RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has unearthed six diamonds over 100 carats from its Karowe mine in Botswana, including a light-brown stone weighing 470 carats.The miner recovered the clivage diamond - one of lower quality, which needs to be cut before processing - from the site's south lobe EM/PK(S) area, known for its large, high-quality rough, it said Tuesday. The stone is Lucara's third over 3...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The only commercial diamond miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hopes a $5m cash injection will go some way to revive its flagging fortunes.At its peak in 1961 MIBA, the Bakwanga Mining Company, produced 16m carats, but it has been badly hit by two wars, widespread corruption, embezzlement, poor management and infrastructure, crippling debt, unpaid workers' wages a...Read More

Tin was the best performer on the London Metal Exchange on June 8 due to its constrained global supply situation being set to worsen amid disruption from MSC, while the rest of the complex finished positively on afternoon US trade despite a broader consolidation.LME tin's three-month price closed at $31,223 per tonne on Tuesday, jumping up by 2.3% from Monday's closing price of $30,525 per tonne,...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lucara has recovered a 470-ct diamond from its Karowe mine, in Botswana.It's the tenth +100-ct stone, and the third +300-ct so far from the deposit this year.The Canadian miner describes it as a top light brown clivage diamond (pictured) - indicating the rough stone will need to be split before being processed further.The diamond, measuring 49x42x26mm, was recovered from direc...Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers is reportedly raising prices of larger stones by as much as 10 per cent at its fifth sight of the year, which opened yesterday in Gabarone.The miner has been increasing prices since the end of 2020 as midstream demand rebounds, but not so dramatically.Rough diamonds over two carats are up by 10 per cent, sources have told Bloomberg News, and the prices of some smaller good...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil were mostly stable across Europe on Tuesday June 8, on support from a continuing shortage of material, sources told Fastmarkets.The availability of domestic HRC has remained tight but lead times are no longer being extended, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers have also been cautious about making new deals in fear of being left with stocks of high-priced coil if pri...Read More

Imports of used beverage can (UBC) scrap and industrial aluminium scrap into the United States rose 9.49% month on month to 36,990 short tons in April from 33,784 tons in March, according to the most recent data from the US Census Bureau.The United States imported 24,287 tons of UBC scrap in April, up 1.52% from 23,924 tons in March, of which 10,283 tons (or...Read More

The London Metal Exchange's electronic trading system is up to the job of discovering closing prices with any misalignments to be ironed out via a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) methodology, chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain said. LMESelect's technical functionality had been considered in great detail by the exchange board, acknowledging that outright three-month prices work well e...Read More

Sherritt International has deferred its planned full-facility maintenance shutdown of its nickel-cobalt refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, to August from the previously scheduled June to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 on employee and contractor health and safety, the company said. The full-facility shutdown occurs every six years, will last around 11 days, and will include all of the refinery...Read More

London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More

The United States government has published a sweeping review of US supply chains, proposing measures to increase domestic production of a number of key minerals and products. These measures include a proposed tariff on neodymium magnet imports.In February 2021, recently inaugurated US President Joe Biden indicated that there would be a government review of the resilience of critical minerals suppl...Read More

The US Commerce Department has ruled that imports of corrosion-resistant (Core) steel products completed in Malaysia using carbon hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel flat products manufactured in Taiwan circumvented anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Taiwanese substrate.The material will be assigned anti-dumping rates as high as 199.43% and subsidy rates as high as 39.05%, Commerce ru...Read More

Brazilian vehicle production rose by 348% in May 2021, compared with the corresponding period last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to several plant closures and resulted in output plummeting, national carmakers' association Anfavea said on Tuesday June 8.The country produced 192,843 units last month, significantly up from 43,080 units in May 2020. The May volume also represented a 1.01% incre...Read More

The government of Belgium's southern Wallonia region has decided to give a loan to Liberty Steel that will allow the company to run its Liege-Dudelange plants until new owners can be found, according to a statement by the vice-president of the government of Wallonia, Willy Borsus."The objective of the region is to be able to examine all avenues that would allow one or more buyers to come forward,...Read More

With the exception of tin that was perched just below recent multi-year highs and aluminium that was little changed, base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were weaker this morning, Tuesday June 8.* Markets quiet but mixed, waiting for fresh direction* US Dollar Index edging higher and US 10-year treasuries driftingBase metalsLME three-month base metals prices were mixed; tin was up by 1%...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThis follows an intercept of 7.55m grading 5.01% copper equivalent in a 257m vertical step-out hole, reported in late April.Read More

Buyers of steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates preferred to wait before placing new orders because of uncertainty about prices during the week ended Tuesday June 8, sources have told Fastmarkets.Local rebar producers were expected to announce new prices next week.Local retail prices for rebar were currently lower than those offered by local producers. In any case, most buyers have hi...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationIts global activity dispersion index averaged 49.4 for May, a return to the long-run average levels after the record low of 39.8 March. The platform, which monitors about 90% of smelting capacity, put the rise down to copper's price surge stimulating a supply response.Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphi...Read More

Hot-rolled coil import prices to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were mostly stable during the week to Tuesday June 8, but cold-rolled coil prices decreased and the hot-dipped galvanized coil import price spreads to the UAE widened, sources told Fastmarkets.The main reason for the decrease in CRC prices was low prices from China, market participants said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessm...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationIvanhoe said the accident occurred underground when a contractor's employee was hit in the leg by a loose rock while working at one of the mine's working faces, causing him to fall backwards, striking his head on a rock."Despite immediate first-aid assistance by his colleagues, he passed away at the accident...Read More