Tata Steel Europe restarted blast furnace production at its Port Talbot plant in South Wales, UK, on Saturday April 27. Production was temporarily stopped after a liquid iron spillage caused a massive explosion early in the morning of Friday April 26. Two workers were injured as a result of the incident but were said to be recovering after treatment on Friday."Supply...Read More
RAPAPORT... Output at Firestone Diamonds slipped in the third fiscal quarteras the company processed ore from a lower-grade portion of the mine. Production dropped 19% to 155,206 carats at the company'sLiqhobong mine in Lesotho in the three months ending March 31. Throughout the rainyseason, Firestone mines the northern portion of the pit, which containslower-grade ore. "During the final qua...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mineral inclusions in rare diamonds have provided clues towhen their continents of origin were formed, according to research by the GemologicalInstitute of America (GIA). The researchers studied sulphide inclusions in type Ibyellow diamonds originating from the Zimmi mining area near the Liberia-SierraLeone border. Those stones have rare nitrogen impurities, and comprise less than...Read More
RAPAPORT... US consumers are expected to spend 13% more on jewelry thisMother's Day, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said last week. Americans will shell out $5.2 billion on the category this year,compared with $4.6 billion in 2018, according to the trade organization'sannual survey. The dollar increase for jewelry sales represents 31% of the total expected growth inMother's Day sales over la...Read More
RAPAPORT... A new program by the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) aims to help artisanal miners receive certification to show their diamonds are conflict-free. The Maendeleo Diamond Standards (MDS), named after the Swahili word for development, was created together with various stakeholders. Those include government entities,local civil-society organizations, and artisanal and small-scale mine...Read More
STOCKHOLM – The opaque diamond trade may be ripe for disruption.Lucara Diamond, which recently found the second-largest diamond in history in Botswana, is taking on industry giants such as De Beers and Alrosa PJSC with an online platform to replace the current physical auctions.AdvertisementThe service allows Lucara to match buyers’ requirements, not only saving jewelers the trouble of...Read More
Low availability prevented a sharp decline in US pig iron prices last week.Fastmarkets' import price assessment for pig iron in the US was unchanged week on week at $360-365 per tonne cfr on Friday April 26.One cargo of 60,000 tonnes of pig iron was booked from Russia at $365 per tonne cfr New Orleans earlier in the week. Deals for CIS-origin pig iron reduced slightly as a result, from...Read More
Turkish domestic ship scrap prices have fallen slightly over the past week, while a number of steel mills raised their buy prices for auto bundle scrap due to the continual weakening of the lira against the US dollar, sources said on Monday April 29.Three steel mills continued to buy ship scrap at $315-320 per tonne delivered, but a fourth mill reduced its buy price to $310 per tonne delivered.So...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have continued their deep-sea scrap bookings after achieving lower prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 29.Three deep-sea cargoes were heard traded late on April 27 and on April 28.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $307 per tonne, shredded at $312 per tonne and bonus at $317 per tonne...Read More
Diamond major Alrosa earned $8.91-million in revenue from the sale of special size diamonds – diamonds larger than 10.8 ct – at its second auction in Dubai, this year.Fifty-six companies from Belgium, India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the US, Hong Kong and Russia participated in the auction, which resulted in the sale of 109 out of 122 auction lots on offer sold. Two especi...Read More
Physical iron ore prices advanced on Monday April 29 amid gains in China's futures market.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $94.05 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.47 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $92.83 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.47 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $97.10 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $1.07 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $84.64 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $...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 transaction: iron oreIron oreVale, Beijing Iron Ore Trading Center (Corex), 100,000 tonnes of 65% Fe Iron Ore Carajas, traded at $109.30 per tonne cfr China, laycan...Read More
Spot prices for seaborne coking coal sold to China fell on Monday April 29 despite a strengthening metallurgical coke market.A cargo of a top Australian brand that is already headed for China was sold to a mill in the country's northeastern region at $205.95 per tonne cfr China, various sources confirmed.This is around $2 per tonne below a transaction involving the same brand that was concluded at...Read More
Trading activity involving both seaborne iron ore concentrate and pellets thinned last week, which resulted in softer prices.Concentrate The weekly Fastmarkets MB 66% Fe Iron Ore Concentrate Index stood at $105.35 per tonne cfr China last Friday April 26, down $2.49 per tonne from a week earlier.The daily Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index averaged $107.64 per tonne cfr China last week, down $0....Read More
Look beyond market approach to project valuations: van ZylLeadershipWestern Atlas drill-ready in NunavutSPONSOREDwestern atlas resourcesGlobal Atomic's 'transformational discovery' changes everythingSPONSOREDglobal atomic corpWill Indonesia abandon its plan to ban bauxite exports?SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftSpeaking in the 'capital markets and key trends in mining' panel, Urquiaga said a...Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxUnder the agreement, Gold Fields has the right to set up a technical advisory panel to review and provide input on Chakana's exploration programme, a pre-emptive right to participate in any future proposed equity offering to maintain its pro-rata interest, and the right to increase its equity position to match that of another mining company in a future equi...Read More
Three-month copper and aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange were subdued across morning trading on Monday April 29, with price sentiment dampened by sizable inflows into various LME-registered locations, while scheduled US-China trade talks this week could boost buying sentiment. Over 37,000 tonnes of copper was delivered into LME-registered warehouses in Asia, Europe and North America th...Read More
The latest selenium transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe reported to Fastmarkets.Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per lb and on an in-warehouse Rotterdam basis. Delivered prices are netted back.To view the latest price assessment, click here.To see all Fastmarkets' pricing methodology and specification documents, go to: www.metalbulletin.com/prices/pricing-methodologyWednesd...Read More
Key data from the pricing session in Europe on Friday April 26.Key drivers Several producers of chromium metal are already destocking ahead of the summer lull, according to sources; this destock usually does not happen before late May-June. Sources see this as a clear sign of slow demand. The chromium market has been following a...Read More