Molybdenite is the primary ore of molybdenum, easily identified by its metallic lead-gray color, greasy feel, and perfect cleavage that creates flexible, non-elastic plates. It is significantly denser than its look-alike, graphite, and produces a characteristic greenish-gray streak on unglazed porcelain.
Is this molybdenite?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch molybdenite with a known reference. Molybdenite sits at Mohs 1-1.5 — softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Molybdenite leaves a greenish-gray streak.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Molybdenite typically shows a metallic luster.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: lead-gray, bluish-gray.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: hexagonal. Typical habit: tabular crystals, foliated masses, scaly aggregates.
Often confused with
Molybdenite vs. its common look-alikes — and how to tell them apart in the field.
How to tell apart: Streak differs — Molybdenite leaves greenish-gray, Graphite leaves black.
How to tell apart: Iron Ore is the harder of the two (Mohs 5-6.5 vs. 1-1.5); streak differs — Molybdenite leaves greenish-gray, Iron Ore leaves reddish-brown to black; luster reads metallic on Molybdenite and metallic to submetallic on Iron Ore.
Often found alongside molybdenite
Minerals reported to co-occur with molybdenite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- MoS₂
- Mohs hardness
- 1-1.5
- Density
- 4.7 g/cm³
- Colors
- Streak
- Greenish-gray
- Luster
- Metallic
- Transparency
- Opaque
- Crystal system
- Hexagonal
- Crystal habit
- Tabular Crystals, Foliated Masses, Scaly Aggregates
- Cleavage
- Perfect Basal
- Rarity
- Common
- Uses
- Industrial, Collector
- Host rock
- Granite Pegmatites, Hydrothermal Veins, Porphyry Deposits
- Typical price
- $10-100 per specimen
Where rockhounds find molybdenite
15 mapped spotsClassic worldwide localities
- Henderson Mine, USA
- Knaben, Norway
- Azusa, Japan
- Quebec, Canada
- Kyzyl-Tau, Kazakhstan
Field-hunting tip
Look in granite pegmatites, hydrothermal veins, porphyry deposits country — that is the host setting where molybdenite typically forms. If you start seeing quartz, fluorite, pyrite in float, you are in the right ground. Field specimens usually show a tabular crystals, foliated masses, scaly aggregates habit, so train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop. In the U.S., the densest reported localities are in Utah, Maine, New Mexico — start trip planning there.
Common questions
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Find molybdenite on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
