Broader markets were generally weaker this morning, Friday May 29, while they wait for what United States President Donald Trump's response will be to China's plans to impose national security laws in Hong Kong. The base metals were mixed, however. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange only the lead contract was showing price falls, while most of the base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange were...Read More

An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More

An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More

Boliden has stopped processing operations at its Kevitsa mine in Finland after a fire broke out overnight and caused "extensive" damage to a crushing plant there, it said on May 29."Production at the concentrating plant is halted until further notice [but] mining production is unaffected," the company said.Kevitsa produced 27,498 tonnes of copper in concentrates, 13,948of nickel in concentrat...Read More

Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the session ending Friday May 29.China UG2 chrome ore prices rose for a fourth consecutive week - deals at higher prices were reported, reflecting attempts to restock among ferro-chrome producers with low on-hand inventories. Domestic spot ferro-chrome prices stabilized - sentiment further strengthened after Taiyuan Iro...Read More

Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the session ending Friday May 29.China Domestic prices continued to rise, propelled higher by supply tightness. Market sentiment also improved after many steel mills set their June tender prices for ferro-silicon at 5,900-6,000 yuan ($824-838) per tonne for cargoes...Read More

Canada Nickel (TSXV: CNC) has released full assays for hole CR20-33 as well as nickel assays for hole CR20-32, which step out the East zone nickel-PGM mineralization by 400 metres to the east and extend the Main zone nickel mineralization by 1.5 km to the north.Drill highlights include 38 metres of 0.37% nickel and 0.17 gram per tonne PGMs within a 315-metre interval of 0.25% nickel starting at 12...Read More

Bank of America forecasts global copper consumption could contract by 18% year-over-year in 2020 should global GDP drop by an estimated 4.2% due to economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Although a decline in copper purchases of this magnitude "would be devastating for the red metal and also the wider mined commodities complex," the bank said in a research note today, it also note...Read More

Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM) appears to be back on track towards obtaining final permits for its proposed massive copper-gold mine in Alaska after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declined to subject the project to water pollution restrictions evaluations, which have effectively stalled the project since they were outlined in 2014.The move reduces the likelihood of a potential...Read More

Chile's Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, saw profit nosedive in the first three months of the year as prices for the metal dropped to an average of US$2.49 per lb. in the same period compared to US$2.72 a year earlier.The state-owned miner reported an 85% decline in profit to US$54 million in the first quarter of 2020, even though production climbed 6% to 361,000 tonnes.Lower costs -...Read More

BMO Capital Markets has hiked its long-run gold and silver price forecasts to US$1,400 per oz. and US$18.25 per oz., increases of 16.7% and 5.8%, respectively.The bank's long term price forecasts have been "static" since 2015, the analysts stated, noting that "changing a long-term price is not something we take lightly, or indeed do very often."In the nearer term, BMO's analysts forecast gold pric...Read More

After beginning the year by formally appointing Peter Kukielski as its CEO, and this month settling a long-drawn-out boardroom battle with its second-largest investor, Canadian copper producer Hudbay Minerals (TSX, NYSE: HBM) is setting its sights on gold.Despite strong performance at its Canadian operations, Hudbay swung to a loss in the first three months of the year, mainly due to weak base met...Read More

Chinese copper smelters are still searching for spot raw materials to feed their furnaces while the supply of scrap and domestic blister copper remains crimped. The spot refining charge (RC) for 98-99% blister copper on a cif China basis dropped further to $115-125 per tonne at the end of May, according to Fastmarkets' assessment - the lowest since the monthly price was launched in February 2018.&...Read More

Prices for bulk ferrous scrap cargoes imported into Vietnam have continued to rise over the week ended Friday May 29 but some market sources were unsure whether the upward momentum would persist.Vietnamese scrap prices have performed strongly over the past seven days amid a combination of high demand from the South-east Asian country and Japanese sellers pushing prices upward.The high prices paid...Read More

Ferrous scrap buyers in South Korea have been forced to pay higher prices for Japanese material over the week ended Friday May 29 due to sell-side pressure, market sources have told Fastmarkets.Japanese scrap prices have moved up strongly through the week, with supplies of H2 heavy scrap coming under strain from exporters filling a backlog of existing orders from lower collection volumes.Strong de...Read More

Prices for heavy melting scrap (HMS) imports in Taiwan rose over the week to Friday May 29 due to an ongoing supply deficit, sources said. Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for containerized cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), US material import, cfr main port Taiwan was $233-234 per tonne on Friday, up by $5 per tonne from a day earlier and $2-3 per tonne higher than $230-232 per tonne cfr...Read More

Overcapacity in the aluminium industry is highly unlikely to be erased in the foreseeable future, according to the former head of Europe's largest aluminium producer, Norsk Hydro.Svein Richard Brandtz??g, who was Norsk Hydro chief executive for a decade from 2009, said the market will eventually revert to a more balanced supply-demand picture but that this will take time to emerge. "History shows...Read More

NEW TOOLS IN ITS LATEST MICROMINE UPGRADESPONSOREDmicromineCardinal heading down familiar gold roadSPONSOREDcardinal resourcesSarama right in the middle of big exploration, corporate build-upSPONSOREDsarama resources Exore excels in Cote d'IvoireSPONSOREDexore resourcesMacron unveiled an US$8 billion support package for France's car industry on Tuesday, including subsidies of up to €12,00...Read More

The U.S. EPA in May approved a fuel pathway under the Renewable Fuel Standard for a biomass gasification plant under development in McFarland, California, that will produce renewable natural gas (RNG) for sale into the transportation fuel market.Read full newsRead More

The European Commission presented on May 27 a revamped long-term EU budget and a ?,?1.85 trillion recovery plan, noting that it provides the instruments to build a modern, clean and healthy economy, which secures the livelihoods of the next generation.The Commission is proposing to create a new reRead full newsRead More