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Molybdenum scrap: sheet, rod, parts and moly alloys
The molybdenum scrap price for your lot turns on what it is: clean pure molybdenum sheet, rod and machined parts are one thing, moly alloys, turnings and mixed metal another. We buy all of it, quote each lot from its photos and weight, and pay cash where state law allows. Get a quote or call (877) 838-9920.
What molybdenum is, and where moly scrap comes from
Molybdenum, moly in most shops, is what USGS calls a refractory metallic element. The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 says most of it goes into cast iron, steel and superalloys as an alloying agent, and that it also has chemical uses in catalysts, lubricants and pigments.
As a metal on its own, moly works in the hot zone. For that job the 2026 report lists "graphite, tantalum, and tungsten for refractory materials in high-temperature electric furnaces" as the substitutes.
The older USGS molybdenum recycling study (Circular 1196-L, 2004, with 1998 data) sorts new scrap into pure and alloyed molybdenum metal and compound scrap from chemical plants and furnaces, trimmings from fabrication such as stamping, and fabricated items nobody could use. It gives a lamp-making example: a tungsten filament is wound around a tiny molybdenum rod, and the rod is later dissolved in acid and shipped for recycling as a sludge.
Moly is mined in our pickup states as well. In 2025 byproduct molybdenum came from seven US operations, four of them in Arizona and one in Nevada, per MCS 2026.
Sources: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Molybdenum (February 2026); USGS Circular 1196-L, Molybdenum Recycling in the United States in 1998 (2004).
The molybdenum forms we buy
We take molybdenum and moly alloys in solid and loose forms, pure or alloyed.
- Sheet, plate and foil: offcuts, skeletons left after stamping or laser cutting, and spoiled blanks.
- Rod, bar and wire: bar ends, rod drops, spool ends and wire too short to run.
- Machined and fabricated parts: rejects, retired furnace parts, fixtures and fasteners.
- Moly alloys: solid alloy pieces, labeled with the alloy name when you know it.
- Turnings and chips: drained of coolant and kept dry.
- Powder: in sealed, labeled containers.
Moly bolted or brazed to steel is worth a photo too: take off what unbolts easily and note what is still attached.
How to tell moly apart and keep it separate
USGS describes scrap sorters making a first pass by shape, color and weight, then checking magnet response, the spark pattern off a grinding wheel, or a chemical or physical analysis. Of those, weight is the check you can make at your own bench.
The NIST element table puts molybdenum at 10.22 g/cm3, iron at 7.874 and tungsten at 19.30. So a moly bar weighs about 30 percent more than an iron bar of the same size, and a little over half as much as a tungsten one.
Steel that contains molybdenum is not moly scrap. The USGS recycling study (2004, 1998 data) says stainless scrap carrying molybdenum is usually bought for its other metals, and that molybdenum is not recovered separately from steel and superalloy scrap. ITIA says that in the popular high-speed steel grades, tungsten and molybdenum together, about 10 percent in total, maximize hardness and toughness. We buy high-speed steel and nickel alloys on their own pages.
- Pure moly in one bag, moly alloy in a second.
- Tungsten, carbide and high-speed steel each kept apart from the moly.
- Turnings drained, dry and away from the solids.
- The alloy name, a drawing callout or the machine a part came out of, written on the bag.
Sources: USGS Circular 1196-A-M, Flow Studies for Recycling Metal Commodities (2004); NIST, X-ray mass attenuation coefficients, Table 1 (element densities); ITIA, Tungsten in steel (December 2008 reprint).
What moves the molybdenum scrap price
No moly price is printed on this page. It follows the molybdenum market, and every lot is quoted on what it actually holds.
The market moved in 2025. The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 reports that the estimated average US molybdic oxide price for 2025 rose 7 percent over 2024, and that China imposed export controls on molybdenum powders in February 2025. The same report says molybdenum recycled in steel and other scrap may be as much as 30 percent of the apparent US supply.
In any one lot, clean and known beats mixed and unknown. The USGS study of 1998 molybdenum recycling found new scrap relatively clean and of known composition, and said that is why most scrap consumers would rather have it than old scrap. It names "superalloy melt shops that require pure molybdenum scrap" among the buyers, and it notes that scrap competes with readily available new material, which tends to hold down some scrap prices.
Sources: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Molybdenum (February 2026); USGS Circular 1196-L, Molybdenum Recycling in the United States in 1998 (2004).
Selling your molybdenum scrap
On the quote form, pick Exotic metals, give a rough weight, add a wide shot of the lot and a close-up of any markings, and say whether it is pure moly, an alloy or a mix. Email works too, at help@carbidebuyerusa.com, and so does the phone: (877) 838-9920.
Ship it to us from any state and we pay the shipping. In California, Arizona and Nevada we also come to you and pick up, in every city of all three states (how pickup works).
Packing moly is mostly a weight problem. USPS caps a mailpiece at 70 pounds, wants every seam reinforced with 2-inch packaging tape, and requires heavy contents braced so they cannot shift. FedEx counts any shipment over 150 pounds as freight and its freight packaging guide asks that pieces over 150 pounds be banded to the pallet with metal or unbreakable plastic straps. Our shipping page covers the rest.
We pay cash where state law allows. Arizona says a scrap metal sale of $300 or more is not paid on site: the check or money order is mailed to the address on the seller's ID, with exceptions for preregistered industrial accounts. Nevada has scrap metal processors pay any purchase of $150 or more only by check or electronic transfer.
California's mailed-check-or-third-business-day payment rule covers only copper, copper alloys, stainless steel and aluminum, so molybdenum is not on it, while the state's general junk dealer record rules reach all ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals and alloys. The scrap metal rules guide lays out each state.
We buy carbide too, in any form, so worn inserts and end mills can travel in the same box in their own bag (every form of carbide we take).
Sources: USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201; USPS, Preparing packages; USPS Domestic Mail Manual 601; FedEx, What is freight; FedEx Freight packaging guidelines; Arizona Revised Statutes 44-1642; Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 647; California AB 1508, Chapter 531, Statutes of 2012 (Bus. & Prof. Code 21608.5); California Attorney General, Information Bulletin 2025-DLE-12.
Questions sellers ask
What is the scrap molybdenum price today?
It changes with the molybdenum market and with your material: pure or alloy, solids or turnings, sorted or mixed. Send photos and an approximate weight through the quote form and we will quote that lot. No moly price list is posted here.
Is moly the same thing as molybdenum?
Yes. Moly is the everyday shop name for molybdenum, and moly alloys are molybdenum-based alloys. Steels that carry a little molybdenum, such as some stainless and high-speed steels, are a different material.
Do you buy molybdenum turnings and powder?
Yes. Drain turnings and keep them dry, and keep powder sealed in a labeled container. Mention either one on the form so we know what is coming.
Can molybdenum and tungsten go in the same shipment?
Yes, bagged separately. Tungsten is far heavier than moly for the same size, so weighing two similar pieces in your hands often tells them apart. See tungsten scrap.
Keep reading
Tungsten scrap
Tungsten heavy alloy, rod, wire and pure tungsten
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High-speed steel scrap
HSS and cobalt drills, taps and tool steel
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Inconel and nickel alloys
Inconel, Hastelloy, Monel and other nickel alloys
Learn more
Ship your scrap
Ship from anywhere in the US; we pay the shipping
Learn moreGet a quote for your carbide
Tell us what form it is in, about how much it weighs, and send a few photos. Ship it to us from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping, or we pick up in California, Arizona and Nevada.