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
RAPAPORT... Nilesh Sheth has been reelected as president of the IndianDiamond & Colorstone Association (IDCA), the organization said Wednesday. Sheth, who is president of Nice Diamonds, was voted in unanimouslyat the New York election on December 12. Members elected Sujan Doshi from S.A. Diamonds as vice president to succeed Rakesh Barmecha. The board's executive committee will also include R...Read More
RAPAPORT... Data can be exhilarating. Earlier this week, Avi Krawitz,Rapaport's News Editor and Senior Analyst, called this reporter over to look athis screen, as there was something exciting on it. The attraction was a linechart of the RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamondsthroughout 2018, showing that the peak price on July 6 coincided exactly withthe day the US implemented its fir...Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, January 3, 2019, New York... The diamond trade ended 2018 with greater uncertainty than at the beginning of the year. Diamond prices softened in the second half amid fears the US-China trade war would impact discretionary spending. Sentiment softened as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6% for the year, with concerns that investors would experience a negative wealth eff...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong's jewelry exports are expected to slow in 2019 after strong growth last year, due to sluggisheconomic conditions, the municipality'strade body has warned. "Less robust economic growth is likely to affect Hong Kong'sjewelry exports," predicted Alice Tsang, assistant principal economist at theHong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). Shipments of precious jewelry rose 1...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Diamond Producers Association (DPA), an international alliance of the world's leading diamond mining companies, has appointed Kristina Buckley Kayel as Managing Director of its North American division. Buckley Kayel assumes her new role on February 4, and will be responsible for developing and implementing the DPA's consumer marketing and communications strategy, wi...Read More
Demand for flat steel in Turkey is expected to remain slow throughout January, and prices are not expected to increase because global flat steel prices are falling, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 3.Local producers have filled their order books until late February, they added.The price falls in December resulted in part from weak demand in the local market as well as the h...Read More
RAPAPORT... Luxury, and jewelry in particular, is a curious industry. On the one hand, itprovides aspirational products and exclusive experiences to consumers; on theother hand, many brands treat consumers very literally: merely as a source ofconsumption. While there are many examples of luxury brands turningrazor-sharp consumer insights into products that not only resonate with, butactually...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Indian Diamond Color & Colorstone Association (IDCA) Board of Directors has unanimously re-elected Nilesh Sheth of (Nice Diamonds) as President. Sujan Doshi (S. A. Diamonds, Inc.) was elected as the Vice-President; Shekhar Shah (Real Gems, Inc.) will take over as Secretary and Shiksha Naheta (Empresa Jewels) will join as the Jt. Secretary, while Rajeev Pandya (Ashi D...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds has recovered a 125-carat high-quality white, Type IIa diamond from the Let??eng mine in Lesotho. The diamond, recovered on 20 December, is the fifteenth stone greater than 100 carats to be recovered in 2018, the miner said. On December 19, the firm announced the recovery of high-quality 101 carat and 71 carat white Type IIa diamonds which were found with...Read More
Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for spot copper concentrates dropped at the end of December, with smelters returning to the market in earnest to pick-up tonnes after securing annual contracts.The Fastmarkets copper concentrate TC/RC index dropped to a three-and-a-half month low of $84.30 per tonne / 8.43 cents per lb on December 31.Spot terms have been inching down since the start of the m...Read More
Zijin announced last Friday it had accepted 89.37% of the total outstanding Nevsun shares tendered under the takeover offer and will pay $1.67 billion for the tendered shares.Read More
Anglo American's base metals division will get its own executive to run operations as part of a change to its top management team, the company said on Thursday January 3. Base metals operations, which currently function under the strategy and business division, will be separated on March 1 and run by Ruben Fernandes, the current chief executive officer of Anglo American Brasil. The miner has also...Read More
Comex copper suffered a third straight decline this morning in the United States to begin the New Year, with continued recession worries and equity market instability sinking the commodities complex.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange sank 3.15 cents to $2.5915 per lb. In macro news, concerns over global economic health have persiste...Read More
Rhyolite Ridge PFS beats expectationsSPONSOREDioneerThe Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC), to be held on January 20-21, is shaping up to be the largest show in six years, organiser Cambridge House International CEO Jay Martin told MiningRead More
The London Metal Exchange and its clearing entity, LME Clear, will continue their efforts to guarantee clearing services after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union in the process known as Brexit, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday January 3.This is because of an equivalence decision adopted by the European Commission that will enable the exchange to apply for third-country central counterparty...Read More
Brazil produced 48,800 tonnes of primary aluminium in November 2018, making this the lowest monthly output of the year, national aluminium association Abal's figures showed. Output in November was 26.70% lower year on year than the 66,600 tonnes produced in November 2017 and 3.40% less than the 50,500 tonnes of primary aluminium in October 2018. Monthly production in 2018 has been constantly lower...Read More
The Zambian government has decided to go ahead with the application of a new import duty on copper concentrates this month despite strong opposition from the country's copper producers.The producers told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 3 that they will be compelled to slash output and to lay off mine workers as a result of the new duty."No announcement has been officially issued by the government....Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Thursday January 3, with the moderate strength in the US dollar index against a backdrop of low LME stocks keeping trading ranges narrow.Despite a decade-low in LME inventory, zinc's three-month price continues face persistent downward pressure and is trading below its nearby $2,400-per-tonne threshold. The m...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday January 3 that are worth another look.Fastmarkets worked to empower its customers in 2018 - a year when they had to navigate metal markets in which fundamentals were often tightening even as greater political restraints were placed on trade than for many years. A quick review of the key developments also indicate our...Read More
World Steel Dynamics' much-discussed June 2018 prediction that US domestic hot-rolled coil prices would plunge $200 per tonne by the end of the year proved to be uncannily correct.Market weakness reflected in the final few business days of December made the difference, according to Fastmarkets AMM's daily US Midwest hot-rolled coil index.At the Steel Success Strategies XXXIII conference on Tuesday...Read More