Comex copper prices experienced further weakness ahead of world leaders converging in Argentina for the Group of Twenty (G20) meeting this weekend.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.80 cents to $2.7735 per lb.Price movement is expected to be muted today with investors focusing on the weekend's G20 summit, where finance ministers.....Read More
Australian-Chinese miner MMG Ltd has completed the sale of its Sepon copper gold mine to China's Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining for $275 million, the company said on Friday November 30. The deal was first announced in June, when MMG agreed to sell its 90% stake in Lane Zang Minerals, owner of Sepon mine, to the Chinese mining company. Sepon is a Laotian open pit copper mine...Read More
Codelco's copper production and earnings fell in the first nine months of 2018, the Chilean state-owned copper producer said.Codelco produced 1.3 million tonnes of refined copper in the first nine months of the year, a drop of 2% from 1.32 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2017, it said.Including output from its stake in Anglo American Sur and El Abra, it produced 421,000 tonnes of refine...Read More
Brazil's President-elect and former army captain, Jair Bolsonaro, has named a Navy admiral as his Mining and Energy Minister. This appointment marks the eighth member of the armed forces to Bolsonaro's government and the 20th Minister appointed so far.Bento Costa Lima Leite de Albuquerque Junior (60), the current head of Brazilian Navy's nuclear and technology development program, was born in...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday November 30.Most base metals prices ticked higher in morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Friday November 30, with lead the best performer of the morning.Lead led the complex gains, with the three-month...Read More
PolarX builds bigger, richer Zackly pictureSPONSOREDpolar x limitedThe surprise was not in the results themselves from the four-hole program at the unnamed discovery, assumed to be the historic Oak Dam West anomaly.The surprise was that BHP announced t...Read More
Most base metals prices ticked higher in morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Friday November 30, with lead the best performer of the morning. Lead led the complex gains, with the three-month price rising by 1.65% from the previous day's close to $1,963 per tonne. LME lead stocks have consistently declined since September and was recently at 105,200 tonnes, a fresh 2018-low. Nickel and...Read More
PolarX builds bigger, richer Zackly pictureSPONSOREDpolar x limitedThe Toronto-based miner expects to produce more copper over this period than previously expected on the back of refined mine sequencing at Candelaria, in Chile, and an expected early completion of the Eagle East project, in the US.The 2019 copper guidance is expected to range between 199,000 metric tonnes 218,000t in 2019, rising t...Read More
Brazil's steel slab export price fell this past week due to continued weakness in flat steel pricing in the United States and Europe.Fastmarkets MB's weekly assessment of Brazil's steel slab export price was at $435-495 per tonne fob on Friday November 30, down from $450-505 per tonne cfr one week earlier.Semi-finished material prices offered to the United States also declined...Read More
Demand for steel in the Middle East is expected to increase marginally over the next five years, mainly because of big construction projects, professionals from across the sector told Fastmarkets in a survey before the 22nd Middle East Iron & Steel Conference to be held in Dubai this December.Infrastructure construction is going on in the United Arab Emirates related to the Dubai Expo 2020 exhibit...Read More
Domestic prices for coated-steel coil products in Turkey have increased slightly in the week ended Friday November 30 after producers ceased offering discounts, with local Turkish demand remaining limited.The local Turkish market has been slow for a long time. The initial reason was the weakening of the Turkish lira, which fell to a low of 10TRY to $1.44 on August 13, before staging a steady recov...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were firm on the morning of Friday November 30 despite the release of weaker-than-expected economic data from China earlier in the day. The three-month tin price led the gains with a 0.6% increase to $18,620 per tonne and was closely followed by zinc and nickel, which were both up by 0.4%. Copper and lead managed to eke out mild gain...Read More
Domestic and import prices for steel coil products in Turkey have shown different trends this week with demand being affected by a variety of factors, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 30."I believe prices have reached bottom. We may see slight rises or falls in the next few months, but no sharp falls are expected," a source said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for Turkish domestic...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transactions: HRC, CRC, HDG, PPGIHot-rolled coilTurkey, domestic, hot-rolled coil, offered at $525-540 per tonne ex-works, late December-early January production.Turkey, domestic, hot-r...Read More
Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia fell further on Friday November 30 amid downward pressure from low-priced Chinese materials, although trading remained at a standstill with buyers and sellers deterred by the drastic price drops.Additionally, the Philippines - a major billet importer - was away from the market due to a holiday on Friday.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for billet...Read More
China hot-rolled coil exporters continued to drop their offer prices, forced by overseas buyers who have been refraining from buying on bearish sentiment.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,590-3,610 yuan ($517-520) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,470-3,480 yuan per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneAlthough prices in eastern China picked up a bit on Friday as some downs...Read More
China's rebar prices dropped in both the domestic and the export markets on Friday November 30, amid low trading activity. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,800-3,830 yuan ($547-551) per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,520-3,550 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneLow rebar futures prices led to little buying interest in the domestic market, pushing down prices. Stock...Read More
South African manganese miner Assmang has declared force majeure on manganese ore shipments from the port of Saldanha, Fastmarkets heard on Friday November 30.Assmang has now joined fellow miner United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) in making the declaration after South African state transport...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 6 points in pre-opening trade. Investors are waiting for news related to trade negotiations between China and the U.S. The Canadian Dollar dipped 0.25 to U.S.75.04 cents after September GDP was released. Consensus was annualized growth at a 2.3% rate. Actual was 2.1%. Hewlett Packard (HPQ $22.86) is expected to open h...Read More
Key data for the pricing session for the week ended Friday November 30. China The domestic ferro-chrome spot price stabilized on thin trading activity and sellers' unwillingness to cut their price further because current levels have been close to their production costs.The imported charge chrome market was lackluster this week while the market digested the consequences of a...Read More