China Molybdenum Resources

◼ Global molybdenum production in 2022 will be 262,100 tons, down 1% from 2021, according to the latest data released by the International Molybdenum Association (IMOA). And global molybdenum consumption was 286,400 tons, up about 3% from the previous year. ◼ On the production side: China remains the largest molybdenum producer. it produced 112,800 tons of molybdenum in 2022, an increase of 12% from 2021. South America is the second largest molybdenum producing region with production of 75,613 tons, down 8%. Production in North America decreased by 13% to 5.08 tons. Production in other regions increased by 2% to 2.29 tons from 2.23 tons in 2021. ◼ Reserve end: China's molybdenum reserves rank first in the world. According to USGS disclosure, China's molybdenum ore reserves in 2022 will be 3.7 million tons, accounting for 30.83%; the U.S. reserves will be 2.7 million tons, ranking second, accounting for 22.5%; and Peru's and Chile's reserves will be 2.4 million tons and 1.4 million tons, respectively.

◼ China has abundant molybdenum ore resources. Molybdenum deposits in China can be divided into six major metallogenic belts, including the Northeast Molybdenum Orogenic Province, the Yanliao Molybdenum Orogenic Belt, the Qinling Molybdenum Orogenic Belt, the Molybdenum Orogenic Area in the Middle and Lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Molybdenum Orogenic Area in South China and the Sanjiang Molybdenum Orogenic Belt. Molybdenum deposits of different scales are distributed in these metallogenic belts, among which the Qinling metallogenic belt has the largest amount of molybdenum resources. ◼ Domestic molybdenum mines are concentrated in Henan, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. The total reserved reserves of molybdenum resources in China is 8.4 million tons, and there are 222 mining areas with proven reserves, distributed in 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). According to the division of the region, the central and southern region accounts for 35.7% of the country's total molybdenum reserves; followed by the northeast accounted for 19.5%, Northwest accounted for 13.9%, North China accounted for 12%, while the southwest only accounted for 4%. By province (region), Henan has the most molybdenum reserves, accounting for 30.1% of the country's total molybdenum reserves.