stylistic:style_transfer, structural:summarization
Occurrence and production

Molybdenum is the 54th most abundant element in the Earth's crust with an average of 1.5 parts per million and the 25th most abundant element in the oceans, with an average of 10 parts per billion; it is the 42nd most abundant element in the Universe. The Soviet Luna 24 mission discovered a molybdenum-bearing grain (1 × 0.6 μm) in a pyroxene fragment taken from Mare Crisium on the Moon. The comparative rarity of molybdenum in the Earth's crust is offset by its concentration in a number of water-insoluble ores, often combined with sulfur in the same way as copper, with which it is often found. Though molybdenum is found in such minerals as wulfenite (PbMoO) and powellite (CaMoO), the main commercial source is molybdenite (Mo S). Molybdenum is mined as a principal ore and is also recovered as a byproduct of copper and tungsten mining.

The world's production of molybdenum was 250,000 tonnes in 2011, the largest producers being China (94,000 t), the United States (64,000 t), Chile (38,000 t), Peru (18,000 t) and Mexico (12,000 t). The total reserves are estimated at 10 million tonnes, and are mostly concentrated in China (4.3 Mt), the US (2.7 Mt) and Chile (1.2 Mt). By continent, 93% of world molybdenum production is about evenly shared between North America, South America (mainly in Chile), and China. Europe and the rest of Asia (mostly Armenia, Russia, Iran and Mongolia) produce the remainder.

In molybdenite processing, the ore is first roasted in air at a temperature of 700 °C (1,292 °F). The process gives gaseous sulfur dioxide and the molybdenum(VI) oxide:

The resulting oxide is then usually extracted with aqueous ammonia to give ammonium molybdate:

Copper, an impurity in molybdenite, is separated at this stage by treatment with hydrogen sulfide. Ammonium molybdate converts to ammonium dimolybdate, which is isolated as a solid. Heating this solid gives molybdenum trioxide:

Crude trioxide can be further purified by sublimation at 1,100 °C (2,010 °F).

Metallic molybdenum is produced by reduction of the oxide with hydrogen:

The molybdenum for steel production is reduced by the aluminothermic reaction with addition of iron to produce ferromolybdenum. A common form of ferromolybdenum contains 60% molybdenum.

Molybdenum had a value of approximately $30,000 per tonne as of August 2009. It maintained a price at or near $10,000 per tonne from 1997 through 2003, and reached a peak of $103,000 per tonne in June 2005. In 2008, the London Metal Exchange announced that molybdenum would be traded as a commodity.