General Moly Inc., a U.S.-based molybdenum development, exploration and mining company whose primary asset is its interest in the Mt. Hope project in central Nevada, has placed an order through a subsidiary for 18 Caterpillar 793 haul trucks from Caterpillar’s Nevada-based dealer, Cashman Equipment Co. All 18 of the 250-ton-payload trucks will be delivered to and commissioned at the Mt. Hope site beginning in late 2013 and early 2014 to complete mine pre-operation development. The value of the Caterpillar order, including support equipment, is anticipated to be approximately $75 million.
According to General Moly, the haul truck order was originally placed in 2008 and contained price escalators. The total cost of the Caterpillar mobile fleet has been managed to a 5% increase from the 2008 budget, including escalation, offset by an optimized and partially used support equipment fleet.
Following this order, General Moly said it has firm commitments not subject to escalation exposure for approximately $150 million in capital equipment, representing approximately 40% of the equipment budget for Mt. Hope.
