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 trading fund Commodities World Capital has brought in Kevin Connors as its new chief executive officer, it said on Tuesday February 5. He will take on the role to allow founder and co-chief...Read More
Copper's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend at the close of trading on Tuesday February 5, with moderate volumes and a surge in the US dollar index doing little to curb the metal's upward price movement, while the rest of the complex broadly consolidated.Climbing above $6,200 per tonne for the first time since October 2018, the three-month copper price continued t...Read More
Comex copper prices in the United States shrugged off earlier losses in morning trading on Tuesday February 5, with the base metals complex temporarily boosted by the lack of Chinese participation while the East Asian country begins its Lunar New Year holiday.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rebounded by 2.20 cents on February 5 to $2....Read More
Even those who don't follow mining or invest in it could probably tell you that a global energy transition will mean the world is going to need a lot more copper.B.C. is Canada's largest copper producer, with six operating mines and a couple of dozen projects at the early or late exploration stage that could become new mines one day.So is copper golden in BC?Judging by presentations made last week...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Tuesday February 5, with most metals consolidating gains made at Monday's close while low stocks and a weaker dollar fail to prompt upward price action. Across afternoon trading on Monday, nickel, zinc and lead futures rallied to reach fresh highs, with low liquidity due to the Chinese New Year holidays contributi...Read More
Zambia has received bids from Canada's First Quantum Minerals (FQM) and others for a 17 percent stake in state mining investment arm ZCCM-IH, the finance minister said on Tuesday."There are multiple unsolicited offers on the table, including from FQM, which are based on preferential share conversions," said Margaret Mwanakatwe on the sidelines of a mining conference in Cape Town."The offers rela...Read More
Carmakers may have to consider investing directly in cobalt mines to secure supply over the next three to five years, as demand for the metal used in rechargeable batteries is set to increase exponentially, Ford Motor Co. senior manager for energy storage strategy and research Ted Miller believes.Speaking at a mining industry event in South Africa, Miller said the auto industry is now in an "awkwa...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
Lara Exploration (TSXV: LRA) announced this week that it signed a Definitive Agreement granting Capstone Mining (TSX:CS) an exclusive option to earn up to a 70% interest in the Planalto copper project, located in the Caraj??s province in northern Brazil.In a press release, the companies stated that under the terms of the agreement, Capstone has to pay Lara $200,000 following the receipt of a drill...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
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...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
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
The closure of some induction furnaces in China in 2016 followed by the government's crackdown on all unlicensed IFs in mid-2017 freed up some scrap volumes, albeit arguably of low-quality material. Chinese domestic scrap prices came under pressure from the increased supply, which prevented them from keeping pace with the rise in steel and other raw material markets in the fourth quarter of 2016;...Read More
Nicolas Carter is an executive vice-president of uranium at UxC LLC, one of the nuclear industry's market research and analysis companies. Carter has 21 years of nuclear industry experience. He manages and coordinates uranium consulting projects and products, including The Ux Weekly, Uranium Market Outlook, Uranium Suppliers Annual and Uranium Production Cost Study. During his career he has p...Read More
RAPAPORT... The board of the Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) has electedBoaz Moldawsky for a three-year term as chairman, it said Tuesday. Moldawsky, who has served as acting chairman for the pastyear, has also been deputy president of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE),chairman of the finance committee, and a member of the board of the Israel DiamondManufacturers Association. He is co-CEO of t...Read More