According to the study, construction of the Liberty project is anticipated to cost approximately $492 million, excluding working capital and bonding requirements. Included in the $492 million is a roasting facility capable of roasting 23 million lb annually, which is anticipated to cost approximately $50 million. Sustaining capital expenditures at Liberty are projected to be $268 million over the life of the mine, primarily reflecting mining equipment replacement and ongoing tailings dam expansion.

Total cash costs per pound of molybdenum are expected to average $6.21 over the first five years of operations, inclusive of a $1.12/lb copper by-product credit. Over the first 10 and 20 years, molybdenum cash costs are expected to average $6.82/lb (inclusive of a $0.91/lb copper credit) and $7.27/lb (inclusive of a $0.75/lb copper credit), respectively. Over a projected 33-year life, molybdenum cash costs are expected to average $7.26/lb, inclusive of an $0.87/lb copper credit.

Liberty is expected to produce an average of 18.9 million lb of molybdenum and 18.1 million lb of copper over the initial five years and 17.9 million lb of molybdenum and 14.1 million lb of copper over the first 10 years.

The deposit will be mined utilizing conventional open-pit methods. Stripping would occur in 2012 with the first ore scheduled to the mill in January of 2013. Annually, the mine would extract 53 million tons of material per year, with daily mill production targeted at 36,000 short tons per day (t/d) (13.1 million t/y). The operational stripping ratio over the first five years is 3.2 to 1, including pre-strip material and stockpiled low grade ore classified as waste. The life-of-mine stripping ratio is 1.5 to 1.

The proposed mine production fleet would include three blasthole drills capable of sinking 10 5/8-in.-diameter holes; two 35.5-yd3-capacity hydraulic shovels; one 22-yd3-capacity front end loader; 17 195- ton-capacity haul trucks; and additional smaller loaders, trucks and drills for utility and support duties.

The existing molybdenum deposit was mined and processed by two previous owners, Anaconda and Cyprus, who extracted 29 million tons of ore to produce 53 million lb of molybdenum in concentrates.

General Moly CEO Bruce D. Hansen said, “We will continue to prudently advance the Liberty project as we position it as a follow-on to Mt. Hope, with initial production at the Liberty project currently expected in 2013. With both projects in production, we would expect to reach steady state production of approximately 50 million lb per year positioning General Moly as the world’s largest pure play primary molybdenum producer with cash anticipated costs well below many other projected primary molybdenum mines.”

The company also announced in May that it had signed an off-take agreement with SeAH Besteel Corp., Korea’s largest manufacturer of specialty steels. The agreement provides for the supply of approximately 4 million lb/y of molybdenum for five years, beginning once the Mt. Hope project reaches commercial production levels. Similar to a previous agreement signed with ArcelorMittal, the SeAH arrangement provides for a floor price higher than Mt. Hope’s estimated cash costs per pound and is offset by a variable discount to spot moly prices above the floor.