170 
Unusual interest surrounds molybdenum mining at the present time 
in view of the recent phenomenal rise in the price of the metal shown 
as follows:— 
Year. 
Principal Buyers. 
1 Per Ton. 
% Mo S, 
(Molybdenite.) 
£ 
1909 
American 
90 
— 
1911 
99 
136 
90 
1911 
99 
133 
95 
1913 (Oct.) 
French 
260 
— 
1913 (Dec.) 
99 
326 
— 
1914 (Jan.) 
99 
462 
94 
1914 (April) 
99 
560 
The present price in Australia is about £500 for 90 per cent, sul¬ 
phide. Ore should contain 80 per cent, of molybdenite, below which the 
price per unit is lowered, and be as free as possible from copper, arsenic, 
bismuth, and tungsten, the presence of which reduces the commercial 
value. The market is sensitive, and a sudden large increase in produc¬ 
tion would be likely to cause a large drop in prices. Molybdenum 
and its varied compounds are utilized for dyeing and pigmentation; 
but its principal use has been for hardening and toughening steel for 
silch purposes as propeller shafts, heavy cranks, guns, boilers, shells, 
and tool steel. The present heavy demand is stated to be due to the dis¬ 
covery in France of some new, but unrevealed, process, in which molyb¬ 
denum is necessary, to prevent the deterioration of cordite, the assigned 
cause of more than one catastrophe to large battleships. 
In Queensland and iSTew South Males molybdenite occurs in many 
places so coarse that it is practicable to obtain a marketable product 
by hand-breaking and picking. For finer-grained ore it is necessary 
to crush and extract the material in some other way. Ordinary concen¬ 
tration presents difficulties because of the extensive sliming that arises 
from even fairly fine crushing and the loss of mineral in the tails; 
but the now common flotation method of separating metallic sulphides 
appears from actual work done to effect a good recovery at no great 
cost in plant nor heavy running expenses. Allan and Bridle’s lode 
in the Ho. 1 shaft certainly looks promising enough to persevere with, 
and Sydney people have taken an option over it. If a few more 
similar lodes should be opened up, it might be worth while going into 
the question of erecting a small flotation plant on the field as part o.f 
the policy of erecting State batteries. 
Molybdenite and other molybdenum compounds have been found 
also in small quantity—not, so far, of any commercial value—at ^Jt. 
Moliagul, Maldon, Mt. William, Kitchington Creek, Yea, Heerim, and 
other places in the State. 
Graphite near Murrungowar. 
About 3 miles north-westerly from the hotel at Bell-Bird Creek, on 
the main Orbost to Genoa road, in allotment 43, parish of Purgagoolah, 
between Cabbage Tree Creek and the old Mario to Bonang mining 
track, Mr. John Close has quite recently found graphite. A few cuts 
on either side of Sundown Creek, an eastern tributary of Cabbage Tree 
Creek, show Ordovician crumpled slate and sandstone, with quartz 
