Ferrous scrap prices seem to have hit a bottom this year in North America, but the price spread between raw material costs - especially ferrous scrap for rebar - and the price of steel products is expected to remain at high levels, Gerdau chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck said on Wednesday October 30.According to the executive, at $502 per short ton, the United States' metal spread reached i...Read More

Rumors and fears of recession in Germany are in the news.The facts show the slow down in exports in not from the U.S. despite the trade war rhetoric.Weakness in the UK and other European trade partners is more to blame for the decline in exports.Facts show that export weakness is bottoming helped in part by a weaker euro and a return to world central bank easing policies.The purpose of this articl...Read More

With technical signals on gold prices looking strong again, it may be one of the last moments where investors can invest at historically low prices.Small miner stocks offer significantly higher potential rewards to diligent investors.A very small company, Caledonia Mining, is perhaps the most profitable and least expense gold mining stock in the business with 50% margins at a "P/E" of 3-...Read More

The three-month price of lead on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Wednesday October 30, falling by more than 2% against tight forward spreads, while aluminium futures closed at their highest level since September 24.Lead's outright price closed at $2,208 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, softening from an intraday high of $2,256.50 per tonne. A little more than 3,500...Read More

A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday October 30.Please click...Read More

A booking of European scrap by a Turkish steel mill came to light and helped to push up prices on Wednesday October 30, sources told Fastmarkets, with many traders returning to work after a two-day public holiday in Turkey.A steel producer in the Iskenderun region bought a European cargo on Friday comprising 22,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $248 per tonne and 2,500 tonnes of bonus for $258 per...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 30 that are worth another look.The GFG Alliance will consolidate all of its steel businesses into one global group named Liberty Steel Group by the end of this year and align them with a strategy for carbon-neutral operations by 2030.Japanese copper producer Pan Pacific Copper (PPC) has offered its Chinese customers co...Read More

Gold corrected from the early September high.Trading in a range since the recent bottom.The short-term chart is looking neutral.Lower rates, Brexit, and trade support gold.A higher high before the end of 2019 - gold mining stocks should outperform gold on a percentage basis.Gold has been in the spotlight since June when it broke out to the upside above its critical resistance level at the July 201...Read More

The three-month price of lead on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Wednesday October 30, falling by more than 2% against tight forward spreads, while aluminium futures closed at their highest level since September 24.Lead's outright price closed at $2,208 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, softening from an intraday high of $2,256.50 per tonne. A little more than 3,500...Read More

A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday October 30.Please click...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices rose on Wednesday October 30 after news broke about the country's steelmaking hub of Tangshan planning to implement short-term curbs from Thursday.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,650-3,680 yuan ($516-520) per tonne, up 40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,600-3,630 yuan per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneLocal authorities in the northern Chinese city have ordered s...Read More

The price of rebar exported from Southern Europe widened upward this week with mills seeking to reflect the increases in ferrous scrap costs that have been imposed this month, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday October 30.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of the price for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Southern Europe, was ?,?380-415 ($422-461) per tonne on October 30, up by...Read More

SASKATCHEWAN - UEX has intersected new uranium mineralization at its 60%-owned Christie Lake project, 9 km northeast of Cameco's McArthur River uranium mine in Saskatchewan.The project hosts the Paul Bay, Ken Pen and Orora uranium deposits, which have a total inferred resource of 588,000 tonnes with an average grade of 1.57% U3O8 for 20.35 million contained lb. of uranium oxide. The Paul Bay, K...Read More

Iranian semi-finished steel producers have benefited from the growing demand for such materials in China, where domestic prices have surged due to government policies that have led to cuts in steel production because of environmental concerns.While customers in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe became more cautious about purchasing billet and slab from Iran, fearing the consequences of th...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 30 that are worth another look.The GFG Alliance will consolidate all of its steel businesses into one global group named Liberty Steel Group by the end of this year and align them with a strategy for carbon-neutral operations by 2030.Japanese copper producer Pan Pacific Copper (PPC) has offered its Chinese customers co...Read More

Executives from aluminium producers Alcoa, Hindalco, Norsk Hydro and EN+ have said that governments, regulators and companies need to work together to develop a framework to make sustainably produced aluminium competitive against metal produced by more traditional methods.They were speaking during a panel at Fastmarkets' Base Metals: Unplugged event on Monday October 28, as part of the London Meta...Read More

RAPAPORT... US polished-diamondimports fell 25% to $1.3 billion in August, reflecting a decline in volumes andaverage price. Imports were down 11% for the first eight months of the year,according to the latest data from the US Commerce Department. US Trade Data for August 2019Read More

RAPAPORT... Three million tonnes of material fell into the open pit of Petra Diamonds' Cullinanmine in South Africa during a thunderstorm Saturday, the companysaid Wednesday. The collapse generated alarge plume of dust, which had "some effect on the local community," Petranoted. As a precautionary measure, the company temporarily evacuated allemployees and closed the mine for a day so that ex...Read More

RAPAPORT... Christie's New York Magnificent Jewels auction will featurea number of jewels from private collections, including the duPont Ruby, abrooch expected to fetch up to $5.5 million. The piece, which comprises a total of 11.20 carats ofBurmese rubies, emeralds, diamonds and natural pearls, is being offered by theVirginia Museum of Fine Arts. It comes from the collection of Jessie Balldu...Read More

RAPAPORT... The media tycoon who recently bought Sotheby's has appointed a senior executive from his business empire as the auction house's new CEO.Charles Stewart will assume the role with immediate effect, having served as copresident and chief financialofficer of Patrick Drahi's Altice USA since 2016. He helped lead that company's successful $2.1billion initial public offering in 2017...Read More