Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More
The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange had mostly drifted lower by the close on Wednesday December 12 but were confined to tight ranges throughout what was an unexceptional trading day.Volumes were thin while market participants slowed their trading ahead of the looming end of the year. In copper, around 10,000 lots traded by the 5pm close compared with more than 22,000 lots on Friday. Th...Read More
The launch of a high-grade iron ore derivative by the Singapore Exchange last week represents a "leap forward for the [ferrous] industry, particularly those that are exposed to the high-grade product," according to Andrew Glass, head of iron ore trading at Anglo American.SGX launched the world's first high-grade iron ore derivative contract, settled against the daily MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index publi...Read More
Although base metals are under pressure in the short term, we have a bullish bias to our 2018 price forecasts given the supportive background of solid global economic growth and the fact that all six base metal markets look set to be in fundamental deficit this year. But each has a slightly different supply-side story and this aspect should be the main differentiator. For example, zinc's narrative...Read More
Toronto-based Power Ore (CVE: PORE) plans to buy the Opemiska copper complex from Explorateurs-Innovateurs de Quebec(Ex-In), a privately owned company. The property - consisting of the historic Springer and Perry mines and the mill - was operated by Falconbridge from 1953 to 1991. The two mines yielded 23 million tonnes of ore grading 2.4% copper and 0.3 g/t gold.The Opemiska complex is adjace...Read More
Casa Minerals (TSXV: CASA) has discovered a new zone at its Pitman gold project near Terrace, B.C., 1 km south of the Golden Dragon gold discovery it made earlier this year.Prospecting, rock and soil geochemical sampling graded as high as 231 grams per tonne silver, 2.83% copper and 6.15% zinc at the Dragon Tale zone over an area measuring 1.4 km by 0.7 km. The zone remains open in all directions....Read More
A recent report on Canada's mining sector suggests that there may soon be a rebound in the industry, but it warns that a drop in the number of mining engineering graduates needs to be countered with educational reform to achieve sustainability.The Mining Industry Human Resources Council's (MiHR) annual Canadian Mining Labour Market Outlook 2019 notes declining enrollment in mining engineering p...Read More
Voters in the world's second-largest producer of mined copper and zinc cast out some fierce opponents of giant mines, ushering in a change of guard that could potentially lure investments to some of Peru's most impoverished regions.Citizens in Cajamarca, the South American nation's poorest region, elected pro-investment candidate Mesias Guevara, ending the rule of an anti-mining movement that has...Read More
BHP, (ASX:BHP) the world's No.1 miner, won't sell its smallest Chilean copper operation this year after all, as would-be buyer EMR Capital Advisors Pty, an Australian private equity firm that invests in natural resources, failed to meet a financing deadline for the $230 million cash deal.The Melbourne-based mining giant had decided to offload Cerro Colorado mine in May last year, as part of ch...Read More
The Indian government's plans of hitting 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030 sounds overambitious in the current scenario given that output only managed to reach the 101 million tonne mark in 2017 - indicating three-fold (Read More
After suffering for some seven years through to 2015, the world's steelmakers have had cause for cheer over the past couple of years. After some heavy losses and write-downs, they finally appear to have emerged from the wreckage of the global financial crisis. An economic upswing has taken root in most regions of the world, Chinese steel output and export growth has slowed noticeably, and steel pr...Read More
For a number of years problems at Ilva, the largest steelworks in Europe, have been casting shadow over the performance of the whole Italian steel industry. Will an acquisition of Ilva by a consortium led by ArcelorMittal, now in its final stage, be a game changer for the market?Following multiple reports of environmental and health problems caused by the Taranto plant, in 2013 Ilva was placed und...Read More
China ended steel production in all of the country's illegal induction furnaces by the end of June last year, it ha claimed.Most operators in China are primarily small private mills that use low-quality scrap to produce substandard rebar. This is mixed with grade III (HRB400) rebar and sold at a discount to construction contractors.For a long period, the government had neither a record of nor cont...Read More
Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More
The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More
The partners in the Hook Lake uranium joint venture have approved a 2019 exploration budget of $3 million. Situated within the Patterson Uranium District, Hook Lake is owned jointly by Cameco Corp. (39.5%), Orano Canada (39.5%) and Purepoint Uranium Group (operator and holder of a 21% interest).This year's program includes 6,600 metres of diamond drilling by two rigs. Seven holes will test targets...Read More
SASKATCHEWAN - Fission 3.0 Corp. of Kelowna, B.C., is preparing for its winter drilling program at four high priority targets - Wales Lake (two holes), Patterson Lake North (five holes), Key Lake (nine holes) and Cree Bay (two holes). About 4,400 metres of drilling is planned.Fission 3 recently completed an $8-million financing with which to fund the work.The Wales Lake occurrence is similar to Fi...Read More
Seaborne pig iron has become relatively competitive versus ferrous scrap over the past year in most regions, and China is no exception. As the first chart below illustrates, the gap between the MBR's proxy for imported pig iron price in China and the Metal Bulletin's Chinese domestic heavy melt scrap price assessment had shrunk by late 2017. The premium averaged $17 per tonne this year to date, co...Read More
RAPAPORT... Brian Land has left his position as executive director ofthe Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA) after completing an 18-month contractwith the trade group. The CJA hired Land on a temporary basis in August 2017 tomanage its merger with Jewellers Vigilance Canada, which took effect in Octoberof last year. Carla Adams, a manager at CJA, will serve as interim directoruntil the orga...Read More
RAPAPORT... Fossil Group has appointed former Pandora chiefmerchandising officer Beth Moeri as executive vice president of portfoliobrands. Moeri, who was an executive at the Danish charm jeweler for morethan six years, will be responsible for Fossil's portfolio of licensed watchand jewelry brands, including Armani Exchange, Emporio Armani, Diesel, KateSpade New York, Michael Kors and T...Read More
RAPAPORT... India increased its dominance in the cutting and polishingsector in 2017 due to relatively low costs that gave it a competitive advantageover China, according to Bain & Company. The Indian diamond-manufacturing industry grew 11% in 2017,outpacing the Chinese market, which increased 2%, Bain reported. That leftIndia with more than 90% of the market, versus China's low-single-di...Read More