Molycorp Fires Up Combined Heat and Power Facility at California Element Mine

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Molycorp Minerals LLC (NYSE:MCP) (Greenwood Village, Colorado) has fired up a new combined heat and power (CHP) generation facility at the company's rare earth element mine in Mountain Pass, California.

The rare earth metals company is now producing 30 megawatts of electricity and processing steam for the mine, as part of the $520 million Phoenix project. The plan is to re-start and modernize the open pit mine, which has been shut down since 2002.

The estimated $50 million CHP facility was managed by Eichelay Engineers (Concord, California) and built by engineering, procurement and construction firm Bodell Construction Company (Salt Lake City, Utah). It has been under construction since mid-2011.

The plant will begin feeding low-cost, high-efficiency electrical power and steam to its Mountain Pass facilities. It is fueled by clean-burning natural gas fed to the facility by a recently completed natural gas lateral supply line, which connects the facility to a nearby interstate natural gas pipeline operated by Kern River Gas Transmission Company.

With Phase I of the re-start completed, Molycorp is now turning its attention to Phase II, which involves a $300 million expansion that will increase rare earth oxide mining production to 40,000 tons per year.

Construction is expected to begin later this year. Phase II is expected to be fully operational by mid-2013, and construction is being performed by The Industrial Company (Tucson, Arizona).

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