US labor market strengthened again and the yield curveinversion looks to be over. Has the sky cleared? Hold on, Brexit is just aroundthe corner. Given the circumstances, are gold prices more likely to rise orfall? AmericaCreates almost 200,000 new jobs in MarchUS economy added 196,000 jobs last month, followinga disappointing rise of 33,000 in February (after an upward revision). Thenumber surpris...Read More
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Money manager Adrian Day looks at recent results from several royalty companies in his portfolio, as well as recent developments in the ongoing Goldcorp saga, and provides updates on a couple of favorite exploration companies.Goldcorp Inc. (G:TSX; GG:NYSE, US$11.52) looks set to be acquired by Newmont, but not without continuing controversy, particularly over chairman Ian Telfer's egregious "retir...Read More
The gold miners’ stocksare still marching, grinding higher on balance in a solid upleg. While interest in this sector has faded sincelate February, it is nicely set up for a strong rally. After consolidating high and establishing asturdy base, the gold miners are likely to soon report greatly-improvedfirst-quarter results. Couple that with golditself powering higher, and th...Read More
Treatment charges (TCs) paid for zinc concentrates on the spot market declined in April, with Chinese smelters and traders actively acquiring tonnages at lower levels than before.Fastmarkets monthly assessment for zinc concentrate spot TCs, cif Asia Pacific, was at $260-290 per tonne on April 26, down from $270-305 per tonne on March 29.The drop marks a break in the uptrend for sharply rising zinc...Read More
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. surprised the market by accidentally releasing its first-quarter results during the trading day.The Canadian miner fell as much as 3.4 percent after its first-quarter results were released at 1:44 p.m. during normal trading in Toronto, before recovering some of its losses. First Quantum earnings statements typically come out after market hours. Lisa Doddridge, a spokesw...Read More
North American Palladium of Toronto has expanded the platinum group metals zone at the Sunday Lake property, 25 km northeast of Thunder Bay and 60 km south of NAP's Lac des Iles mill. The current campaign is focused on a large PGM zone and copper-nickel sulphide mineralization in the deeper portions of the Sunday Lake mafic-ultramafic intrusion.NAP is the operator and earning a 75% interest at Sun...Read More
Some of the U.K.'s biggest companies were dropped from the government's list of responsible small-business customers on Monday, a decision that could undermine their ability to win state contracts.Five firms were removed from the Prompt Payment Code, an initiative to speed up settlement of invoices owed to suppliers. The companies - including mining conglomerate BHP Group Plc, DHL Worldwide Expres...Read More
Jiangxi Copper Co, one of China's biggest copper producers, said on Monday its profits fell by 3.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter as lower prices for the metal dented earnings.The Nanchang-based company's net income was 742.35 million yuan ($110.25 million) in the January to March period, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. That was down from 765.96 million yuan in the...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday April 29 that are worth another look.Demand in China's silicon market is likely fall in the near term while the secondary aluminium market struggles with the impending restrictions on imports of non-ferrous scrap metal, market sources told Fastmarkets on the sidelines of Antaike's 2019 China Industry Silicon Conference in Gu...Read More
Gold futures finished higher Friday after a quarterly reading of the pace of growth of the U.S. economy came in better than expected, but other aspects of the report raised questions about the underlying strength of the economy. The U.S. economy expanded at a 3.2% annual pace in the first three months of 2019, the government said Friday. The gain was well above forecasts for a 2.3% increase in gr...Read More
Aluminium billet import premiums in Brazil for material from Aluar - the sole producer in neighboring Argentina - were at $460-490 per tonne cif during the first quarter of the year, the company told Fastmarkets MB.In March and April, the import premiums were slightly closer to the low end of the range but have averaged nearer $470 per tonne this month. The most recent deal heard for the Argentini...Read More
The United States' copper market suffered minor losses on Monday April 29 morning amid a lack of business activity and signs that the second-quarter will produce weak demand.The copper price for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.40 cents to $2.89 per lb. The red metal has been unable to set a clear price direction over the past few weeks, with a vol...Read More
Copper scrap sold into China in April was at the widest discount level in the past three years on a massive backlog of non-ferrous scrap due to the upcoming halt in July scrap imports after policy changes.Fastmarkets assessment for the discount for No2 copper scrap, birch/cliff, imported in China is at 37-42 cents per lb on April 29, a significant stretch compared with 32-38 cents per lb a month b...Read More
Ulrich Schridde, Aludium's director for metal management, is set to retire on April 30 after nearly 40 years in the aluminium industry, Fastmarkets has learned.Schridde has worked at European aluminium rolling mill Aludium since 2015, where he was responsible for procurement and strategy. Prior to this, he worked at Russian aluminium producer Rusal for...Read More
While prices for merchant bar quality (MBQ) steel again remained steady in the United States over the past month, sources pointed to seasonally weak demand, reports of discounts and potential further erosion in scrap costs as downward pressure points weighing on the spot market. Fastmarkets AMM assessed domestic 2- x 2- x 1/4 -inch angle merchant bar at $37.05 per hundredweight ($741 per short t...Read More
Vancouver-based NexGen Energy says the Rook I project description has been accepted by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. That clears the way for the company to begin the environmental assessment of the project.The environmental assessment will be co-ordinated among NexGen and the two governmental bodies.NexGen has also filed an initial lice...Read More
Plate prices in the United States were flat, one week after dropping to their lowest point in over a year. Market participants reported improving availability and shorter delivery times, while mill sources have noted that plate imports are increasing as the 2019 construction season gets into full swing. "Lead times have come in a little bit," one large plate consumer said. "I think the n...Read More
Russian steel and vanadium producer Evraz's sales of final vanadium products fell by 5.3% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2019 to 2.52 million tonnes, the company said in a trading update on Monday April 29.This was down from 2.66 million tonnes of pure vanadium produced in the fourth quarter of 2018, and down by 19% year-on-year from the first quarter of 2018, when Evraz produced 3.11...Read More
Market sources surveyed by Fastmarkets last week broadly agreed that the prospects for steel exports out of Turkey remained poor at the end of April, with no recovery likely soon because of trade barriers erected by authorities in the country's principal outlet markets.This will affect steel output in Turkey, with local demand also limited by the country's economic uncertainty and the decline in t...Read More