Taiwanese buyers of zinc ingot have signed 2020 annual supply contracts with major zinc producers at lower premiums compared with this year, sources with knowledge of the matter told Fastmarkets. "Top brands are signed at $145-150 per tonne and normal brands concluded at $130-140," one Tainwan-based source told Fastmarkets. "A number of Southeast Asia traders also signed at $145-150 per tonne," a...Read More

RAPAPORT... The holiday season got off to positive start over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, with observers seeing record online sales.About 124 million people shopped in stores, while 142.2 million bought online during the Thanksgiving period from November 28 to December 2, the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported. The average spend on holiday items across all platforms rose 16...Read More

RAPAPORT... Synthetic diamonds grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) could change color for an extended period following exposure to certain light forms, Gemological Science International (GSI) has warned. When testing a 2-carat CVD diamond,GSI exposed the stone to high-powered ultraviolet (UV) rays, during which it wentfrom near colorless to blue, the organization said Tuesday. This bl...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States went up after domestic buyers returned from the Thanksgiving holidays to find that mills were quoting higher prices, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $27.93 per hundredweight ($558.60 per short ton) on Wednesday December 4, up by 1.4% from $27.54 per cwt on December 3. The uptick on...Read More

Brazilian flat steel producers have announced price increases to distributors for early January, following a move by Usiminas, sources said.Gerdau said on Wednesday December 4 that it will increase prices by 7-9.5% effective on January 1, while Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional said it intends to raise prices by 10%. ArcelorMittal is also planning to increase prices by around 10%, sources told...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will close its Dubai office by the end of the year, ending a decade-long presence in the city. The organization has offered education programs, including its Graduate Diamonds course and distance-education lab classes, in Dubai since 2008, and opened a take-in facility to ship stones for grading in 2010. Both services will close by Decemb...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The GIA (Gemological Institute of America) has announced the closure of its Dubai laboratory take-in facility and education location by the end of the year. The lab, a branch of GIA India Laboratory Pvt. Ltd., is no longer accepting stones for submission.According to an announcement on the GIA website, the decision to close the operation was taken to align its resources with its mi...Read More

(IDEX Online) - An Atlanta man who tried to defraud dealers and wholesalers of nearly $1.2 million in diamonds and other high-end jewelry has been sentenced to almost eight years in federal jail, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.He has also been ordered to pay over $567,000 in restitutionOver the course of almost two years, from November 2016 until September 2018, Cory Smith took advantage...Read More

The price of steel rebar in the Southern Europe domestic market was unchanged this week with buyers and sellers disagreeing on the direction the market should take, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 4.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was ?,?465-480 ($515-532) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week-on-week.Simi...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Minerals Council South Africa on Wednesday published a report on the South African mining industry’s progress in transforming the industry in terms of the Mining Charter.The report was based on a study by advisory firm Moshe Capital into the council members' transformation and community development performance.AdvertisementMoshe based the study...Read More

The price of steel rebar in the Northern Europe domestic market was unchanged this week amid a stalemate between buyers and sellers over the direction in which prices should move, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday November 4. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?475-485 ($526-537) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged from a we...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong slid inOctober, marking the second-highest monthly decline on record as protests in the municipality dented consumer sentiment. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts fell 43% year on year to HKD 3.92 billion ($500.2 million) during themonth, the municipality's Census and Statistics Department reported Mon...Read More

Italy's Marcegaglia Group has acquired 100% of the equity in re-roller Palini & Bertoli, also located in Italy, from Russia's Evraz for ?,?40 million ($44 million), the purchasing company said on Wednesday December 4.Palini & Bertoli has capacity for 400,000 tonnes per year of heavy steel plate.After the acquisition, the capacity of Marcegaglia's steel...Read More

The Iranian export billet market has been rather quiet in the first week of December amid reduced availability of material for shipment in January, Fastmarkets has heard.This was due to successful sales to Africa, the Middle East and Asia in previous weeks as well as increased domestic demand."Local buyers were worried about the fluctuation [in the value] of the Iranian rial after fuel subsidy iss...Read More

RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. and Pandora received high ratings on anannual list comparing responsible sourcing by the largest companies in thefashion industry. Tiffany garnered the top rating of AAA in the retail category for thefifth consecutive year, according to the yearly Environmental, Social and Government report by index and analytics provider MSCI, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital Internat...Read More

Aim-listed Firestone Diamonds has confirmed that stable grid power has been restored at its Liqhobong diamond mine, in Lesotho, and that the mine is processing at full capacity.The Lesotho Electricity Company-owned Muela hydropower station was brought back into operation on December 1, following a two-month shutdown period for maintenance.AdvertisementFirestone had to stall its processing plant op...Read More

LONDON – The crisis afflicting the diamond industry won’t end anytime soon, according to Liberum Capital Markets.There has been little good news this year. An oversupply of rough diamonds, a surfeit of polished stone stocks and falling prices have piled pressure on both the companies that dig them up and the lesser known businesses that cut, polish and trade them.Advertisement“Th...Read More

Galena provides a leading lightSPONSOREDgalena miningGlasenberg said in London this week the remaining 'old guard' of management would be transitioned out next year, and that he himself would follow, once the next generation was ready.Read More

Exore excels in Cote d'IvoireSPONSOREDexore resourcesArtemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesDark Horse could be 2020 bolterSPONSOREDdark horse resourcesUS takes long-term position on mineral supplySPONSOREDverisk maplecroftThe good news was confirmation that the big Anglo-Australian miner will invest US$1.5 billion to extend the operations of its 116-year old Kennec...Read More

The Turkish steel producers have continued their purchases of deep-sea market scrap for January shipments, while prices became even more firm, sources said on Wednesday December 4.A steel producer in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 17,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $290 per tonne cfr.Another steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 20,000 to...Read More