Molyb­de­num is an impor­tant met­al wide­ly used in met­al­lur­gy for alloy­ing high-strength steels and super­al­loys, as well as in the chem­i­cal indus­try, main­ly in the form of molyb­dates and com­plex com­pounds. Due to the absence of devel­oped indus­tri­al deposits, Ukraine’s demand for molyb­de­num is cur­rent­ly ful­ly cov­ered by imports.м

Molyb­de­num ores is includ­ed in the list of min­er­als of nation­al impor­tance, approved by Res­o­lu­tion of the Cab­i­net of Min­is­ters of Ukraine No. 827 of Decem­ber 12, 1994, as ores of non-fer­rous met­als.

Physicochemical properties

Molyb­de­num is a sil­very-gray met­al with a high melt­ing point (2623 °C), mak­ing it one of the most refrac­to­ry ele­ments. Its den­si­ty is 10.2 g/cm³. In its pure form, it is hard­er than iron but remains read­i­ly work­able by forg­ing, rolling, and stamp­ing. Molyb­de­num exhibits high cor­ro­sion resis­tance, espe­cial­ly in reduc­ing envi­ron­ments, and resists the action of acids such as HCl and H₂SO₄, although it dis­solves in nitric acid.

The met­al has good elec­tri­cal and ther­mal con­duc­tiv­i­ty, as well as a low coef­fi­cient of ther­mal expan­sion, which makes it indis­pens­able for high-tem­per­a­ture appli­ca­tions. It forms strong car­bides and com­pounds with oxy­gen, sul­fur, and nitro­gen. The most impor­tant of these are molyb­de­num tri­ox­ide (MoO₃) and molyb­dates, which are wide­ly used in the chem­i­cal indus­try. Molyb­de­num read­i­ly forms alloys with oth­er met­als, includ­ing nick­el, iron, tung­sten, and tita­ni­um, ensur­ing its key role in the pro­duc­tion of high-strength and heat-resis­tant alloys.

Genesis of deposits

Molyb­de­num deposits form with­in three main genet­ic types: plu­ton-hydrother­mal, skarn, and greisen. Their for­ma­tion is close­ly asso­ci­at­ed with acidic and inter­me­di­ate mag­mat­ic intru­sions that pen­e­trate the upper crust and ini­ti­ate the cir­cu­la­tion of min­er­al­ized hydrother­mal flu­ids. The prin­ci­pal ore min­er­al is molyb­den­ite (MoS₂), which occurs in vein, stock­work, and vein­let-dis­sem­i­nat­ed forms.

Plu­ton-hydrother­mal deposits form direct­ly with­in gran­i­toid mas­sifs or in their exo­con­tact zones and often have the form of branched stock­works.

• Skarn deposits devel­op at the con­tact between granitic intru­sions and lime­stones or dolomites, where meta­so­mat­ic replace­ment pro­duces calc-sil­i­cate min­er­als with molyb­den­ite min­er­al­iza­tion.
• Greisen deposits result from pneu­ma­tolyt­ic and hydrother­mal alter­ation of the mar­gin­al parts of gran­ites, form­ing quartz-mica altered zones con­tain­ing dis­sem­i­nat­ed molyb­den­ite or quartz-molyb­den­ite vein­lets.

With­in Ukraine, molyb­de­num min­er­al­iza­tion is main­ly asso­ci­at­ed with the Ukrain­ian Shield, where intense mag­mat­ic activ­i­ty, com­plex tec­ton­ics, and the pres­ence of con­tact zones have led to the for­ma­tion of numer­ous occur­rences of all three genet­ic types.

Genetic types and ore formations

Indus­tri­al con­cen­tra­tions of molyb­de­num occur in deposits of three main genet­ic types: plu­ton-hydrother­mal, skarn, and greisen. With­in these types, sev­er­al ore for­ma­tions are dis­tin­guished: copper–molybdenum, molyb­de­num, and tungsten–molybdenum. Typ­i­cal mor­pho­log­i­cal struc­tures of min­er­al­iza­tion include stock­works, vein sys­tems, and vein­let-dis­sem­i­nat­ed zones of lin­ear exten­sion.

