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
Fastmarkets looks at key Asian ferrous scrap consuming countries Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea, and which exporters increased their shipments to these destinations in 2018. Vietnam increased ferrous scrap imports by 20.7% in January-November 2018 to 5.12 million tonnes, up 878,425 tonnes, or 20.7%, from 4.24 million tonnes in the same period in 2017. Fastmarkets MB's import price asse...Read More
The Europe-Asia ferrous scrap arbitrage could open once again with falling prices in Turkey prompting suppliers to look for alternative markets.Suppliers have increased the quantities of ferrous scrap available to steel mills in Vietnam and Taiwan, causing offers to drop by $5-10 per tonne.Offers for Europe-origin lower-quality heavy melting scrap (HMS) 1&2 came in at $335 per tonne cfr...Read More
Premium hard coking coal was offered lower on Wednesday February 27 while the rest of the seaborne market for the steelmaking raw material remained steady amid a dearth of activity.A cargo of unbranded materials was offered on trading platform Global Coal at $216 per tonne fob Australia during the day, sources told Fastmarkets. This is $2 per tonne lower than an offer of $218 per tonne fob Austral...Read More
Endomines' golden opportunities to growSPONSOREDendomines"This number responds to the downward trend since 2014, since when the majority of projects have been suspended. [It is] a challenge to reverse this condition," said executive vice president Manuel José Fernández.The 2018 study shows a slight increase in the number of projects compared with the 294 recorded in 2017. Copper...Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxIn a note dated yesterday, the bank said underlying demand remained sluggish and it had been "surprised by the strength in copper prices", which have averaged more than $6,000 per tonne to date this quarter."As a result, we mark to market our Q1 price forecast [from $5,800/t] to $6,120/t but warn that a change in sentiment could bring copper prices down abr...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices rebounded slightly on Wednesday February 27 with buyers picking up the pace of their procurement. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,750-3,800 yuan ($560-567) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,750-3,790 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneAn improvement in weather conditions in eastern China has allowed more construction projects to resta...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Wednesday February 27* Copper -$192.16 (-1,288.92 yuan) Aluminium -$342.51 (-2,297.47 yuan) Zinc -$137.31 (-921.02 yuan) Nickel -$251.12 (-1,684.45 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxMany are seeking to take advantage of the Prospectors and Developers Association Conference (PDAC) in Toronto to position themselves and make investors aware of the changes they are making to makeRead More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 5 points in pre-opening trade.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at 76.08 cents U.S. following release of the January Consumer Price Index. Consensus was an increase of 0.2% versus a drop of 0.1% in December. Actual was an increase of 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis, consensus for the January Consumer Price I...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 5 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of December Housing Starts released at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was 1.253 million units versus 1.256 million units in November. Actual was 1.078 million units.Bank of Montreal (BMO $99.18) is expected to open higher after reporting h...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Wednesday February 27:Minor metalsAntimony MB Chinese free market MMTA standard grade II, yuan/tonne: 47,500-48,500 yuan per tonne from 48,500-49,500 yuanBismuth MB free market, $/lb: $3.60-4.00 per lb from $3.70-4.20Cadmium MB free market min 99.99%, cents/lb: 137-146 per lb from 137-145Cobalt MB free...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday February 27 pricing session in Europe.Key drivers - Persistent supply worries involving a major supplier prompted short-covering and is expected to propel prices higher in the weeks to come. Ferro-titanium producers and traders have been getting more buying interest from Europe and the United States. With one producer typically offering at least 350 tonnes per month to...Read More
Following reports of a potential power shortage in one of China's major ferro-alloy production hubs in the second quarter of this year, market participants have downplayed any immediate impact on ferro-alloy prices in the country, saying they intend to adopt a wait-and-see stance in the run up to April.The city of Ulanqab in China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia is expected to experience a s...Read More
The official rate of unemployment in the U.S. plunged to a remarkably low 3.7% last year. The Federal Reserve forecasts that the unemployment rate will reach 3.5% by the end of this year.However the official rate hides some troubling realities: 1 out of 4 college grads is overqualified for their jobs, there are more contract workers than ever with no job security, and an army of part-time workers...Read More
“I’ll never do THAT again!”My 6-year-old Caleb is good for about one funny quote a day. If you’ve ever watched the TV show Kids Say the Darndest Things, you know exactly what I’m talking about.After attempting to slide down the banister and breaking both bones in his forearm, Caleb was quick to promise he’d never do something dangerous like that again.But this w...Read More
The following Fastmarkets UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday February 27:Aluminium ingotLM24 pressure diecasting ingot: ?1,380-1,440 per tonne from...Read More
During the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame's induction ceremony held in Toronto in January, master of ceremonies and Franco-Nevada chairman Pierre Lassonde shared a story of a fateful encounter he once had with Brian Meikle, the late Barrick Gold geologist. Meikle was one of the five inductees of the evening, in part for his role in discovering Barrick's company-making Goldstrike gold deposit in Neva...Read More
Months after acquiring the world's first pure cobalt stream for US$300 million on Vale's Voisey's Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine in Labrador, Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. (TSXV: KBLT; US-OTC: CBLLF) is adding substantially to its portfolio of battery metal assets.In January 2019, the company struck a deal to acquire Australian explorer, developer and miner Highlands Pacific Limited. Highlands' key asset...Read More
Nicholas Mather, president and CEO of Australian junior SolGold, is The Northern Miner's Mining Person of the Year for 2018 in recognition of his role as the driving force behind the wildly successful grassroots team that has drilled off the world-class Alpala gold-copper deposit at its Cascabel project in Imbabura province in northern Ecuador, with potentially many more discoveries to come in the...Read More