Activity at the Mirador copper mine, Ecuador's first large-scale open pit mining operation, has been temporarily limited as a precautionary measure against social upheaval in the Andean country.Mine owner EcuaCorriente SA (ECSA) "has decided to temporarily limit operations in the Mirador mine, located in the Tundayme territory, Zamora Chinchipe province, following the ongoing social protests start...Read More

There has been a significant rise in the number of Western Australian alumina cargoes imported into China over the past few weeks due to a widening arbitrage that has made it profitable to bring overseas material into the country. Market sources told Fastmarkets on Monday October 14 that they have heard a number of negotiations taking place to bring cargoes of Australian alumina into China. The la...Read More

Nyrstar will shut its Langlois zinc and copper mine in Quebec, Canada, in December and has opened discussions with interested parties to sell it, the company said on Monday October 14.The mine will shut "due to rock conditions having deteriorated to the point where the company considers it uneconomic to continue...Read More

The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Monday October 14, failing to hold on to last week's gains despite a continued draw on LME stocks. Nickel futures were recently trading at $17,275 per tonne against some 2,400 lots exchanged as at 9.10am London time, slightly improved from the intra-morning low of $17,175 per tonne.Exacerbating selling pr...Read More

Two new gold futures contracts launched by CME Group and the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) made their debut on Monday October 14. The two new financially-settled contracts, denominated in US dollars and the offshore Chinese yuan, are based on the SGE Shanghai Gold Benchmark PM price. The move is to connect global market participants to the Chinese physical gold market. The SGE also launched a new T...Read More

Special bar quality (SBQ) steel prices in the United States fell again across the cold-finished and hot-rolled grades due to declining ferrous scrap prices, and demand from key end markets is expected to remain tepid for the rest of 2019.The price decrease stems from the $40-per-gross-ton decline in Chicago No1 busheling, a key feedstock for SBQ production. Fastmarkets understands that S...Read More

Steel plate prices in the United States did not move during the week to Friday October 11, while market participants stayed on the sidelines, fearing that prices could soon follow the steep drops that have taken place on the domestic ferrous scrap and hot-rolled coil markets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US, held at $33.50 per hundredweight ($67...Read More

A summary of the financial results for Egypt's biggest steelmaking group, Ezz Steel, for the first half of 2019, between January 1 and June 30.In briefEarnings were down due to "the falling price of steel products and the rising costs of iron ore pellets. This pressure was increased by the exceptionally high costs of funding and energy in Egypt," Paul...Read More

Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia fell during the past week, with market participants remaining bearish due to the ongoing plunge in downstream hot-rolled coil prices, sources told Fastmarkets."Margins for steel mills in Southeast Asia have been squeezed because of the decline in HRC prices, which has led to demands for lower slab prices," a source in Southeast Asia said...Read More

Import prices for rebar in Singapore resumed their downtrend over the past week due to ample supply.The weekly Fastmarkets price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) import, cfr Singapore - which mainly looks at cargoes sold into Singapore on a theoretical-weight basis - was $420-425 per tonne for the week to Monday October 14, down $10 per tonne from a week earlier.Qatari rebar offered at...Read More

Chinese import demand for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in Asia failed to support upward movement in spot prices on Monday October 14. Fastmarkets' steel HRC import, cfr Vietnam assessment, which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm re-rolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products sold into Vietnam, was $425-430 per tonne cfr for the week ending Monday October 14, down by $15 per tonne from a week earlier.&n...Read More

China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices strengthened on Monday October 14 amid steady demand, making export transactions challenging even though the country reached some form of a truce with the United States last Friday amid an ongoing trade spat.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,580-3,600 yuan ($505-508) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,550 yuan per tonne, up 30 y...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices remained flat on Monday October 14 despite China and the United States making some progress in trade talks late last week. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,700-3,730 yuan ($522-526) per tonne, unchanged Northern China (Beijing): 3,570-3,600 yuan per tonne, unchangedThe US will be delaying the imposition of additional tariffs on Chinese goods worth o...Read More

RUSTENBURG – The nationalisation of mines will lead to industrialisation, growth of the economy and jobs, Forum 4 Service Delivery Youth said on Monday."The industrial strategy adopted by government will never succeed unless we have State control and ownership of the natural resources," said Kgothatso Ramautswa, president of the youth wing.Advertisement"It is important to high...Read More

HARARE – London-listed Vast Resources will next week sign an agreement with Zimbabwe's state diamond mining firm to prospect and mine diamonds in the east of the country, the mines minister and a company official said on Friday.President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government is stepping up efforts to exploit its mineral resources to revive an economy crippled by triple-digit inflation and...Read More

Golden Mile goes back to the futureSPONSOREDgolden mile resourcesThe company said on Sunday the Teck Carmen de Andacollo Workers Union, which represents 473 workers, had given notice it planned to start strike action on October 14.Teck said the previous collective bargaining agreement had expired on September 30 and the five-day mediation process had ended on October 11 without a new deal.Golden M...Read More

Turkish domestic scrap prices remained stable over the past week with the mills keeping their buy prices unchanged, sources said on Monday October 14.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap, auto bundle scrap, domestic, delivered Turkey, was TRY1,300-1,430 ($221-243) per tonne on Monday,...Read More

Golden Mile goes back to the futureSPONSOREDgolden mile resourcesCodelco had cancelled SNC's US$260 million mining and metallurgy contract at Chuquicamata in March.  At the time, Codelco said the Canadian company had failed to meet its commitments while SNC said the termination was unwarranted and in breach of good faith agreements. Golden Mile goes back to the futureSPONSOREDgolden mile reso...Read More

The metals market remains cautious because there still seems a long way to go before a United States-China trade deal can be reached. Asian equities are firmer across the board because at least some progress was made on trade talks. Haven assets are weaker with US ten-year treasury yields strong and gold prices weaker. Base metals Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchan...Read More

Fastmarkets proposes changing the publication times of its weekly global pig iron and hot-briquetted iron price assessments from 3pm to 4pm London time.The CIS export, fob main port Black Sea and fob main port Baltic Sea, price assessments, along with the pig iron import, cfr Italy, and HBI, cfr Italian ports assessments will be published at 4pm Lo...Read More