The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Wednesday March 25, climbing by more than 6% to breach resistance at $14,000 per tonne, while the outright lead price rallied above the $1,600 per tonne threshold. Tin's underlying price on the LME closed at $14,299 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, gaining $815 per tonne from an intraday l...Read More
Brazilian flat steel producer Usiminas will grant collective holidays to some of its employees at service center and distribution subsidiary Solu???ues Usiminas and at capital goods arm Usiminas Mec??nica.The measure will affect 46.3% of employees at Solu???ues Usiminas and 29.6% of those at Usiminas Mec??nica.Production at Solu???ues Usiminas' units in Porto Alegre, Guarulhos, Betim, Taubat?...Read More
March 25, 2020Toronto, Ontario (March 25, 2020) - Mega Uranium Ltd. (TSX: MGA) announces the results of its annual shareholder meeting held earlier today. Each of the nominees listed below was elected as a director by a show of hands of the majority of shareholders. The results of the shares voted in person or by proxy in respect of the election of each director are:NomineeShares Voted ForShar...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States were mostly stable on Wednesday March 25, with domestic steelmakers showing little willingness to lower prices dramatically and questions emerging about whether more mills will announce production cuts that could help offset the drop in demand, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $28.33 per hundr...Read More
German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp has announced that it will go ahead with a restructuring plan that will eliminate 3,000 jobs after reaching an agreement with the workers' trade union, it said on Wednesday March 25.The announcement included a "coronavirus package" with reduced hours for staff, agreed with workers' representative IG Metall.Because of a sharp decline in demand, the company will make p...Read More
The 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic has led to parts of the Indian automotive sector closing down its operations, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday March 25.Some of them did so even before the country's government announced on Tuesday that it was imposing a 21-day lockdown beginning that day.Germany-based carmaker BMW has confirmed that its plant in Chennai will be closed from March 23 to March 31.Jap...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil have been fairly stable across Europe due to the limited trading activity that has resulted from the 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 25.This price stability, however, has mainly been supported by the lack of trading and prices were likely to drop sharply when buyers return to the market, they added.To compensate for th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds, Firestone Diamonds and Lucapa Diamond Company are suspending operations at their mines in South Africa and Lesotho due to government measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.South Africa has introduced a three-week nationwide lockdown starting this Thursday, prohibiting non-essential business activities. As a result, Petra will place its Cullinan, Finsch and...Read More
Prices for hollow steel sections moved down across Europe over the past week, despite trading activity continuing, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 25.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?595-620 ($643-670) per tonne on Wednesday, down from ?,?600-630 per tonne one week previous."We are still working and are trying...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemfields recorded a profit in 2019 as the cancellation of a Zambian export duty bolstered the value of the company's Kagem emerald mine.The miner earned $39.1 million for the year, compared with a loss of $60.4 million in 2018, it estimated in a trading update Tuesday. This mainly reflected the reversal of a $21.6 million impairment charge at Kagem following the government's susp...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's government has approved concessions to ease the financial situation for diamond and jewelry businesses after the country went into lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.The finance ministry raised the minimum value of a default that could trigger bankruptcy proceedings for small- and medium-sizes businesses to INR 10 million ($131,160) from INR 100,000 ($1,310), t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Christie's has pushed back its New York and Geneva jewelry sales as the coronavirus spreads around the world.All three of the auction house's spring Magnificent Jewels sales, which generally occur between April and June, will now take place within a one-month period, according to the company's updated schedule.The New York Magnificent Jewels auction, which was due to take place in Apri...Read More
RAPAPORT... A number of jewelers and manufacturers are shutting temporarily following government orders amid the coronavirus outbreak.Stuller has closed its Louisiana headquarters and suspended all on-site operations in accordance with Governor John Bel Edwards's stay-at-home order, it said Monday. The site will remain closed through Sunday."Ultimately, we believe temporarily suspending opera...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Canadian miner Mountain Province has reported further losses - CAD128.8m ($89.9m), as demand for rough dropped.The 2019 figure was well down on the CAD18.9m loss ($13.2m) for 2018, largely as a result of a non-cash impairment loss on property, plant and equipment of CAD115.8 million ($81m).That was ins spite of an "exceptional year of production" in 2019 at its Gahcho Kue, in North...Read More
Various South African mining companies have pledged their support for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Covid-19 directives and range of measures in respect of mitigating the impact of the pandemic on South Africa’s economy.The pledges follow the President’s address to the nation on Monday evening, announcing a 21-day lockdown for the country from midnight on Thursday, March 26, until...Read More
the coronavirus pandemic in his native South Africa.Fellow billionaire Johann Rupert, whose luxury conglomerate Richemont owns Mont Blanc and Cartier, is matching the donation with his own R1bn.Mr Oppenheimer, 74, sold his 40% stake in the family diamond firm, founded by his grandfather Ernest in 1929, to the Anglo American mining group for $5.1bn in cash in 2012. In a joint statement w...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada is maintaining full production despite the coronavirus pandemic.But it is restricting the frequency of travel by rostering staff to work four weeks on, four weeks off. Operators Rio Tinto say they have reduced travel to and from the remote mine at Lac de Gras, 200km south of the Arctic Circle, to minimize spread of the disease.The standard two...Read More
Stainless steel scrap prices have fallen even further in the wake of the novel coronavirus spread in the United States, which has created additional problems for an already weak marketplace, sources told Fastmarkets.Scrap recycling facilities have been classified as essential businesses, but many are closing retail operations while maintaining services to industrial accounts."Industrial scrap cont...Read More
The global spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is seriously limiting deep-sea scrap trading in Turkey, with market players also struggling with mill closures, sources said on Wednesday March 25.A number of steel mills in Turkey have stopped or reduced production because of the pandemic. "I heard a steel mill in the Iskenderun region halted production and two steel mills in the Izmir region...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices dropped on Wednesday March 25 as major consumer India announced a 21-day lockdown. Fastmarkets Indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $154.91 per tonne, down $1.49 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $158.18 per tonne, down $6.48 per tonne Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.64 per tonne, down $0.62 per tonne Hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $148 per tonn...Read More