UG2 chrome ore prices broke a seven-week upward trend on Friday April 5 due to weaker demand after consumers cited sufficient stock, while alloy prices in the United States weakened and were subdued in Europe. UG2 prices slip $1 per tonne, Turkish pump stabilizesAlloy prices steady in Japan, South KoreaAlloy prices hold on Chinese public holidayAlloy prices drop in Europe UG2 chrome ore prices we...Read More
A summary of Vedanta's production results for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2019.In brief Vedanta's Indian copper output decreased sharply by 78% due to the Tuticorin smelter's shutdown after protests against its plans to double capacity reached fever pitch toward the end of March.Custom copper volumes at the company's Zambian projects decreased by 22% to 87,000 tonnes over the 2019 financial...Read More
Gerald Reichmann has been appointed the new chief executive officer of British Steel, the UK long steel producer said on Friday April 5.Reichmann joined British Steel in November 2017 as chief financial officer. He was previously the managing director at Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine's wire technology division.Reichmann also briefly served in the role of British Steel's deputy CEO from January 2...Read More
The Norwegian government has granted a mining concession for the Sydvaranger Iron Ore Project, paving the way for concentrates shipments to recommence in 2020.Owned by the Tschudi Group - a Norwegian shipping and logistics company - the Sydvaranger project consists of several high-grade magnetite iron deposits with indicated resources of 475 million tonnes and inferred resources of 43 mi...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday April 9.Please click...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday April 9, with a dip in the dollar index below the psychological level of 97 doing little to prompt rallies, while stock inflows continue push prices lower. Despite trading comfortably above $6,500 per tonne for much of the day, copper's three-month price closed $13 per tonne shy of the psychologica...Read More
The Turkish steel mills continued to show minimal interest in deep-sea scrap purchasing on Tuesday April 9, with only one transaction heard so far this week, sources said.Some market participants had expected the mills to resume their deep-sea purchases at the recent International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association conference (Irepas 80), which took place in Barcelona on April 7-9.A...Read More
Prices for imported steel billet in the United Arab Emirates increased this week in the latest deals heard, while rebar prices remained stable, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 9.Domestic rebarLocal rebar producers in the UAE kept their prices unchanged for May production, with demand expected to remain weak because the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starts early in that month.Observance o...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 9 that are worth another look.Among the key talking points across the battery raw materials markets ahead of Fastmarkets' second annual Battery Materials Conference this week in Shanghai include the outlook for China's cobalt metal imports, cobalt hedging appetites, whether a shift to nickel-rich cathode chemistr...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday April 9, with a dip in the dollar index below the psychological level of 97 doing little to prompt rallies, while stock inflows continue push prices lower. Despite trading comfortably above $6,500 per tonne for much of the day, copper's three-month price closed $13 per tonne shy of the psychologica...Read More
Soci?(C)t?(C) Generale will close its proprietary and over-the-counter (OTC) commodities business including its metals trading, as part of a global cost cutting exercise involving 1,600 job losses, the company said on April 9.The French bank is a category I London Metal Exchange dealer and plans to continue this activity through its brokerage arm Newedge Group, informed sources confirmed to F...Read More
An absence of firm offers and bids kept participants in the seaborne coking coal market on the sidelines on Tuesday April 9, with buyers in particular waiting for prices to bottom out."Current seaborne coking coal prices are already 100-200 yuan ($14.90-$29.80) per tonne lower than those for domestic materials [in China]. We are just hesitating about whether the price advantage makes up for the de...Read More
Soci?(C)t?(C) Generale will close its proprietary and over-the-counter (OTC) commodities business including its metals trading, as part of a global cost cutting exercise involving 1,600 job losses, the company said on April 9.The French bank is a category I London Metal Exchange dealer and plans to continue this activity through its brokerage arm Newedge Group, informed sources confirmed to F...Read More
Manganese ore prices were hovering around recent levels amid low liquidity in the week to Friday April 5, while load shedding in South Africa continued to be supportive of alloy prices in Europe. Low activity for ores in China Alloy prices in Europe rise on lower supply Indian silico-manganese suppliers lift offer prices Silico-manganese market in US drops There was little mov...Read More
The Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) project will be a top 20 copper producer and a future third phase expansion would put it in the top five, the chief executive officer of Teck Resources Ltd said. The current Quebrada Blanca mine, located in the Tarapac?? Region of northern Chile, is expected to see cathode production end this year at reduced rates. QB2 will develop the deeper sulphide resource und...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 9 that are worth another look.Among the key talking points across the battery raw materials markets ahead of Fastmarkets' second annual Battery Materials Conference this week in Shanghai include the outlook for China's cobalt metal imports, cobalt hedging appetites, whether a shift to nickel-rich cathode chemistr...Read More
Chile's copper and lithium reserves will be in high demand for development by both domestic and international companies as a result of the ongoing push toward electro-mobilty, according to the country's Minister for Mining.Baldo Prokurica noted that Chile is the world's largest producer of copper and the world's second-largest producer of lithium, both key raw materials for electric vehicle (EV) b...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan is moving ahead at "full throttle" with plans to develop a new smelter in Indonesia in partnership with state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (PT Inalum), the chief executive officer of the US copper producer said.The smelter is part of a package agreed by the company and the government, ending several years of negotiations over the fate of Freeport's activities in Indonesia,...Read More
Sustainability is an essential factor in mining or corporations run the risk of serious economic and reputational damage, Codelco chief executive officer Nelson Pizarro said. The world looks at the mining industry very negatively when there are disasters such as landslides, wall collapses and tailings dam breaches, he said at CRU's 18th World Copper Conference in Santiago, Chil...Read More
The price of copper could go as high as $3 per lb ($6,610 per tonne) by June 2019, and stay above that threshold for the rest of the year and into 2020, although the upside was limited, Diego Hernandez, president of Chilean mining society Sonami, said on Monday April 8."We should reach $3 per lb around June-July and stay there, or a bit higher, during the second half of the year," he told Fastmark...Read More