Ferrimolybdite / Molybdite

A rarely seen Ferrimolybdite from the famous Climax Mine. This is actually a SIGNIFICANT Molybdenum mine with a very large open pit and some underground tunnels. This specimen hosts soft yellow semi-powdery crusts of Ferrimolybdite or possibly just Molybdite sitting on "sericite" matrix.

“Minerals of Colorado” – 1997 mentions Ferrimolybdite as occurring from Climax but also states that Ferrimolybdite was formerly referred to as Molybdite and implies that Molybdite is not a valid mineral(!), so obviously there are some inconsistencies in the literature. Nonetheless, this is a great hard to find reference specimen from this classic Colorado locality. The Climax Mine was the largest producer of Molybdenum ore in the United States, and talks of the mine reopening have been going for years, and we would hope to see more of these noteworthy minerals from Climax to make their way back on the market.

Specimen# CO712B65