Minor metals prices have rebounded in the first quarter of 2021 after a year when the Covid-19 pandemic stifled trade and demand visibility. Fastmarkets highlights the key drivers behind the recent price moves. Strong demand from China China's economy began to restart last year far ahead of the rest of the world, which was still feeling the economic impact of Covid-19 shutdowns. Stimulus measures...Read More

Tin market participants say they saw the record-breaking squeeze coming, but in pandemic-time trading, how does it get back to normal?It was at the beginning of the year when the phones started to ring. Hedge funds, eager to hitch a ride on the steadily rising price of tin, were in the market to buy physical stocks of the valuable metal that is predominately used in electronics.Solder makers and s...Read More

With the whole world focused on the high-flying stock market and Bitcoin going above $60,000...by Chris Vermeulen of The Technical TradersChris joins Dave Russell of Goldcore TV to look at precious metals chart patterns that he says show #silverprices?EUR< soaring and #gold?EUR< bottoming. With the whole world focused on the high-flying stock market and Bitcoin going above $60,000, Chris believes...Read More

The London Metal Exchange tin price was down 2.3% at the close on Wednesday March 24, while aluminium and nickel recovered some ground lost on Tuesday despite a high US dollar index. Tin's three-month price fell to $25,315 per tonne, its lowest closing price since March 16, wiping out the gains it has made since then. The metal's closing price was at $25,9010 per tonne on Tuesday. This comes agai...Read More

One of the most aggressive precious metals price suppression efforts by the Western Central Banks in the last 20 years...by Dave Kranzler of Investment Research Dynamics"Switzerland in February sent gold to mainland China for the first time since September and shipments to India and Thailand rose to multi-year highs...Swiss customs data showed that in February Switzerland exported 56.5 tonnes of g...Read More

Tin market participants say they saw the record-breaking squeeze coming, but in pandemic-time trading, how does it get back to normal?It was at the beginning of the year when the phones started to ring. Hedge funds, eager to hitch a ride on the steadily rising price of tin, were in the market to buy physical stocks of the valuable metal that is predominately used in electronics.Solder makers and s...Read More

Iron ore prices mostly edged down on Wednesday March 24, due to reduced trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets, but high-grade fines gained slightly due to concerns over supplies of Carajas fines from Brazil.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $161.39 per tonne,down $0.41 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $161.97 per tonne,down $0.03 per tonne58% Fe fines high...Read More

RAPAPORT... A rare 41.50-carat diamond will headline the spring Magnificent Jewels sale at Sotheby's in New York, the auction house said Tuesday.The round, D-color, flawless, triple Ex, type IIa diamond is expected to garner up to $5.5 million at the April 15 sale, Sotheby's noted.Other highlights include items from the private collections of the late American actress Rhonda Fleming and of Mi...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has secured financing of up to $220 million to fund a planned underground expansion at its Karowe mine in Botswana.The deal will supplement revenues from the open-pit site over the next five years and help extend the life of the mine to at least 2040 from 2025 currently, the Canada-based company said Wednesday. The expansion is likely to last for five years an...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gibb River Diamonds has sold the Ellendale mine in Australia as it veers away from diamonds to focus on its gold project.Australia-based Burgundy Diamond Mines will pay Gibb River a total of AUD 6.7 million ($5.1 million) in cash, 16 million company shares, and a 1.5% gross-revenue royalty on any diamonds obtained from the site, Gibb River said Wednesday. The deal is structured as a th...Read More

Domestic prices in Europe for steel cold-rolled coil increased further over the week to Wednesday March 24 due to a materials shortage combined with good demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel CRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?900-930 ($1,070-1,106) per tonne on March 24, up by ?,?10-20 per tonne from ?,?880-920 per tonne a week earlier.The as...Read More

RAPAPORT... Three rings featuring diamonds with fancy-vivid color will head up the Christie's Magnificent Jewels auction in New York next month.The trio of jewels, called the Perfect Palette, comprises a 2.13-carat, fancy-vivid-blue diamond ring, estimated at $2 million to $3 million, Christie's said Tuesday. Also included are a 2.34-carat, fancy-vivid-orange diamond ring and a 2.17-carat, fancy-v...Read More

RAPAPORT... Prices of smaller rough exceeded expectations at Grib Diamonds' March sale, with demand rising for certain goods."Bigger sizes are extremely strong for now; smaller goods less so," Grib head of sales Antony Dear told Rapaport News on Monday. "[However,] we noted that the smaller goods were much better than expected in last week's sale, with some areas even rising co...Read More

RAPAPORT... Former De Beers executive Jonathan Kendall will serve as vice president of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), the organization announced Tuesday. Kendall has had a long-standing association with CIBJO, including as president of its Marketing & Education Commission, where he authored a series of guides on responsible business practices, advertising and human-resource managem...Read More

Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe moved up in the week to Wednesday March 24 after mills sought to pass on higher feedstock costs, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?890-920 ($1,058-1,094) per tonne on Wednesday, up from ?,?860-890 per tonne the previous week.The price of hot-rolled coil (HRC...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Zimbabwe's state-owned diamond miner is reportedly "on the brink of collapse" after the country's president allowed Chinese mining giant Anjin to resume operations.The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company is currently "facing critical challenges that severely threatened its viability," according to an investigation by the Zimbabwe Independent business weekly.The late for...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's exports of gems and jewelry could fall by a fifth this fiscal year because of the global pandemic.Coronavirus wiped out sales between April and July 2020, said Colin Shah (pictured), of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), but online sales had made up for some of those losses and revenue is now back at pre-Covid levels.Gross exports of the year endi...Read More

The London Metal Exchange tin price was down 2.3% at the close on Wednesday March 24, while aluminium and nickel recovered some ground lost on Tuesday despite a high US dollar index. Tin's three-month price fell to $25,315 per tonne, its lowest closing price since March 16, wiping out the gains it has made since then. The metal's closing price was at $25,9010 per tonne on Tuesday. This comes agai...Read More

Swedish metals and mining company Boliden is supplying low-carbon copper produced at its operations in northern Sweden and Finland to Elcowire, the wire rod producer said.The copper cathode supplied has a carbon footprint of less than 1.5 kg of carbon-dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions per kg of copper, compared to an industry average the International Copper Association estimated to be around 4.1...Read More

The San Gerardo open-pit zinc-lead mine in Peru, part of the Atacocha plant, has resumed activities after 20 days of downtime because of community demonstrations that were blocking the road to the facilities, Brazilian base metals producer Nexa Resources said on Tuesday March 23.The ramp-up to full production was expected to take 3-5 days, the company added. The full effect of the temporary halt w...Read More