This article launches our new “One metal a month” series, in which we explore one strategic metal at a time and its role in the energy transition and global supply chains. These materials are increasingly shaping industrial competitiveness and geopolitics, while raising urgent questions about security of supply, recycling, environmental impact and price volatility. This is the January edition of the series.

Molybdenum, or “moly”, as it is called in the industry, is a one of the unsung heroes of our modern industrial time. A quiet enabler, powering the industry and the energy transition from the shadows, often overlooked and little spoken about. As it happens, it would have more than enough reasons to take the spotlight.

Molybdenum is a critical – and irreplaceable – metal in steel alloys used to improve strength and corrosion resistance. It makes alloys lighter, stronger, more durable, and improves heat resistance.

About 80% of the production is used in steel alloys, and more than 80% of the metallic materials to be used for defence applications require molybdenum alloying. Its uses span from chemical and petrochemical processing to oils and gas equipment, as well as construction and infrastructure, transportation and automotive, medical products, or mechanical engineering and high-temperature applications – basically, all critical and/or high-performance industries. Molybdenum demand is also rising with growing needs for the energy transition and defence. It underpins every aspect of our economies, as recognized by its presence on the list of critical minerals of Canada, the United States (US), Japan, and the European Union (EU), among others.

Indeed, even if it is crucial, security of supply is a concern for manufacturers and governments. The US Geological Survey states that there is little substitution for molybdenum – substitutes exist on paper, but none reproduce the combination of all its properties. Molybdenum deposits are mainly situated in China (surprised?), the US, Chile, and Peru. Chile and Peru only mine it as a byproduct of copper. China is well aware of its strategic importance, and in February 2025, as part of its trade war with the US, it added molybdenum to the list of restricted export metals.

Importers are now looking for other sources of molybdenum, and new players are arising. Among them… Greenland.  In June 2025, the Government of Greenland granted a 30-year exploitation license to Greenland Resources for molybdenum and magnesium at Malmbjerg, with an option to extend up to 50 years. Greenland Resources signed off-take agreements with EU companies, anchoring the molybdenum to be mined in European value chains and allowing 25% of the EU’s annual needs in molybdenum to be satisfied, including 100% of its defence needs, when the project becomes operational (in about a decade).

Maybe it also explains Trump’s recent interest in invading Greenland? In any case, molybdenum is much more than a stumble on the tongue or a niche metal: it is a crucial metal to our modern needs, that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Authored by Diane Naffah (Terraquota), reviewed by Irina Chèvre (Terraquota)

30th January 2026