Base metal stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses were mostly up week on week on Friday March 15, with nickel stocks registering a 13.3% gain.Deliverable nickel stocks at SHFE-approved warehouses have risen by 1,438 tonnes or 13.3% since March 8 to 12,217 tonnes as of March 15. Over the week to Friday, warehouse company Zhongchu Dachang in Shanghai had the most inflows into its sh...Read More

In a reversal of its closing fortunes on March 14, the London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract increased to $6,415 per tonne during morning trading on March 15, up by $11 per tonne from the $6,404-per-tonne close the previous day.A significant 44,800 tonnes of material was recorded to have arrived almost exclusively into Asian warehouses as of 9am on March 15, with global stocks of mat...Read More

Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Friday March 15*Copper -$120.98 (-815.01 yuan) Aluminium -$312.74 (-2,106.89 yuan) Zinc -$99.95 (-673.36 yuan) Nickel -$137.75 (-927.97 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE...Read More

WASHINGTON - The United States and Brazil could work together to build small nuclear reactors, as South America's largest economy prepares to open uranium mining and related areas to foreign investment, Brazil's mines and energy minister told Reuters on Friday.Brazil is preparing legislation that would clear the way for both private and foreign investment in prospecting and mining for uranium in t...Read More

Strong demand again drove coated steel prices higher in the United States, while the price for cold-rolled coil remained steady week on week, according to market participants.Fastmarkets AMM's weekly assessment for the domestic hot-dipped galvanized steel base price moved to $42 per hundredweight ($840 per short ton) on Thursday March 14 from $41.50 per cwt a week earlier; and the all-in price for...Read More

Slab export prices from Brazil remained unchanged this past week, although offers from the country were heard at higher levels.Fastmarkets MB's weekly assessment for Brazil-origin slab stood at $500-540 per tonne fob on Friday March 15, stable week on week.Offers from Brazil to the US market were heard close to $560 per tonne fob, but market participants were still doubtful whether...Read More

Prices for most imported flat steel in South America rose this past week, with galvanized sheet leading the uptrend as Chinese mills offered at substantially higher levels.Fastmarkets' hot-dipped galvanized coil assessment stood at $640-660 per tonne cfr on March 15 compared with $630-640 per tonne the week prior. It is the highest level since November 16, when prices were $685-700 per tonne."Chin...Read More

Fastmarkets has discontinued its weekly assessments of the Latin America rebar export price, which was reported on a dollar per tonne fob main port basis, with effect from Friday March 15.After a consultation period lasting two months, Fastmarkets has discontinued its weekly assessments after receiving feedback that there was now limited spot liquidity in the market for this material, with most vo...Read More

Fastmarkets MB is extending the consultation period to discontinue its weekly export price assessment of Latin America-origin hot-dipped galvanized coil, reported on a dollar per tonne fob main port basis.The extension is based on feedback and government data showing that producers in the region might be returning to export markets in 2019, Further investigation is also needed to verify if sp...Read More

Import tariffs on steel products in the United States created under Section 232 are likely to remain in place at least until the end of 2019, the chief executive officer of Gerdau, Gustavo Werneck, said during an event at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday March 13.The move from Donald Trump's administration boosted metal spread margins for steel producers in the US. This spread - calculated...Read More

Prices for coated steel products in Turkey decreased in the seven days to Friday March 15, with demand weak in both the domestic and export markets.Sources told Fastmarkets that demand is unlikely to improve in March because of market uncertainty ahead of the mayoral elections being held across the country on the last day of the month.The export market was also poor because of weak deman...Read More

GABORONE - Botswana's Debswana Diamond Mining, a joint venture between De Beers and the southern Africa country's government, aims to keep production at around 24 million carats this year, its managing director said on Friday.Debswana lifted diamond output by 6 percent to a four-year high of 24.1 million carats in 2018, buoyed by strong demand from the United States, China and India."I see the yea...Read More

MOSCOW - Russian state-controlled diamond producer Alrosa said on Friday its 2018 net profit rose 15% to 90.4 billion roubles ($1.4 billion), as a fall in sales volume was offset by stronger global prices.Though sales volume fell by 8% year-on-year, stronger pricing, particularly in the first half of 2018, meant sales by value increased by 6 percent to $4.4 billion, Alrosa said.This helped to lift...Read More

Australia's Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) has recovered an 83.9 carat diamond from its recently commissioned Mothae mine in Lesotho, Africa.The stone is the fourth diamond over 50 carats the company has recovered to date at its 70%-owned Mothae operation.While the find was not gem-quality, Lucapa says it continues to underline the large-stone nature of the kimberlite resource.Commercial production at...Read More

MOSCOW – Russian State-controlled diamond producer Alrosa said on Friday its 2018 net profit rose 15% to 90.4 billion roubles, as a fall in sales volume was offset by stronger global prices.Though sales volume fell by 8% year-on-year, stronger pricing, particularly in the first half of 2018, meant sales by value increased by 6% to $4.4-billion, Alrosa said.AdvertisementThis helped to lift re...Read More

Aim-listed BlueRock Diamonds on Friday said it was finalising preparations for the move to continuous operations at its Kareevlei diamond mine, in Kimberley, South Africa.The company said that although this was later than had initially been anticipated, it would not have any material impact on the published production guidance of 35 000 t to 45 000 t for the first quarter.AdvertisementBlueRock exp...Read More

GABORONE – Botswana's Debswana Diamond Mining, a joint venture between De Beers and the southern Africa country's government, aims to keep production at around 24-million carats this year, its managing director said on Friday.Debswana lifted diamond output by 6 percent to a four-year high of 24.1-million carats in 2018, buoyed by strong demand from the United States, China and India....Read More

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – An 83 ct diamond has been recovered from the Mothae kimberlite project, in Lesotho.ASX-listed Lucapa Diamond Company on Friday said that the diamond was the fourth stone measuring larger than 50 ct to be recovered from Mothae to date, and while the 83.9 ct diamond was not considered gem-quality, it continued to underline the large-stone nature of the resource.Adver...Read More

LSE-listed Gem Diamonds on Thursday announced the sale of a 13.33 ct pink diamond on tender in Antwerp for $8.75-million.The diamond was recovered from the Letšeng mine, in Lesotho, in which Gem Diamonds holds a 70% stake, in February.AdvertisementThe sale represents a record dollar per carat price of $656 933 for a Letšeng diamond.To watch Creamer Media's latest video reports, click...Read More

UK prices for alloy steel scrap moved up slightly over the past week despite higher costs for nickel, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 15.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic UK 18/8 stainless steel scrap solids was ?840-880 ($1,113-1,266) per tonne delivered on March 15. This was up from ?830-870 per tonne delivered a week earlier, reflecting transactions heard in the...Read More