History may not repeat itself to the letter but it certainly rhymes. That’s what the Fed watchers would say now. The Fed cut the interest rates for the second time this year and the price of gold declined again. What is going on? Fed Trims Interest Rates by 25 Basis PointsYesterday, the FOMC published the monetary policy statement from its latest meeting that took place on September 17-18th....Read More

The dream of building a new world-class copper-gold mine in Pakistan in an area bordering Afghanistan and Iran has been dashed, for now at least. The saga of Tethyan Copper Co's (TCC) efforts to develop the Reko Diq mine found resolution last week with an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruling in favor of TCC following a dispute that has rumbled on for years.TCC,...Read More

Ferro-alloys prices will continue to trade lower going into 2020 amid slowing economic and steel production growth, Fastmarkets analyst, Amy Bennett, told delegates at the North-American Ferro-alloys conference in Chicago last week."Although ferro-alloy prices will almost certainly trend lower in 2020, given the weakening economic fundamentals, we do not expect to see prices retreat to 2015/2016 l...Read More

Prices of cobalt metal, salts and hydroxide continued their upward momentum in September, while the chemical prices outperformed amid strong demand incited by concerns of supply tightness following the news on Glencore's Mutanda mine closure in early August. Price moves The rally in the benchmark cobalt price slowed in September with aggressive trader stockpiling drying up, amid limited restocking...Read More

Screened through gold producers and royalty companies narrowed down to Newcrest (NCMGF) and Newmont (NEM) for further research.Both companies have better than average free cash flow yields and sustainable levels of debt.Newcrest in particular has a low all-in sustainable cost of $720 per ounce.This article follows up on a hunch about getting gold exposure I talked about for my portfolio. In my tra...Read More

The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Tuesday October 1, closing over 2% higher amid high turnover while mixed trading pushed zinc futures 2.4% lower. Trading at an intraday low of $15,950 per tonne, LME tin's outright price broke past the $16,000-per-tonne threshold over the morning session, settling at $16,250 per tonne by 5p...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices continued to rise on Tuesday October 1, with a November-loading cargo of premium low-vol materials fetching $147-148 per tonne fob Australia, sources said during the day.Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $146.08 per tonne, up $8.79 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $159.70 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $123.13 per tonne, up $1.88 per...Read More

The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Tuesday October 1, falling below nearby support levels amid high turnover. Recently trading at around $5,653 per tonne, copper's outright price was down by around 1.2% from Monday's closing price of $5,725 per tonne. Volumes traded in copper over the morning were moderately high, with some 4,700 lots...Read More

The increasing consumption of scrap and a potential shift toward the electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking route from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in China are medium- to long-term threats to demand for steelmaking raw materials, while in the near team coking coal import volumes will continue to be affected by iron ore procurement strategies.This was the basis of Fastmarkets research team...Read More

The gold and silver miner is profitable, with a solid balance sheet and increasing production.It raised its full-year gold output guidance and expects all-in costs to trend lower through 2021.The company has a number of exploratory assets representing upside for reserves and long-term production targets.SSR Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRM), with a market cap of $1.8 billion, is a Canadian-based gold and...Read More

Adjustments to EU safeguard measures will "stabilize trade flows by containing import concentrations from certain exporting countries," the European steel association Eurofer said on Tuesday October 1.Although the changes will result in improvements, "the result is still not sufficient for a large part of the sector, especially given that it is facing depressed domestic steel demand," Eurofer said...Read More

Gold prices dropped over 2% Monday, settling below the psychologically important level of $1,500 to post their lowest finish in two months, as strength in U.S. dollar and some buoyancy in U.S. stocks and yields drew demand away from bullion. "Naturally, a strong U.S. dollar is a headwind for gold priced in U.S. dollars," said Michael Armbruster, managing partner at Altavest. "However, technical c...Read More

The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Tuesday October 1, closing over 2% higher amid high turnover while mixed trading pushed zinc futures 2.4% lower. Trading at an intraday low of $15,950 per tonne, LME tin's outright price broke past the $16,000-per-tonne threshold over the morning session, settling at $16,250 per tonne by 5p...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday October 1 that are worth another look.Chilean miner Codelco has increased its United States' annual copper cathode premium to 3.1 cents per lb for 2020 supply, making it the benchmark's highest level since 2016, sources close to the matter confirmed to Fastmarkets.The benchmark premium paid for the supply of aluminium to main Ja...Read More

The US copper cathode premium has fallen to its lowest level since July 2018 due to weakened demand and buyer concerns around the protracted US-China trade war.Fastmarkets assessed the copper grade 1 cathode premium, ddp Midwest US at 6.75-7.5 cents per lb on Tuesday October 1, down from 7-7.75 cents previously and the premium's first move since August 13. Sources across the supply chain repo...Read More

The benchmark secondary aluminium alloy A380.1 price fell to its lowest level since late March 2009, pressured by weakness in the domestic aluminium scrap market and the London Metal Exchange's North American special aluminium alloy contract (Nasaac).Fastmarkets assessed the price for aluminium alloy A380.1, delivered Midwest US, at 60-63 cents per lb on Monday September 30, down by 2 cents from t...Read More

Graphite products manufacturer Energoprom's electrode plant in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk will no longer produce anodes for use in the production of aluminium due to "unfavorable conditions" in the carbon and graphite product markets.This has forced it to cancel its anode supply deal with compatriot aluminium producer UC Rusal, less than two years into the five-year contract, Rusal told Fastm...Read More

Rotterdam in-warehouse nickel cathode and briquette premiums both fell dramatically in the week to Tuesday October 1.Fastmarkets assessed the nickel uncut cathode premium, in-whs Rotterdam at $80-100 per tonne in the week to October 1, down by 56% from $190-220 per tonne the previous week, while the nickel briquette premium, in-whs Rotterdam was assessed at parity on the same date, down by 60% wee...Read More

U.S. Steel plans to fully acquire Big River Steel (BRS) within four years, and to focus on flat-rolled production at the Osceola, Arkansas-based mini-mill - along with its Gary Works and Mon Valley Works - according to the company's top executive."Today's investment is the first step in a two-step process to ultimately acquire all of Big River. We fully intend to acquire the remaining 50.1% i...Read More

CIS export billet prices continued to slide as several new bookings were closed with discounts,sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday October 1."The major issue today is not even scrap, but low finished long still prices and reduced demand for them," one trader said.Late last week a cargo of October-rolling billet from Russia was...Read More