Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were generally weaker on Thursday June 3 morning, although nickel bucked the trend on both exchanges.* Brent crude oil continues to rally, reaching $71.71 on Thursday morning.* China’s Caixin services purchasing manager’s index eases to 55.1 in May, from 56.3 in April.Base metalsLME three-month base metals pric...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe announcement comes days after the Canada-based company said it was seeking an exemption to the DRC's reinstated export ban on concentrates as Kamoa-Kakula started production last week. Offtake and export agreements for the balance of the copper concentrates produced during phase one were "nearing fin...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThere had been a major, 135 million tonne landslide at Bingham Canyon's north-east wall in April 2013, with recovery work taking two years and constraining production. Rio did not refer to any potential impact on production from the latest slip, which occurred in the south-east corner of Bingham Canyon.H...Read More

No bulk scrap cargoes have been sold into Bangladesh over the past seven days, following the flurry of deals in the middle of last week, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 3.HMS 1&2 (80:20) was on offer from the United States at $525-530 per tonne cfr earlier this week, but no new deals were done, sources said, with the most recent US deals being two deep-sea cargoes of shredded scrap that...Read More

Iron ore prices pushed up on Thursday June 3, supported by rising steel and coke values, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $210.99 per tonne, up $1.80 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $212.81 per tonne, up $1.31 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $184.58 per tonne, up $2.28 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao: $241....Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 26 points in pre-opening trade.Equity futures are expected to respond to a series of economic reports to be released this morning. ? The May ADP Non-farm Employment to be released at 8:15 AM EDT is expected to drop to 650,000 from 742,000 in April. ? Next estimate of first quarter Non-farm Productivity to be released...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices climbed up in the fob market on Thursday June 3 amid more buying interest but slightly slipped in the cfr market due to weak demand after some major Chinese steel mills finished restocking late last week and early this week, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $162.77 per tonne, up $7.93 per tonnePremium hard coki...Read More

Prices for steel scrap imported into China edged up on Thursday June 3 amid improving sentiment in the domestic market, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for steel scrap, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr China - which takes into account prices at ports in eastern China - was $510-530 per tonne on Thursday, up by $10-15 from Wednesday.Many Chinese mills raised their purchase price...Read More

China's Delong Group and New Tianjin Steel are partnering on two projects to further develop steel-making capacity in Indonesia, the companies said on May 30.New Tianjin Steel - a subsidiary of Delong Group, Tsingshan Group and Risun Group - signed a contract to build Detian Coking Project, together with supporting facilities such as gas purifiers. The new coke plant will produce 4.7 million tonne...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices continued to increase on Thursday June 3 on futures gains, but heavy rains slowed the increase compared with Wednesday's uptick, sources told Fastmarkets. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,030-5,050 yuan ($787-790) per tonne, up by 30 yuan per tonne The transportation of rebar by truck and construction activity were interrupted by heavy rains in certain parts of eas...Read More

China's domestic stainless steel prices moved up over the week ended Wednesday May 2 on a strengthening of the nickel market, but demand weakened.The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange ended the official trading session on Wednesday at $18,173 per tonne, up by $975 per tonne from $17,198 per tonne a week earlier. The most-traded July nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Ch...Read More

Key data from the pricing session in London on Thursday June 3.Key drivers: Thursday was a busy day of trading, with 41 tonnes of business captured in the pricing session. Material was transacted either side of the price range for standard grade,...Read More

The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt...Read More

The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb at 19.80-20.60...Read More

Ukraine's Privat Group, a major producer of manganese alloys, hit a monthly production target for May of almost 59,000 tonnes at its Nikopol ferro-alloys plant, up by about 2,000 tonnes from April amid strengthening European prices this year, an industry source said.Privat is also considering whether to start an additional silico-manganese furnace at Nikopol, which would use low-phosphorus slag as...Read More

One of the top contenders to bring new copper pounds to market in the medium term is Taseko Mines (TSX: TKO; NYSE-AM: TGB; LSE: TKO), operator of the 75%-owned Gibraltar open-pit mine in British Columbia, company president Stuart McDonald tells The Northern Miner.The Vancouver-based company is awaiting a final permit decision by the U.S. government's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its Fl...Read More

Five grades of steel scrap will no longer need to undergo customs inspections at ports in China when they are imported into the country, beginning on June 10.But five other grades of the steelmaking raw material will undergo such inspections from the same date.China's General Administration of Customs said on Thursday June 3 that it would no longer carry out imported commodity inspections on a lis...Read More

Recent drill results from Newcore Gold's (TSXV: NCAU; OTCQX: NCAUF) Enchi project in Ghana underlines the company's district-scale exploration opportunity in Africa's top gold producing nation, president and CEO Luke Alexander tells The Northern Miner.On June 1, Newcore reported drilling at the Boin gold deposit, one of three resource-stage deposits comprising Enchi, had intersected 0.9 grams gold...Read More

Monarch Mining (TSXV: GBAR; US-OTC: GBARF) plans to reopen its Beaufor mine and Beacon mill, 20 km east of Val-d'Or, Quebec, by next June.Currently on care and maintenance, Beaufor has produced over 1.1 million oz. of gold at an average grade of 7.5 grams gold per tonne since first production in the 1930s.Before the suspension of operations in June 2019, the operation employed 150 people at the mi...Read More

China's Ceke Port has requested the country's customs authorities to clear only 90 trucks per day from Mongolia - instead of the typical 200 per day - from Wednesday June 2 after a truck driver tested positive for Covid-19 a day earlier, sources told Fastmarkets.Ceke Port - located in Alashan League, a division of China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region - is a major port of entry on the country's...Read More