Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 26 that are worth another look.The price for flat-rolled steel imported into South American main destinations has edged downward week on week, with Chinese offers remaining steady, while material from other origins was presented at lower prices.The closure of the Chuquicamata copper smelter in Chile could last up to two weeks,...Read More

SRSrocco When the results are released, the second-quarter economic data will be the worst on record. With the massive money printing by the U.S. government, public debt has ballooned more than $3 trillion since the lockdown of the domestic economy. The total U.S. public and private debt will likely surpass $80 trillion in Q2 2020.Here is my last update for the U.S. Total Debt All Sectors...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 26 that are worth another look.The price for flat-rolled steel imported into South American main destinations has edged downward week on week, with Chinese offers remaining steady, while material from other origins was presented at lower prices.The closure of the Chuquicamata copper smelter in Chile could last up to two weeks,...Read More

There is far more paper than product...submitted by J. Johnson via JS MinesetGreat and Wonderful Finally-a-Friday Folks, Gold is higher in the early morning with the trade at $1,775.60 up $5 and close to the high at $1,778.90 with the low down at $1,765.60. Silver is adding more to yesterday's gains with the trade at $18.145, up 9.4 cents with the high right there at $18.17 with the low...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies has expanded its collaboration with Lucara Diamond Corp. to include provenance traceability for all diamonds listed on the miner's rough-sales platform.Clara, which enables customers to obtain individual rough diamonds with the exact specifications they require, will now provide information on the source mine for each stone, as well as scanned 3D model data through...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association (ISDMA) has elected Nissim Zuaretz, founder of D.N. Diamonds, as its president.He will serve a three-year term, succeeding Kobi Korn, who had held the position since 2014, Zuaretz told Rapaport News Sunday. The new president will appoint additional officers in the coming week, he added.The ISDMA represents roughly 200 manufacturers in I...Read More

RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds plans to sell the company as it struggles with mounting debt.The company owns the Cullinan, Finsch and Koffiefontein mines in South Africa. It also operates the Williamson deposit in Tanzania, which is currently on care and maintenance until rough prices in the diamond market improve.The miner will offer the business as a whole, and will also consider offers for parts of...Read More

RAPAPORT... Patrick S?(C)vigny will take over management of Stornoway Diamonds following the exit of CEO Patrick Godin amid the company's efforts to streamline its executive team.S?(C)vigny will lead the company as chief operating officer, Stornoway said last week. Godin, who has stepped down from his role, joined the Canadian miner in 2010 as chief operating officer and was named CEO in 2018.Mean...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Tech firm Sarine is to provide "birth certificates" which track the provenance of rough stones being sold by Lucara.The online document, which includes scanned 3D model data, will follow the individual diamond through the cutting and polishing process, and ultimately to the consumer via its Sarine Diamond Journey software.Israel-based Sarine is building on an 18-month partnership w...Read More

Total US sales of watches and jewelry slumped in April, down by an unprecedented 54.7 per cent compared with the same month last year.  It was the first full month of COVID-19 lockdown in the US.Sales in March, which included around two weeks of lockdowns, travel restrictions and store closures, were down 21.1 per cent. This figure, based on actual dollars through the cash regi...Read More

Struggling diamantaires in India are defaulting on payments and going bankrupt because of the COVID-19 crisis, according to media reports. The Times of India details four merchants and dealers in Mumbai and Surat who have collectively been unable to pay debts of $14m. It also says a firm of Surat-based angadias - diamond couriers - is now bankrupt, owing a total of $53m to more than 100 clients.&n...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Trade links between India and China are becoming increasingly strained after the deadliest border clash between the two nations in almost half a century.Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in fighting on 15 June along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border, in the disputed Galwan Valley, in Ladakh. Chinese casualties have not been disclosed.As a result there are widespread...Read More

The Oklahoma-based company was a fracking pioneer, but faced high debt as fuel prices plummeted during the coronavirus-induced economic slowdown.Read full newsRead More

The Yanomami are the largest of South America's tribes that remain relatively isolated from the outside world.The lust for gold has attracted wildcat prospectors in recent decades, who have destroyed forests, poisoned rivers and brought fatal diseases to the tribe.Today, the Yanomami and localRead full newsRead More

The zero-premium merger of SSR Mining and Alacer Gold could net the new SSR a higher stock price, especially with gold prices risingRead full newsRead More

When investors as a whole start to discount the profound risk brought forth by the socio-economic disaster that is the COVID-19 pandemic, that is when you should be thinking about taking a bit of profit off the table before Mr. Market has a chance to catch everybody by surprise with a second market crash.As we witnessed in the latter part of February, discounting highly uncertain and ominous exoge...Read More

Work at the C??te project done in 2011. (Image provided by former owner Trelawney Mining and Exploration.) Iamgold's 70%-owned C??t?(C) gold project in northern Ontario has received a key federal permitting approval, taking it one step closer to a construction decision.The approval, under the Fisheries Act, is related to impacts on fish habitats and tailings management for the site, located 20 k...Read More

Outotec HIGmill. Credit: Outotec Safety is one of the biggest challenges in the mining industry, especially during construction and equipment installation. At the same time there is pressure to speed up return on investment and minimize plant footprints. The Outotec HIGmill Plant (HMP) is a stand-alone, modular solution for fine grinding that addresses these conflicting requirements.The HMP consi...Read More

I love a good, old-fashioned feud.Hatfields vs. McCoys, Hamilton vs. Burr, Al Capone vs. Bugs Moran, Donald Trump vs. well, everyone.Now we have a new one: Elon Musk versus ... Trevor Milton?Of course you know Elon Musk - the mad genius behind Tesla Motors and SpaceX - but you probably haven't heard of Trevor Milton. He's the founder of Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA), which produces heavy-duty semi-t...Read More

Figure: Midnight during the summer solstice, view from camp on Alces Lake, northern Saskatchewan. Image from Appia. Appia Energy (CSE: API) announced Monday that Phase I exploration activities have begun on the company's high-grade rare earth element Alces Lake property in northern Saskatchewan.Appia's 100% owned deposit, according to the company, hosts some of the highest rare earth elements (R...Read More