RAPAPORT... Despite the lockdowns, mask mandates, economic anxiety and fraught political landscape, 2020 wasn't a bad year for jewelers. "So many retailers find themselves in the best cash positions they have had in years, if not the best in their history," says Abe Sherman, CEO of business consulting firm Buyers Intelligence Group. US jewelry sales figures for March 2021 testify to that: The...Read More
RAPAPORT... Namakwa Diamonds, owner of the Kao mine in Lesotho, plans to sell a pink diamond weighing 21.86 carats at a tender in Antwerp next month.The miner recovered the Pink Palesa - meaning pink flower in the local Sesotho language - last month, according to brokerage and consultancy firm Bonas Group, which is organizing the sale. The Kao mine, which Namakwa operates through subsidiary S...Read More
Glencore will restart operations at its Mutanda copper-cobalt facility toward the end of 2021, and plans to return the asset to normal production in 2022, the global miner said on Tuesday June 22.Glencore placed the facility, which is in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on care and maintenance in late 2019 following a slump in cobalt prices.Mutanda can produce around 25,000 tonnes per year....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sotheby's Hong Kong could make cryptocurrency history when it auctions a 101.38-carat diamond next month.Buyers will have the option of paying in Bitcoin or Ethereum.That means the stone could set a record as the highest-priced diamond - or indeed any physical object - ever to be sold in a crypto-transaction.The high estimate is $15m - equivalent to BTC515 or ETH8787 at today&...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A buyer paid $2.7m, the highest price ever for a diamond auctioned online.The 50.03-ct G-color, VVS2-clarity round gem, with excellent cut, polish and symmetry, was sold by Sotheby's New York without reserve. The estimate was $2.5m to $5m. Eleven individual bidders from seven countries battled it out for what the auction house says was only the fifth round +50-ct diamond...Read More
All three-month prices for base metals on the London Metal Exchange rose by about 1% for the second day in a row on Tuesday June 22, continuing their recovery from the weakness of the previous seven days.Nickel's three-month price rose by the greatest margin on Tuesday, by 1.6% to $17,750 per tonne, following Monday's 1.7% increase to $17,450 per tonne.The metal suffered a 7.2% decline last week t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Eight suspects have been arrested over an attempted gem heist in which smoke bombs caused panic among the crowds at St Mark's Square, in Venice.Visitors feared a terror attack was under way when the raiders struck in March 2017.It soon became clear the confusion was a cover for an attempted robbery at a high-end jewelry store.A tourist alerted police and the raiders - at least...Read More
The government of China is now acting on announcements it made in the week ended June 18 about intended sales of the country's metal reserves, which triggered a dramatic decline in prices.China's National Food & Strategic Reserves Administration (SRA) released notices on Tuesday June 22 that it intended to sell 20,000 tonnes of copper, 30,000 tonnes of zinc and 50,000 tonnes of aluminium in an ini...Read More
Several idled aluminium smelters are scheduled to resume operations soon following a strong aluminum price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, Fastmarkets was told on Tuesday June 22.One long-term idled aluminium smelter in Qinghai province - located in the northwest of China - has been checking its operation lines recently with an aim to restart the plant at the beginning of the third quarter, seve...Read More
A summary of China's base metal imports for May 2021.Copper ore and concentrateMay total: 1.95 million tonnes, up by 1.2% month on month, up by 15.1% year on yearRefined copperMay total: 291,378 tonnes, down by 8.7% month on month, down by 4.7% year on yearCopper scrapMay total: 139,444 tonnes, down by 16.9% month on month, up by 100.8% year on yearBauxiteMay total:...Read More
Nickel continued to experience the strongest rebound on the London Metal Exchange on the morning of Tuesday June 22, while most metals also trended upward following last week's slumps. Nickel was up by 1.6% at 9am on Tuesday, at $17,730 per tonne. This adds to a 1.7% gain at the end of Monday, when the contract closed at $17,450 per tonne. The stainless steel additive was back to levels seen a wee...Read More
The automotive industry is rapidly evolving toward an autonomous and electric future, and steel is well-prepared to grow alongside it, representatives from Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs said during a panel at Fastmarkets' 2021 Steel Success Strategies Industry Briefing.Steel "offers an enormous combination of solutions that are easily implemented into the next version of vehicles," Dan Gordon, senior...Read More
Consumers have to accept a green premium in order to achieve net-zero emissions targets in the steel sector, Steel Dynamics Inc (SDI) president and chief executive officer Mark Millett said during a keynote address on Monday June 21 at Fastmarkets' 2021 Steel Success Strategies Industry Briefing."Otherwise it won't work," Millett said, adding that "net zero remains aspirational for now," and that...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States rose for a third consecutive business day after market participants said tonnage on the spot market may be scarce for at least the duration of the summer. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $84.98 per hundredweight ($1,699.60 per short ton) on Tuesday June 22, an increase of 0.69% from $84.40 per cwt on Monday b...Read More
The export market for hot-rolled coil from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has softened in the week to Tuesday June 22 because suppliers have been cutting offers to attract buyers.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $980-995 per tonne on June 22, down from $995-1,020 per tonne one week previously.HRC offers from Ukraine were r...Read More
Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe two companies agreed last month to move forward with a third year of generative funding for copper exploration in Sonora, with a budget of US$1.3 million.Riverside said at the time the funding was part of a larger overall package relating to a portfolio of assets the pair had generated over five district...Read More
Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe company said the openpit contained known fault zones and it was implementing measures to manage production risks "in a localised area of Phase 10"."This additional caution while mining in the Phase 10 fault zone areas will remove ore from this phase of mining, impact productivity and result in less ore pr...Read More
The Turkish steel mills have been staying away from deep-sea scrap purchases because of weak rebar sales and a sufficiency of scrap stocks, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday June 22.The most recent deals were heard on June 15, when two United States-origin cargoes were sold.A mill in the Marmara region bought those cargoes, which comprised HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $500 and $501 per tonne,...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices continued to rise in the cfr market due to tight supplies, while prices were largely stable in the fob market, with market participants adopting a wait-and-see attitude, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday June 22.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $177.87 per tonne, up $0.59 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $290.19 per t...Read More
Iron ore prices rose on Tuesday June 22, and there was market chatter about the potential resumption of blast furnace operations and the easing of emissions restrictions in Tangshan, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $214.32 per tonne, up $6.17 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $216.00 per tonne, up $6 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade pr...Read More