This time last year, I was researching and writing my latest book, The New Great Depression. The book is mostly about the economy, but of course, it was impossible to write about the economic impact of COVID without considering the source of COVID and the policy response to the pandemic, including lockdowns and quarantines.I did an enormous amount of research on the two leading theories of the sou...Read More

Ferrous scrap exports from the United States increased by a marginal 1.07% month on month in April, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.Ferrous scrap exports totaled 1.63 million in April, compared with 1.61 million tonnes in March and almost 1.36 million tonnes in February.Exports to Turkey, usually the United States' biggest customer, dropped by more than half month over month...Read More

Given the rising prosperity we keep hearing about, shouldn’t we be able to provide minimum wage workers the same purchasing power they enjoyed 50 years ago in 1970?This is a very simple proposition: either we can provide minimum wage workers the same purchasing power they enjoyed 50 years ago or we can’t.And if we can’t, then all the claims about “rising prosperity” a...Read More

ArcelorMittal has made a $10 million investment in renewable energy technology company Heliogen from its innovation fund for sustainability, it announced on Tuesday June 8.The XCarb innovation fund is part of ArcelorMittal's wider sustainability initiative, launched to drive progress toward carbon-neutral steel production.In addition to the $10 million investment, ArcelorMittal and Heliogen have s...Read More

"The evidence is clear. COVID lockdowns saved lives without harming economies."This we have the authority of one Los Angeles Times columnist - Mr. Michael Hiltzik by name.Here is the clear evidence he cites:An Italian team found that lockdowns start to reduce the number of COVID infections about 10 days after they start, and keep reducing the case rate for as long as 20 days following initiation.F...Read More

Turkish steelmakers resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases to refresh stocks after some fresh finished steel sales were concluded, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday June 8.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $501 per tonne and bonus at $511 per tonne cfr. The cargo breakdown was not clear at the time of publication.This was the...Read More

For the past 22 years, every time the stock market whimpered, wheezed or whined, the Federal Reserve rushed to soothe the spoiled crybaby. There are two consequential results of the Fed as savior:1. The Fed has perfected moral hazard: everyone from the money manager betting billions to the punters gambling their stimmy money is absolutely confident I can’t lose because the Fed will always pu...Read More

Iron ore prices pushed up on Tuesday June 8, despite sintering restrictions being imposed on steelmakers in China's steelmaking hub Tangshan, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $209.50 per tonne, up $7.08 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $211.81 per tonne, up $7.63 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $182.87 per tonne,...Read More

A return to trading in Europe's last open-outcry venue might be short-lived, with major brokers skeptical of a future making markets on the London Metal Exchange's "ring" even after the bourse said it would reopen in September.The LME said on Tuesday June 8 that trading would resume on the boisterous London venue, which in various forms has been a center point for global metal marke...Read More

The London Metal Exchange will enhance its off-warrant stock reporting, including limiting the warranting of metal that has not previously been disclosed in off-warrant stock reports, the exchange said on Tuesday June 8.The responses to the LME's discussion paper were generally supportive of the exchange taking a greater physical market role with respect to the off-warrant stock report, the LME sa...Read More

London Metal Exchange chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain said he hopes the new changes to the exchange's market structure will increase volumes and be long-term changes."Do I think that we'll be able to get more business as a result of the changes we're making? Yes I do," Chamberlain said on Tuesday June 8. "It's always a little bit speculative in this business, people always say I will t...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in China's domestic market fell slightly on Tuesday June 8, with the futures prices extending their decline in the morning before clawing back some losses in the afternoon.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,450-5,520 yuan ($853-864) per tonne, widening by 10-50 yuan per tonne.The most-traded HRC futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange touched a one-week low of 5,1...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...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.Read More

Trafigura's head of metals and minerals, Amin Zahir, is leaving the trading company, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday June 8.The move will mean that Trafigura's metal unit heads - Kostas Bintas, Socrates Economou, Philippe Muller and Gonzalo De Olazaval - will report directly to chief executive officer Jeremy Weir, who himself has a background in metals.Trafigura made record profits last...Read More

The antimony market weakened further in May amid declining cif prices from China, which were mirrored in Europe. But the market has been showing increasing disparity with some producers offering material at higher levels due to low inventories in Rotterdam for prompt delivery.In China, the antimony price has moved steadily lower since peaking at 69,000-70,000 yuan ($10,833-10,990) per tonne in ear...Read More

Drilling at Turmalina Metal's (TSXV: TBX; US-OTC: TBXXF) San Francisco project in Argentina has returned high-grade copper mineralization from the San Francisco del Andes (SFdLA) breccia, one of more than 60 tourmaline breccia occurrences mapped so far on the property, several of which have supported small-scale mining.Highlights included 17 metres grading 4.33% copper, 0.64 gram gold per tonne,10...Read More

The Toronto-quoted shares of Canadian project developer Newcore Gold (TSXV: NCAU, US-OTC: NCAUF) surged nearly 15% this morning following an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the flagship Enchi project in southwest Ghana.The updated study, prepared by BBA E&C, considers a 6.6 million tonne-per-day open-pit, heap-leach operation, producing on average 104,171 oz. gold between years tw...Read More

Since Callinex Mines (TSXV: CNX; US-OTC: CLLXF) resumed drilling in mid-February at the Rainbow deposit at its Pine Bay project in Manitoba's Flin Flon district it has completed 10,005 metres of a 30,000 metre drill program and continues to intersect high-grade copper mineralization.Highlights reported today from Rainbow were 4.87 metres grading 14.94% copper starting from 862 metres, including 2....Read More

This week's episode features Vale's Anthony Downs and Newmont's Dean Gehring in conversation with Northern Miner senior reporter Carl A. Williams at the Global Mining Symposium. Anthony and Dean discuss the merits of the cloud, particularly across global mining operations, as well as common cybersecurity challenges. Anthony Downs has joined Vale in September 2019 as Head of Digital Transformatio...Read More