The Climax is a porphyry type deposit which many intersecting small veins of molybdenite form a stockwork in an altered quartz monzonite porphyry. It's a low-grade ore deposit is, but the ore bodies are very large. The rocks of the Climax are alkaline felsic intrusives, which range from porphyritic alkaline rhyolite to alkaline aplite to porphyritic alkaline granite.

The Climax mine is a major molybdenum mine in Lake and Summit counties, Colorado. Beside molybdenum, the mine has also produced tin, tungsten, and pyrite as by-products.

The Climax open-pit mine includes a 25,000 metric tons of ore per day mill facility. The available mining fleet consists of eleven 177-metric-ton haul trucks loaded by two hydraulic shovels with bucket sizes of 34 cubic meters, which are capable of moving an average of 90,000 metric tons of material per day.

The Climax mine is located in a mountainous region. The highest bench elevation is approximately 4,050 meters above sea level and the ultimate pit bottom is expected to have an elevation of approximately 3,100 meters above sea level. Thus, pit depth is approximately 950 meters.

The Climax open-pit mine includes a 25,000 metric ton-per-day mill facility. Climax has the capacity to produce approximately 30 million pounds of molybdenum per year. Molybdenite (the molybdenum-containing mineral) is obtained from the ore by crushing, grinding, and flotation.