London-based commodities broker Sucden Financial has appointed Rafael Caporale as head of its new LME Options Market Making divison, the company announced in a Wednesday June 12 press release.Mr Caporale will be responsible for both the establishment and running of a dedicated options trading team within Sucden Financial, the London...Read More
Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco significantly improved its rate of production during April, with copper output falling by just 6.4% compared with the same month of last year, data from the country's copper commission, Cochilco, showed on Monday June 10.Codelco produced 129,700 tonnes of copper in April, compared with 138,600 tonnes in the same month a year earlier. In March, the compan...Read More
While uranium oxide prices continue to drift in the doldrums, several uranium companies have still raised a bit of money to explore and carry out modest programs. Here is a look at eight uranium-focused companies that are active in 2019.ALX Uranium, Appia Energy, Azincourt, Denison, Global Atomic, Orano, Plateau Energy, and Zadar VenturesContinue reading at The Northern Miner. Read More
PT Freeport Indonesia (PT-FI) will start work on the construction of a copper smelter in Indonesia in mid-2020, a spokesperson for the company said on Wednesday June 12. The project forms part of an agreement between Freeport-McMoRan and the Indonesian government signed last December committing PT-FI to build a new smelter in Indonesia within...Read More
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is developing a transformation plan for its Belval and Differdange long steel sites in Luxembourg, a company spokeswoman told Fastmarkets in the week beginning Monday June 10.The plan will affect the sales and maintenance departments, Luxembourg labor minister Dan Kersch told a parliamentary committee in the country last week."The project does not inv...Read More
Domestic prices for hollow steel sections in both Northern and Southern Europe moved up this week on higher feedstock costs and increased offer prices at mills, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 12.Fastmarkets' domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe was ?,?620-640 ($702-724) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, up from ?,?600-6...Read More
Prices for rebar produced and delivered in Southern Europe remained unchanged on Wednesday June 12 amid limited trading activity, market participants told Fastmarkets."Nothing has changed and steel producers don't want to sell at a cheaper price," a trader in Italy said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Southern Europe was ?,?495-515 ($560-583) per tonne delivered on...Read More
Steel H-beam prices in Northern Europe moved downward this week in soft trading, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 12.Fastmarkets' price assessment for domestic S235-grade, 200x200mm, category-2 H-beam in Northern Europe was ?,?575-605 ($651-685) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, down from ?,?585-615 per tonne delivered on June 5.One market participant reported that buyers were hesitant a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Online retail giant Amazon has implemented a new tieredreferral fee that will reduce the cost of selling jewelry and watches on itssite. The change will primarily apply to the retailer's partnersoffering higher-priced luxury items, and could potentially attract more sellerswho wouldn't have listed under the steeper rates. The new fees took effect onJune 5, according to Amazon's se...Read More
RAPAPORT... The community of Fandehun is not used to pomp and ceremony.The modest village in the heart of Sierra Leone's Kono District has beensustained by diamond mining for over 50 years but lacks the basics many takefor granted - notably, safe drinking water. Women, and often children, walkmiles to fetch water from a neighboring village, and they tend to use the samesource for all their ne...Read More
Turkish pipe export prices have gone down slightly because of imminent seasonal holiday absences and the start of a new import quota period in Europe, sources said on Wednesday June 12.Fastmarkets' monthly export price assessment for Turkey-origin EN10219-standard, grade-S235 tube, with 2mm wall thickness, fell to $560-580 per tonne fob on June 12, from $570-590 per tonne on May 8.Pipe mills in Tu...Read More
RAPAPORT... Geologists have discovered the first new kimberlite pipe in over 20 years at the Gahcho Ku?(C) mine in Canada, shareholder Mountain Province reported Tuesday.The find comes nearly three years after production launched at Gahcho Ku?(C), a joint venture between Mountain Province and De Beers Canada. Mining is focused on three kimberlite pipes, and the new discovery - named Wil...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies has partnered with 14 diamond manufacturers on its Diamond Journey provenance program, enabling retailers to tap a growing resource of polished stones certified through the initiative. "We expect to have tens of thousands of documented diamonds by year-end," Sarine CEO David Block said Monday. "With over 70 million diamonds being processed by Sarine's inst...Read More
The price of rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe narrowed upwards week on week despite the prospect of a big jump in imports of Turkish rebar next month, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 12.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe was ?,?510-525 ($577-594) per tonne delivered on June 12, compared to ?,?505-525 per June 5."We...Read More
Glenn Nord, a former president of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) passed away on Sunday, June 9. Throughout his more than 50-year association with GIA, Nord was a student, instructor, president and member of the Institute's Board of Governors. GIA published a news release that said that Nord's "contributions are numerous, his influence far-reaching and his legacy enduring. His...Read More
The price range for mesh-quality wire rod in Europe has narrowed by ?,?5 per tonne at both ends over the past week, in a largely stable market, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 12.Fastmarkets' weekly domestic price assessment for mesh-quality wire rod in Northern Europe was ?,?505-515 ($572-583) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, compared with ?,?500-520 per tonne delivered on June 5."It'...Read More
Alrosa, the world's largest diamond miner in volume, said that in May of this year it had sold $266 million of rough and polished diamonds. Rough diamond sales amounted to $261.1 million, while polished diamond sales stood at $5 million. The Russian miner's total rough and polished diamond sales in the January-May period came to $1.589 billion - $1.5649 billion of rough and $24.1 million...Read More
For more than 1000 years, India was the world's principal producer of diamonds, with Arabs and Persians dominating the trade between India and Europe. In those days, diamonds were valued mostly for their talismanic properties or as carving tools, owing to their extreme hardness and the fact that it was impossible to cut and polish them into beautiful gems. On June 19, Christie's in New...Read More
A license to operate a diamond mine in Angola has returned to the state because the company to which it had been granted, Sociedade Mineira de Camachia Camagico, had accumulated debts in excess of US$530 million, it was reported in the Angolan press. The decision announced on Saturday by the president of Angolan diamond company Endiama, Ganga Junior, is due not only to debts to creditors, supplier...Read More
TSX- and Nasdaq-listed Mountain Province Diamonds has discovered a new kimberlite at its Gahcho Kué joint venture (JV) leases – the first to be discovered in the area in more than two decades.The Wilson kimberlite, which was named after Canada’s first female geologist, Alice Evelyn Wilson, is located about 200 m east of the Tuzo kimberlite and is well within the openpit mine pla...Read More