy 100(meters)
Relative position Within 100 Meters

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lake(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Climax(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Leadville(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Leadville(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Arkansas Headwaters(hydrologic unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic subregion)

Arkansas-White-Red(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Pike and San Isabel National Forests(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Lake

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 008 S 079 W 11 Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • ABOUT 10 MILES NORTHEAST OF LEADVILLE, ON THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE JUST EAST OF FREMONT PASS, ADJACENT TO THE CLIMAX MINE, IN SEC. 11, T 8 S, R 79 W.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Molybdenum Primary
Tungsten Critical Secondary
Tin Critical Secondary
Sulfur-Pyrite Secondary
REE Critical Secondary

Nearby scientific data

Plant (1) -106.18394, 39.36805
ListMap

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Processing Plant
Development status Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant No

Mining district

District name Climax District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Climax Molybdenum Co., Division Of American Metal Climax Inc. (Amax)
    ID 502337
    Home office Colorado
    Year 1980

Comments on the ownership information

  • OWN: CLIMAX MOLYBDENUM CO., A PHELPS DODGE COMPANY

Comments on the production information

  • Total production from 1918 to 1991 is about 470 million tons of ore at an average grade of 0.22% molybdenum. Mill capacity is 16,000 tons of ore/day. The mine and mill were placed on a care-and-maintenance status in 1995. In April 2006, the company announced plans to upgrade the concentrator and re-open the mine in 2009.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • At the end of 2005, reserves were 156.4 million tons at a grade of 0.19% molybdenum plus 87 milllion tons of mineralized material at a grade of 0.25% molybdenum. (Phelps Dodge 2005 Annual Report)

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    COLO ACTIVE METAL/NONMETAL

  • Deposit

    REVISED BY MILS 3-80 - MSHA INSPECTION DATA

  • Development

    Climax Molybdenum Co. and Phelps Dodge Corp. information accessed on the internet on May 25, 2006

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-NOV-83 Mils/Rdm U.S. Bureau of Mines
Updater 26-MAY-06 Beach, Richard A. Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Current status (per MSHA)

StatusAbandoned since 11/20/1987
MSHA mine ID0502337
Mine name (MSHA)Climax Mill
Current operatorClimax Molybdenum Company
Current controller (parent)Cyprus Amax Minerals Company
Mine typeFacility (Metal / non-metal)

MSHA cross-reference per the original MRDS record. Mine status and operator reflect MSHA's last published Mines export (February 2025); MSHA's public bulk feed has been unavailable since, so this may be out of date. See the Mine Data Retrieval System for current status.

Open MSHA's Mine Data Retrieval System for inspections, accidents, and violations for this mine.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Colorado resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.