Ore occurrences and prospective areas

With­in the Ukrain­ian Shield, a sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of molyb­de­num occur­rences have been iden­ti­fied, belong­ing to the prin­ci­pal ore for­ma­tions. The most перспективна area is the Ustynivs­ka area (Perzhanske ore field, north­west­ern part of the Shield), where four stock­work occur­rences have been out­lined: Ver­byn­skyi, Ustynivskyi, Richyt­skyi, and Vysokyi. C2 cat­e­go­ry reserves have already been esti­mat­ed there, and prospec­tive resources have been defined.

In the Mid­dle Dnieper, the East Sergi­iv ore deposit (Sursk green­stone struc­ture) is promis­ing, where lin­ear-stock and gold-molyb­de­num min­er­al­ized zones are dis­tin­guished. Anoth­er impor­tant site is the Han­niv­ka area of tungsten–molybdenum min­er­al­iza­tion, where molyb­de­num min­er­als are asso­ci­at­ed with greis­enized rocks.

With­in the “Cher­vona” area in Dnipropetro­vsk region, locat­ed in the exo­con­tact zone of micro­cline gran­ites of the Kirovohrad com­plex with amphi­bo­lites of the Novokryvoriz­ka suite, a large bed­ded-stock­work-like min­er­al­iza­tion of com­plex shape with uneven molyb­de­num dis­tri­b­u­tion has been estab­lished. C2 reserves are record­ed in the cen­tral part of the area, while P1 and P2 resources are iden­ti­fied in the south­ern and north­ern parts. Asso­ci­at­ed components—copper, bis­muth, and tungsten—are recov­ered as part of a col­lec­tive con­cen­trate. Due to grow­ing glob­al demand and sup­ply deficits, the com­plex ores of the “Cher­vona” area are of high pri­or­i­ty for fur­ther explo­ration and pilot indus­tri­al devel­op­ment.

With­in the Kom­so­mol­sk ore node, geo­log­i­cal explo­ration is ongo­ing for poly­metal­lic ores, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the Stil­s­ka and Novotroit­s­ka ore-bear­ing zones. In the con­tact part of andesites and basaltoids of the Novotroit­s­ka zone, a sul­fide min­er­al­iza­tion zone up to 25 m thick has been iden­ti­fied, with molyb­de­num con­tent of 0.1% and cop­per up to 0.9%.

In Donet­sk region, with­in the Kalmius area of the East­ern Azov region (Novose­liv­s­ka, Ver­bo­va, Kichik­su, Bar­ba­sivs­ka, Vysh­ne­va, Kaplanivs­ka sites), prospec­tive molyb­de­num resources of cat­e­go­ry P2 have been esti­mat­ed, and the total min­er­a­genic poten­tial has been cal­cu­lat­ed at 136.3 thou­sand tonnes. The Kalmius vol­cano-plu­ton­ic struc­ture has been iden­ti­fied and rec­om­mend­ed for fur­ther geo­log­i­cal explo­ration.

At the East Ser­hi­ivske occur­rence (south­ern part of the Solo­ni­anske ore field), molyb­de­num min­er­al­iza­tion has been con­firmed at depths of up to 500 m, with P1 and P2 cat­e­go­ry resources. The Han­niv­ka area demon­strates typ­i­cal greisen min­er­al­iza­tion, with molyb­den­ite occur­ring as dis­sem­i­na­tions or vein­lets in quartz, feldspar-quartz, epi­dote-quartz, and flu­o­rite-bear­ing rocks.

In 2011, geo­log­i­cal prog­nos­tic map­ping of the Chor­tom­lyt­s­ka green­stone struc­ture at a scale of 1:50,000 was car­ried out. The Olek­si­ivske occur­rence was iden­ti­fied, where P2 cat­e­go­ry resources are esti­mat­ed at 647 tonnes with an aver­age molyb­de­num con­tent of 0.119% (cut-off grade: 0.025%). Fore­cast resources of the Kirovs­ka area, a poten­tial molyb­de­num ore field, are esti­mat­ed at 68,108 tonnes.

Ukraine pos­sess­es sig­nif­i­cant geo­log­i­cal poten­tial in terms of molyb­de­num resources, par­tic­u­lar­ly with­in the Ukrain­ian Shield, the Mid­dle Dnieper region, and the Azov area. Giv­en the deple­tion of glob­al deposits and the grow­ing demand, it is advis­able to active­ly con­tin­ue explo­ration and pilot indus­tri­al devel­op­ment at such sites as the “Cher­vona” area, the East Ser­hi­ivske occur­rence, the Ustynivske field, and the Kalmius struc­ture.