Rio Tinto's (ASX, LON:RIO) investors will be celebrating Christmas in February, as the miner is giving them a $4 billion special dividend, or $2.43 cent a share, after posting its highest annual underlying earnings since 2014.The world's second largest miner reported Wednesday a 2% increase in underlying profit, up to $8.8 billion, beating market forecasts of $8.5 billion on the back of rising rev...Read More
Zinc ingot premiums fell to their lowest levels in eight and a half years in Antwerp and Rotterdam on Tuesday February 26 due to market sellers offloading units in reaction to tightening London Metal Exchange future price spreads. European zinc premiums drop sharply Shanghai zinc market flat South and East Asia lead markets unchanged with little buying European zinc premiums drop to 8...Read More
Mining giant Rio Tinto's (ASX, LON:RIO) relentless search for a major copper deposit may have finally paid off as it announced it had made a promising find at its Winu prospect in Western Australia."It is early days and we have more work to do, but the initial results from drilling are pretty encouraging," Chief Executive Jean-S?(C)bastien Jacques said on Wednesday, after Rio posted its highest an...Read More
Tin premiums were unchanged across the board on Tuesday February 26, with a climbing outright tin price capping spot business in Europe and the United States, while Chinese participants are yet to feel the downstream effects of this week's suspension of key tin producer Yinman Mining. European demand holds up despite Indonesian export delays US participants concerned over climbing tin price China...Read More
Noranda Income Fund (NIF) forecasts higher zinc metals production and sales this year but said concentrate market conditions remain the main challenge for its processing facility. NIF, which owns the Canadian Electrolytic Zinc (CEZ) facility in the Canadian province of Quebec, expects 2019 zinc metal production and sales to be between 270,000 and 280,000 tonnes. This is up from earlier forecasts o...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has received its first application ahead of its introduction of the Registered Intermediating Brokers (RIBs) membership category, according to a note to members on Wednesday February 27.Freight brokerage firm Simpson Spence & Young (SSY) confirmed to Fastmarkets that the firm's membership is now being considered by the LME and circulated to existing members for approval....Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower during morning trading on Wednesday February 27, with a softer US dollar index and continued optimism over US-China trade talks failing to spur consistent price rallies across the complex. That said, both copper and nickel futures have continued to hold the gains made over the last week, with the former trading near $6,500 per tonne...Read More
Significant copper concentrate stocks from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are now sitting in bonded warehouses in Zambia, awaiting an unlikely roll-back of the import duty enforced by the Zambian government, Fastmarkets has learned. A 5% import duty has been applied on Zambian copper concentrates imports since the start of 2019, causing major smelters including Vedanta's KCM and Chinese-ow...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday February 27 that are worth another look.Following reports of a potential power shortage in one of China's major ferro-alloy production hubs in the second quarter of this year, market participants have downplayed any immediate impact on ferro-alloy prices in the country, saying they intend to adopt a wait-and-see stance in...Read More
Vancouver-based Blue Sky Uranium Corp. has announced positive results from the preliminary economic assessment of its Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit. The deposit is part of the company's Amarillo Grande project in the Rio Negro Province.The PEA calls for an open pit mine that will produce both uranium and vanadium for 13 years. The pre-production capex will be $128.1 million including $28.3 milli...Read More
Prices for hollow steel sections in the domestic European market were unchanged week on week on Wednesday February 27, but increases in hot rolled coil (HRC) prices will soon have a knock-on effect, market sources told Fastmarkets.For the second time in less than a month, ArcelorMittal has announced a ?,?30-per-tonne ($34) price increase for its European coil steel products and while this has not...Read More
Steel beam prices in the domestic Northern European market edged up this week as producers continued to push for increases to offset raw materials costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 27.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic S235-grade, 200x200mm, category-2 H-beam in Northern Europe was ?,?600-635 ($682-722) per tonne delivered on February 27, widening upward by ?,?5...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Southern Europe remained flat on Wednesday February 27, with "indications" of better prices to come being the best that producers can report amid disappointing demand. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Southern Europe was at ?,?510-520 ($580-591) per tonne delivered, flat week on week on Wednesday.Producers have raised their of...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe remained steady on Wednesday February 27, although producers were encouraged by some moves toward higher prices within Fastmarkets' assessed ranges.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe stayed at ?,?535-550 ($608-625) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, with deals toward the top of...Read More
State-owned long steel producer Emirates Steel is expecting a slowdown in the Middle East construction sector that will persist throughout 2019, chief executive officer Saeed Al-Remeithi said on Tuesday February 26.Al-Remeithi was speaking as the company released partial production results for 2018. He said that he expected the slowdown in the regional construction industry this year because of in...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sterling Jewelers has reached a mutually agreeable settlementwith Alex and Ani after a yearlong dispute over a supply deal. Judge Sara Lioi dismissed the case without prejudice,according to a February 14 motion Sterling, a division of Signet Jewelers, filedin an Ohio court. The companies will beartheir own legal costs. "The matter was resolved and settled to the parties' mutualsa...Read More
RAPAPORT... Michael Hill's sales fell 2.7% in the first half of its fiscal year due to the lingering impact of a discounting policy that it has been working to abolish, the company said. Group revenue dropped to AUD 315.4 million ($226 million), thejeweler reported Wednesday. During the first four months of the period endingDecember 31, the jeweler suffered from a marketing strategy featuring...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from Rio Tinto's diamond division slid 1.6% to $695million in 2018, the miner reported Wednesday. The diamond unit's profit rose 28% to $118 million, whileearnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased4.9% to $301 million. Diamond production fell 15% to 18.4 millioncarats for the year, with output slipping at both its mines. Carat recovery...Read More
Finestar, an Indian diamond manufacturer and trader that recently acquired De Beers Sightholder status, has launched its proprietary Finestar X-ray diamond imaging software. Finestar's X-ray imaging program shows the internal framework of the given diamond. Technically speaking, it is the digital image overlapping the plotting image of a diamond grading report that shows the exact position of the...Read More
QMC Quantum Minerals (TSXV: QMC; US-OTC: QMCQF) has visually identified spodumene in the first diamond holes it has drilled into its Irgon lithium project in the Cat Lake-Winnipeg River rare-element pegmatite field in southeast Manitoba.The company is currently amid phase one of a two phase drill program at Irgon, designed to confirm and expand the project's historical resource that Lithium Corpor...Read More