Climax

Climax: molybdenum mine

Climax, former company mining town, Lake county, central Colorado, U.S. It lies in the Park Range of the Rocky Mountains at Fremont Pass (elevation 11,318 feet [3,450 metres]), 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Leadville. Much of the world’s supply of molybdenum (a steel-toughening alloy) was produced at the Climax Mine in nearby Bartlett Mountain; it became the largest underground mine of its kind in North America. Molybdenum was first discovered there in 1903 by gold prospectors who ignored it, thinking it was lead. The metal was subsequently identified by the Colorado School of Mines, and later, when its value was recognized, a worldwide demand ensued. Climax thus became one of Colorado’s most prosperous mining towns. The mine was still operational at the end of the 1990s, although at levels far below the daily production of more than 43,500 tonnes of molybdenum at the height of the mining boom. Pyrites, monazites, tin, and tungsten concentrates are recovered from the mill tailings.

When its buildings were moved to Leadville in 1961–62, the town of Climax ceased to exist. The mine remained prominent through the 1970s, employing some 3,000 workers at its peak, but it declined during the subsequent decade and was closed for much of the 1990s.