Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday December 11.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were largely up during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with positive trade headlines sparking a bout of short covering across the complex. Check Fastmarkets MB's live futures report here.The Chinese ferro-silicon market...Read More
155,000. The November job gains disappointed. But the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent. What does it all mean for the gold market? Job Creation Disappoints, but Unemployment Rate Is Still Low U.S. nonfarm payrolls slowed down in November. The economy added just 155,000 jobs last month, following a rise of 227,000 in October (after a downward revision). Moreover, the weak headline number w...Read More
Published 22 Hours AgoUpdated6 Hours AgoReuters Gold held steady near a five-month peak on Tuesday as fading expectations of further interest rate hikes in the United States burnished the appeal of non-interest-bearing bullion.Meanwhile, palladium was trading at a premium to gold, with prices of the autocatalyst metal rising more than 2 percent after President Donald Trump said on Twitter that Chi...Read More
• The precious metal trimmed a part of its daily gains to $1250 area and is currently placed at the lower end of an intraday ascending trend-channel formation. Gold 15-mins. chart • Looking at a slightly higher time-frame (1-hourly chart), the commodity has been showing resilience below 50-hour SMA and near a short-term ascending trend-line. 1...Read More
The precious metals sector has just one standout performer this year, and that is palladium. Lately the market for that metal has gotten more than just hot. Developments there could have implications for the LBMA and the rickety fractional reserve system of inventory underpinning all of the physical precious metals markets.Palladium Reaches Gold Price, Makes All-Time HighCraig Hemke of the TF Meta...Read More
Gold futures ended with a loss on Monday, pulling back from the nearly five-month high they settled at late last week, as the U.S. dollar strengthened at the expense of the British pound. Gold for February delivery GCG9, +0.24% on Comex fell by $3.20, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,249.40 an ounce, while March silver SIH9, +0.42% lost 0.6% to $14.605 an ounce. Read: Silver is primed to take the spotl...Read More
Peter KrauthThere's no question the price of silver has made some bullish moves this week.The silver price has climbed by 3% over that time, aided by a weak U.S. dollar and markets, both of which have also been suffering from growing volatility.Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has given back a stunning 5.7% in the last week and is actually in the red on a year-to-date basis.Some currency experts think t...Read More
Base metal prices rose on the London Metal Exchange by the close on Tuesday December 11, with copper acting as the best performer among the complex.Specifically, the three-month copper price surged by 1.3% to close at $2,590 per tonne. "LME copper continues to run rather positive micro-dynamics. Total LME stocks continue to see drawdowns, with net holdings edging to a fresh 2018 low of...Read More
* Government plans higher taxes in January* Additional revenue to help bring down mounting debtLUSAKA - Mining companies in Zambia may lay off more than 21,000 workers due to reduced capital expenditure over the next three years if the government introduces higher taxes in January, an industry body said on Tuesday.Africa's No.2 copper producer plans to introduce new mining duties, replace Value Ad...Read More
Amarc Resources (TSXV: AHR; US-OTC: AXREF) has identified five clusters of drill ready targets that cover areas ranging from 1.5 sq. km to more than 5 sq. km during 2018 exploration at its JOY copper-gold project in north-central B.C.'s Toodoggone region.Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) funded the $2.5 million exploration program. It also spent $1.15 million in 2018 to help Amarc acquire un...Read More
Comex copper prices hit a one-week high in the US morning on Tuesday December 11 with the continued trade actions between China and the United States guiding the market. The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 5.15 cents to $2.7715 per lb today. Earlier, the contract traded at $2.7805, the highest since December 4. Trade tensions betwe...Read More
Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining (ASX:NMC) is betting big on Chile's geological gold potential by closing two deals with exploration juniors in the South American country, the world's top copper producer.The Melbourne-based company kicked off the week by signing an option agreement with Canada's Cornerstone Capital (TSX-V:CGP), which could result in the gold miner acquiring up to a 75% int...Read More
GABORONE - Mowana Mine, Botswana's only operating copper mine, has suspended operations due to working capital constraints which has seen the company fail to pay salaries and suppliers, it said on Tuesday.Mowana had a conditional $4 million working capital facility from Fujax Minerals and Energy Limited, from which it had drawn down $1 million.Copper prices on the international market have been re...Read More
Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY), the company conducting exploration at a Western Australia-based copper project with partner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE:RIO), said Tuesday it had so far failed to find any economically viable veins of ore at the asset.In an update Tuesday, the junior miner noted "weak mineralization" in the Folly target area that is part of the Citadel project, located in the Paterson pro...Read More
Global miner Anglo American (LON:AAL) is ending 2018 on a high note, the company reported Tuesday. Anglo expects total production for the year to be 2% above of previous guidance, with costs decreasing by 5%."We are also confident about the outlook, with production expected to increase by 3% in 2019, with cost inflation fully absorbed by our productivity and cost improvements," chief executive M...Read More
Pan Global Resources (TSXV: PGZ) was granted a mineral exploration permit on the Escacena gold / copper / zinc prospect in the Iberian Pyrite Belt in southern Spain. In a press release, the Vancouver-based miner said the Escacena Investigation Permit was granted and a formal notice was received by current owner EVALAM 2003 SL. Yet, Pan Global has a binding Letter of Intent with EVALAM, providing t...Read More
Physical iron ore prices stayed rangebound on Tuesday December 11 while steel markets weakened further. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $65.97 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.15 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $65.24 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.15 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $69.68 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.18 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $59.67 per ton...Read More
The rally in uranium prices, which began in April this year amid production cutbacks in Kazakhstan and Canada, is set to continue as inventories of the nuclear material decline for the first time in nearly a decade.Production at Kazakhstan state-owned uranium miner Kazatomprom, responsible for more than a quarter of global output, was 19,600 tonnes during the first eleven months of 2018, a 7% decl...Read More
SASKATCHEWAN - Vancouver's CanAlaska Uranium and Saskatoon's Cameco Corp. have formed the West McArthur joint venture and agreed on a $2.4-million exploration budget for 2019. CanAlaska will be the operator and 70% owner.Next year's work will focus on extending the footprint of the three discovery holes in 2017 and 2018. They define a halo of uranium mineralization in the sandstone. The halo measu...Read More
Drilling at the West McArthur uranium property. (Image: CanAlaska Uranium)SASKATCHEWAN - Vancouver's CanAlaska Uranium and Saskatoon's Cameco Corp. have formed the West McArthur joint venture and agreed on a $2.4-million exploration budget for 2019. CanAlaska will be the operator and 70% owner.Next year's work will focus on extending the footprint of the three discovery holes in 2017 and 2018. The...Read More