The Natural Color Diamond Association (NCDIA) announced it will stage a seminar and panel discussion about "Diamonds from Canada's Arctic Circle" at the upcoming JCK Show in Las Vegas. The NCDIA seminar's panelists will be Jim Pounds, Executive Vice President of Dominion Diamond Mines and Reid Mackie, Vice President of Mountain Province Diamonds. Rob Bates, Senior Editor of JCK Mag...Read More
Egypt, the largest producer of direct-reduced iron (DRI) in Northern Africa, will increase its output further in 2019, Fastmarkets heard at the North Africa Iron & Steel Summit in Cairo on April 16-17.In 2019, DRI production in Egypt may reach 6.6 million tonnes, one steel producer in the country estimated, depending on the balance between the supply of natural gas to power the smelting process an...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap markets due to weak demand for finished steel, sources said on Wednesday April 24.Demand in the country's export markets was still limited because of the safeguarding imports quotas impose by the EU, the doubled Section 232 import tariffs in the United States, and import duties in Egypt.Suppliers in the Baltic Sea regi...Read More
Iron ore prices retreated on Wednesday April 24 following a downturn in the futures and steel markets.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $93.55 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.98 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $92.33 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.98 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $95.94 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.94 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $83.70 per tonne...Read More
BHP, Barrick Gold, Teck Resources and Antofagasta are a few of the major mining companies that, together with equipment suppliers and universities, have helped develop global guidelines on automation.The document, published this week by Canada-based Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG), outlines a framework for miners to follow when considering adding autonomous equipment to their operations. It a...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials.Latest transactions: iron oreIron oreBHP, private tender, 110,000 tonnes of 61% Fe Mining Area C...Read More
Participants in China were still sitting on the sidelines of the seaborne coking coal spot market on Wednesday April 24 while they waited for a clearer sense of direction in the domestic coke market.There have been talks in the market over a possible coke price hike by the end of April, according to various sources in China. "A coke plant in Hebei province has led the way, by proposing to increase...Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxThe miner produced 188,600 tonnes of copper during the quarter, 22.6% higher than the same 2018 period, although it was 14.Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxThe Sandfire CEO's attention had turned to business development and the status of the opportunity Sandfire has had on its books since 2014 - the Black Butte copper project in Montana.Read More
Trading across most of the base metals is leading to price weakness – this despite record-setting levels seen in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite on Tuesday. The exception is aluminium, where prices have been edging higher in recent days.Base metals Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part little changed during morning trading on Wednesday April 24, w...Read More
Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia went down in the week ended Wednesday April 24 because market participants delayed purchasing decisions while waiting for more clarity about how the price of nickel would move.The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange ended the official trading session on April 23 at $12,575-12,600 per tonne, down by $490-495 per tonne week on week....Read More
Record highs in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite indices, alongside a 2019 dollar-index high of 97.73, (at the close on April 23) boosted economic optimism with some base metals trading up in the morning session on April 24, while others remain marginally suppressed.United States' stocks recovered to a record degree on Tuesday April 23 in response to dovish rhetoric from the US Federal Reserve and...Read More
Trading across most of the base metals is leading to price weakness - this despite record-setting levels seen in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite on Tuesday. The exception is aluminium, where prices have been edging higher in recent days.Asian equities give up early gains; in the US, earnings and dovish Federal Reserve sent shares to, or near to, record highsTop US officials travel to Beijing to c...Read More
Copper premiums in Asia softened this week amid a slump in spot inquiries and a continued contango in the metal's nearby cash/three-month spread on the London Metal Exchange, while continued availability of material in Europe kept premiums there flat. Lack of buying appetite softens Chinese copper premiums European participants question Italian copper consumption US market stable, participants co...Read More
Zinc led the rest of the base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange downward during morning trading on Wednesday April 24, with stock inflows and a firm dollar weighing on the galvanizing metal's prices.A strong performance by the US dollar on Tuesday has dampened investors' appetite for commodity investment, in turn pressuring base metals prices on the SHFE this morning.The dollar index,...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged in pre-opening trade.U.S. equity indices are testing their all-time highs. All-time inter-day high for the S&P 500 Index is 2940.91. All-time inter-day high for the NASDAQ Composite Index is 8,133.30.Caterpillar slipped $2.21 to $139.82 despite reporting higher than consensus first quarter sales and earnings....Read More
Carmaker BMW has locked in supply of cobalt metal produced at Murrin Murrin and CTT for the production of electric vehicles, market sources confirmed to Fastmarkets. Material will be supplied to BMW from 2020, sources added, though details on tonnage or price terms were not immediately available. About 1,800 tonnes per year of cobalt are produced at the CTT mine in Morocco in the form of broken ca...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday April 24 pricing session in Europe.Key drivers The European ferro-titanium and titanium scrap markets were steady in the week to Wednesday April 24, consolidating gains made early last week, when Fastmarkets reported news of a production stoppage at UK producer FE Mottram after a fire at the company's plant in Sheffield. Alloy prices were expected to move higher in the...Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Wednesday April 24:Antimony MB Chinese free market MMTA standard grade II, yuan/tonne: 43,500-44,500 yuan per tonne from 44,000-45,000 yuanCadmium MB free market min 99.95%, cents/lb: 133-140 cents per lb...Read More
Free college tuition. It became famous as one of Bernie Sanders' biggest campaign promises last time around.And now the same idea is starting to rear its head again ahead of 2020... Only this time it's starting with Elizabeth Warren and a new plan to forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt for every man, woman, and child. (Just about.)In case you have any doubt, I'll be taking the other side of...Read More