update June 27, 2015 Molybdenum US California mining company goes from 6 billion value to just over $100 million and owes $1.7 billion in debt….supply/demand…age old story.
“… the rare-earth elements, they are key to the production of electric cars, LED bulbs, smartphones, wind turbines and aerospace equipment.”
SEE 2005-2014 Calif’s Mountain View annual water quality reports at this link here.
June 19, 2015 POST: Molybdenum is on the Environmental Science & Technology publication from the UTA Clear group’s work in studying the ground water in the Barnett Shale…a 34% detect of the 550 wells they sampled.
page 14 “Beryllium, iron, and molybdenum were also elevated in 75, 87, and 187 of the groundwater samples, respectively, with a higher than expected frequency of MCL exceedances in Montague County based on chi-squared tests (Table 2).”
At the end of the UTA Clear report is a picture of the Arlington Rolling Hills Drill Site…’bout almost a mile and a half from my house.
If you don’t have time to read the actual report, the coverage on this link does a great job of making one chit thar’ panties if they drink water in the Barnett Shale (Hell).
Back in January 2015, when we were in Midland for the All State TMEA high school choir competition with my son, I met a nice old guy from Cuero TX at the hotel for breakfast (he inspects “those green” pipes for a living). He mentioned that Molybdenum is what they add to pipes to make them stronger. One of his other comments I recall was that if the product came from overseas…if it was just only heat treated here in the USA, it can bear the USA label.
Here is what Thompson Creek Metals had to say about Moly back in 2007 …..
“Increasingly, molybdenum-bearing steels are employed to replace mild carbon steels in drilling under conditions of increased temperature, pressure and/or corrosion. Just one of many new steel products available is the Timken “Impact8” brand, which was recently certified to exceed the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) and American Petroleum Institute (API) standards for resistance to sulfide stress corrosion cracking above 95 ksi. This drill pipe assays 0.65-0.75% Mo and serves to replace a popular drill steel, grade 4140, that runs 0.15-0.25 percent Mo. Note the 3-times increase in the use of molybdenum in this application. Coiled tubing (CT) is becoming one of the fastest growing oilfield technologies. Between 2001 and 2006, CT services expanded 140 percent and these steels show a higher molybdenum level. Most of the world’s CT units and strings are made in the United States. In fact, the market is essentially split between two companies, both within 4 miles of Houston.”
Here are some more uses for Moly …..mining for rare earth metals whether for fossil fuel or renewable applications, it is prudent to understand the scope if any of water contamination. Maybe Moly is leaching into our water from all the drilling here in the Barnett Shale?…Moly (and Vanadium) are two of the items added to the list of EPA UCMR 3 mandate of things municipalities had to start measuring.
I have blogged about Moly and that sweet old pipe inspector guy before.
Here is a list of 2014 water quality test results of the UCMR 3 lists…
2014 Dallas TX: Molybdenum ppb average = 1.7
2014 GrandPrairie TX: Molybdenum ppb ave range= 0 – 2.7
2014 Arlington TX : Molybdenum ppb average = 1.6
2014 Ft Worth TX: Molybdenum ppb level = 2.1
2014 Denton TX: Molybdenum ppb ave level = 1.5
2014 Colleyville TX: no mention of participating in EPA UCMR 3 testing yet claims to be in compliance with federal guidelines per the Trinity Water Authority is what Mona at he city told me.
NOW TAKE ONE OF THE STATES NOT DRILLING LIKE IN GEORGIA…
2014 Atlanta GA: non detect
How come this naturally occurring constituent, Molybdenum, (but that is used in drilling/piping) is NOT found in a non-drilling area like Atlanta?…..It could be their mix of ground water minerals aren’t as rich in them as here in Texas and so I will keep searching for a Texas town whose water is NOT connected to drilling to look at those levels of Moly.
I left a call for the water testing company that did baseline water testing of water moniter wells in Colleyville back in 2011 to see if any changes have occurred in the last five years and here is the follow ground water testing for 2012.
And if the lack of baseline testing makes you afraid to blame the frackers for the source of the BTEX in the water, then drawdown affecting water quality AND quantity might?…
