Production has officially ceased at the first and only diamond mine in the Canadian province of Ontario- the Victor mine owned by De Beers Canada. The news comes 10 years and 10 months after the mine was officially opened in July 2008.Mining ceased on March 5, and the recovery plant treated stockpiled material since then. The last economic ore was processed on May 25, 2019, followed by several day...Read More
Market focus is on escalating trade tensions this morning, Thursday May 30, with participants concerned about what the United States might do if China cuts exports of rare earth minerals to the former.This has led to further risk-off which is hitting Asian equities this morning, although base metals are, for now, in positive territory while they consolidate the previous day's losses.Market partici...Read More
RAPAPORT... An influential online community for jewelers has bannedsales of lab-grown diamonds, prompting fierce debate on social media. Jewelers Helping Jewelers (JHJ), a Facebook group with more than 16,000members, decreed Wednesday that no synthetics may be sold on the page, arguingthey damage the natural-diamond industry. Group founder and administrator AleahArundale will remove offending post...Read More
RAPAPORT... A Tanzanian small-scale miner has recovered a 512-caratdiamond, the largest ever found in the country, according to a Twitter post by a government official.The stone, which sold for $1.4 million, was found earlierthis month by Joseph Temba in the Shinyanga region, Kitila Mkumbo, permanent secretary at Tanzania's Ministry of Water, wrote on the social-media site last week. Temba so...Read More
Venus Jewel, one of India's and the world's leading and innovative diamond manufacturers, have obtained RJC certification which includes the first audited providence claim on rough diamond origin and traceability for each diamond Venus Jewel they sells in polished form. This provenance claim is reportedly the first of its kind and as such Venus Jewel is the first diamond manufactur...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during morning trading on Thursday May 30, with investors' appetite for risk damped by increasing US-China trade tensions following media reports that China may restrict its rare earths exports to the United States."A flurry of Chinese media reports have suggested Beijing may cut of exports of rare earth metals. China dominates...Read More
ArcelorMittal is planning a 70-day stoppage at one of the blast furnaces in its Tubar??o facility in Brazil's southeastern Esp?-rito Santo state, the company told Fastmarkets MB on Thursday May 30.The stoppage is scheduled for the second half of the year, according to ArcelorMittal. Sources expect maintenance works at the facility to start by September at the latest.The No2 blast furnace has...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemological Science International (GSI) has identified undisclosed lab-grown white sapphire melee set in pendants that had been submitted as natural-diamond jewelry. The pendants, which GSI's NewYork lab had received for a routine screening, contained near-colorless synthetic sapphires, placed next to natural white diamonds. "While the industry has taken considerable steps to add...Read More
PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has reported sales revenue of A$5-million for the sale of a parcel of 7 008 ct of rough diamonds from its Mothae operation, in Lesotho.The ASX-listed company noted that the tender, in Antwerp, included prices of up to $26 000/ct for individual gems.AdvertisementMD Stephen Wetherall said on Wednesday that the latest tender results cont...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports fell 0.4% to CHF 1.76 billion ($1.75million) in April, amid continued weak demand in Hong Kong. "The negative change in exports to Hong Kong accentuated theslowdown in growth that began in late 2018," the Federation of the Swiss WatchIndustry reported Tuesday. The percentage decline suffered from an unfavorable comparison with April 2018, when shipments t...Read More
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Prices for most flat-rolled steel imports into the United States have continued to slide while prices for certain domestic flat-rolled products have reached new lows.In a market where prices for domestic products have trended lower than those for their imported counterparts, at least in near term, importers may find little appetite to be aggressive in the US market."[There's] not much to talk abou...Read More
The Mexican government has begun to unblock some of the frozen bank accounts owned by steelmaker Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa), the company said late on Wednesday May 29."This will allow the company to resume normality in its financial transactions with suppliers and clients, and also ensure the pay packets of its 20,000 workers," Ahmsa said.The company also said that its operations were not a...Read More
Turkish domestic long steel markets remained quiet ahead of a week-long public holiday and due to a strengthening lira, which made buying more expensive, sources said on Thursday May 30. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey was TRY3,330-3,400 ($553-564) per tonne ex-works, narrowing downward from last week's TRY3,330-3,420 per tonne. The domestic rebar price in th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Trans Hex plans to sell nearly 70% of its Namaqualandoperations to the same company that bought its Lower Orange River mines last year. The miner is currently negotiating terms for the sale of the South Africa-based project with Christopher and Nathiera Kimber of KernelResources, who also own Lower Orange River Diamonds. Until the sale is final,Kernel Resources will be responsible...Read More
Sluggish demand for Turkish rebar and wire rod exports continued this week, despite the halving of import tariffs in the United States, prompting steel mills to reduce their offer prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 30.Steel producers in Turkey tried to increase their offers last week following news the US had cut its import tariff on Turkish steel to 25%, but there was no upturn in d...Read More
Altech ticks boxes on path to production SPONSOREDaltech chemicalsCodelco offered the three unions representing around 3,200 workers at the mine a 27-month contract, including a 1.2% real wage increase and a one-time payment of about US$14,000.The offer was rejected over the weekend by around 80% of workers, with unions unhappy Codelco had not included their health care and retirement benefit...Read More
Altech ticks boxes on path to production SPONSOREDaltech chemicalsThe hole, drilled at the Limon prospect, hit more than 200m of visible and persistent disseminated chalcopyrite and molybdenite with some bornite in a strongly altered porphyry system.Read More
Eduardo Bartolomeo will remain Vale's chief executive officer for the next two years, the Brazilian mining company said on Thursday May 30.Bartolomeo has been acting as CEO since March, when former top executive Fabio Schvartsman stepped down, at first on an interim basis. But Vale's board of directors voted on May 23 to keep Bartolomeo in the position until 2021.Schvartsman resigned...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap market has fallen quiet again after mills failed to sell finished long steel products to the United States even though that country has now removed its extra tariff on Turkish steel, sources said on Thursday May 30.The mills did return to the market for a short buying spree late last week, after the US reduced its import duty on Turkey-origin products to the pre-existing...Read More