Copper And Molybdenum Deposits In The United States :: essays research papers

fuzz and molybdenum Deposits in the United States atomic number 29 and molybdenum resources were not recognized as valuablecommodities until economic unavoidably demanded the collection and processing of theseminerals in large amounts. The most expansive deposits of strapper and molybdenumoccur in massive first-class honours degree grade ores and argon found in intrusive porphyry formations,although many smaller surface but higher grade ores are located in non-porphyryareas. The landed estate has abundant domestic slovenly person ore reserves but because of many deleterious economic factors much of the copper used by the U.S. industry isimported. Molybdenum ore is profuse and exports of it are high to fulfill the motifs of foreign demand.Copper was first used by people roughly 4000 B.C. in the establish oftools because of its malleability and later became an important additive inharder, more than reclaimable metals such as bronze (copper+tin 2500 B.C.) and brass(copper+z inc 0 A.D.). The growth of copper work in the United States hasbeen a relatively recent occurrence. North American French explorers knew ofsources of native copper in the region of Lake Superior and the area natives hadcopper jewelry and ornamentation. Earnest copper mining began in Simsbury,Connecticut about 1709 and copper was actually exported to England after asource was discovered in New Jersey around 1719. In later times domestic copperresources did not run across national needs until the discovery of gold inCalifornia shifted the localize of mineral exploration westward and strikes of richcopper ores occurred in Tennessee and the Cordilleran home plate regions. The CivilWar caused copper demand to increase greatly in order to manufacture cartridgesand canned goods, this resulted in the openings of numerous copper mines ofwhich more than 90% were in the Lake Superior area giving an important reinforcementto the Union armies. Major copper production districts then shifte d to Montanaand genus Arizona in the early 1890s. Production increased to reach peak levels of900,000 heaps a year during World War I and in 1970 1,600,000 piles of copper wereproduced but recent levels are lower, fluctuating between 1-1.5 one million million tons ayear. Technology has aided in increasing production efficiency wich resulted inspectacular resource development in the U.S. and around the world.Molybdenum has been a major mineral since 1898 when it was discovered toharden firebrand as an additive and useful in compounding chemicals and dyes.Substantial mining began in 1900 in the southwest but the demand was so low thatactivity ceased in 1900. In 1906 the molybdenum industry boomed and with thedawn of WWI the need for quality steel further increased the necessity for this