By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Moly Investing News ^[1]

^[2]Imports of molybdenum into China surged in February as overseas sellers stepped up competition with Chinese producers.  Chinese imports of molybdenum concentrate and molybdenum oxide nearly doubled from January to February. A total of 4,606 tonnes of moly concentrate or oxides were imported in February, 97 per cent higher than January. Imports of moly have surged because Chinese producers have found themselves largely unable to compete with cheaper import offers.

In March, Chinese purchases of molybdenum oxide eased off in Europe as China concluded the majority of its business with producers in the US and South America.  This resulted in an easing of ferromolybdenum and molybdenum oxide prices. The volume of business reported by market participants was down substantially in recent weeks.  Several traders said if China's molybdenum oxide purchases continue at this rate, prices could be headed to below US $6 per pound. In Asia, no spot market sales were reported in Japan and one European trader said that Japanese traders and consumers were sitting on 10 months worth of inventory at current usage levels.

Meanwhile, there are also reports that the Chinese carbon and stainless steel industry are reigning in production levels, which have been on the upswing since December, to avoid building large surpluses of unsold material.  30-35 per cent of the world's produced molybdenum goes into stainless steel. ^[3]

Company News

Anglo American said that it would hold copper and molybdenum output at its Los Bronces ^[4] mine to 2008 levels over the next three years, and then ramp up towards the end of 2011.  The ramp up by the end of 2011would impact production early in 2012, when output will climb to some 400,000 tonnes. Los Bronces produced 235,792 tonnes of copper ^[5] and 2,578 tonnes of molybdenum in 2008.

China Molybdenum Co. Ltd's profit plunged 26.77 per cent from a year earlier, to US $240.27 million.  In its 2008 audited financial results released yesterday, the molybdenum producer announced turnover decreased 5.7 per cent year over year to about US $813.9 million, with gross profit down 24.9 per cent to US $397.98 million, and pre-tax profit down 29.6 per cent to US $366.52 million. Basic earnings reached US $ 0.50 per share. Although the company saw a modest increase in its total sales volume of molybdenum products such as molybdenum oxide and ferromolybdenum in 2008, it still recorded a reduction in turnover, mainly due to the rapid decrease in the selling price of molybdenum products.

Augur Resources (ASX:AUK) has announced an initial JORC inferred resource estimate of 12.9Mt at 0.38 per cent copper, 0.14 g/t gold, 120 ppm molybdenum, and 2.2 g/t silver (cut off 0.2 per cent copper) for its Yeoval porphyry deposit in central New South Wales. Higher grade zones of 2.52Mt at 0.68 per cent copper 0.22 g/t gold, 192 ppm molybdenum and 3.8 g/t silver (cut off 0.5 per cent copper) exist within the deposit. Commenting on the results, Augur's managing director Grant Kensington said, "Augur Resources has taken a major step in reaching our strategic goal of identifying up to three economic copper-gold-molybdenum JORC resources in close proximity to the township of Yeoval. These resources coupled with further discoveries in the area could provide feed to a single processing site, thereby minimizing capital expenditure and allow for blending of ore to optimize recoveries of saleable metals."