Molybdenum and rhenium are not exactly names that roll off the tongue or carry the familiarity of the copper produced by Rio Tinto's Bingham Canyon mine in Utah's Oquirrh Mountains. While not familiar elements to most people, molybdenum and rhenium are nonetheless valuable to steel and petroleum producers, which is why Rio Tinto, the parent company of Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC), is investing approximately $340 million into building a one-of-a-kind facility to extract, process and package the minerals, using a process developed and patented by Rio Tinto.
Kennecott's new molybdenum autoclave process (MAP) facility is rising on what was a brownfield site at the south end of the Great Salt Lake, where the pioneer town of Garfield once stood on the western side of the Salt Lake Valley. The 25-acre site will contain eight separate buildings, including its own power generation and heat recovery system.