Striking the right balance between supply and demand for lithium has been difficult, given the still relatively nascent demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and the time needed to ramp up lithium production. Fastmarkets head of base metals and battery raw materials research William Adams considers recent trends and the global outlook in present uncertain economic times.We are still at the dawn of th...Read More

Today is Monday, April 6, 2020, and this is your daily gold market update. Let's look at the latest price of gold, value of the dollar, gold/silver ratio, Commitment of Traders data, and exchange-traded fund (ETF) prices to get a sense of how the yellow metal is faring today.Gold PriceThe price of one troy ounce of gold in U.S. dollars today is $1,688.95. It's up 4.36% from yesterday and up 30.91%...Read More

In this interview, Lawrence Roulston, CEO, outlines the compelling evidence for the presence of a large-scale gold deposit underlying the known occurrence.Auramex Resource Corp. (TSX.V: AUX) is focused on exploring an historic gold mine, in the Golden Triangle, in British Columbia. Years of previous work focused on the area of the old workings. For the first time, Auramex Resource is using a syste...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been fairly stable day on day in a slow market, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 6.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?473.00 ($510.96) per tonne on Monday, up by ?,?3 per tonne from ?,?470.00 per tonne on April 3.Monday's index was calculated based on deals, offers and "achievable...Read More

After a two-week closure of non-essential industry in Switzerland, three of the world largest gold refiners are going back to work.Swiss refineries Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, and PAMP Suisse were shut down by local authorities on March 20 in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.Combined, these three precious metal refineries process around 1,500 metric tons of gold per year - that's a third of t...Read More

In our latest Canadian Insidier free Insights newsletter, we provide an update on our what our INK Indicator is signalling about the March 23rd lows. Our broadcast of the week is from INK Ultra Money Free with Real Vision co-founder Raoul Pal who has nailed the 2020 market from top to bottom. Finally, our insider of the week helped to make sure a Canadian Telecom giant was well equipped to weathe...Read More

Prices for flat steel products in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow declined over the past week with trading activity scaling down because of concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 6.On April 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended a stay-at-home order to help to curb the spread of Covid-19 until April 30, well beyond the original end-date...Read More

Vehicle production in Brazil fell by 21.1% year on year in March due to lockdowns introduced to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in the last 15 days of the month, car manufacturer association Anfavea said on Monday April 6. Output was 189,958 units during the month, compared with 240,763 units a year before. Production also fell by 7% in comparison with February data, which was 204,200 units. Over th...Read More

Moon Iron and Steel (Misco) started production of billet at its facility in Sohar, Oman in the week starting March 30, sources close to the company told Fastmarkets.Misco has an electric arc furnace, ladle furnace and a five-strand continuous billet caster with a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year.The company will also...Read More

The price of steel rebar in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow declined over the past week with trading limited by concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 6.Last week, Severstal and Tula Steel, key suppliers to the region, tried to push rebar prices to 36,000 roubles per tonne cpt, citing better seasonal demand.Rebar demand in Russia slows i...Read More

British Steel is adjusting and pausing production at various sites due to a drop in demand, the company said on Friday April 3. British Steel chief executive Ron Deelen detailed some of the actions the company had taken during the Covid-19 virus outbreak, which included reducing production at various sites. "As we manage the internal and external challenges coronavirus brings, we'll take decisive...Read More

Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices have started to rebound on tightening supply, although no transactions have been made, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 6.Several sources reported a Baltic Sea offer at $240 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20), while mills' bids were no higher than $220 per tonne.The most recent deep-sea transactions were heard at the start of last week and put the HMS 1&...Read More

The Turkish domestic scrap market was stable over the past week but prices are expected to increase soon due to tightening supply, sources said on Monday April 6.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap, auto bundle scrap, domestic, delivered Turkey, was 1,380-1,515 lira ($206-226) per tonne on Monday, unchanged week on week.Long and flat steelmaker ??olakoglu maintained its buy price...Read More

"In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value." Alan Greenspan, American economist, Former Chair of the Federal Reserve 1987-2006, firm Greenspan Associates LLC; b. 1926 "Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency, where no fiat currency, including the dollar, can match it...Read More

By Clint SiegnerLondon Bullion Market Association (LBMA) officials have loudly proclaimed there are plenty of gold bars in LBMA and COMEX vaults to meet surging demand from buyers.Unfortunately for them, confidence is particularly fragile these days and cracks are starting to appear. Which is why anxious officials there issued not one, but two memos last week in an attempt to reassure traders.I...Read More

Strengths? ? The best performing precious metal for the week was gold, off only 0.45 percent. The yellow metal is continuing its strong showing. Gold futures had its sixth straight quarterly gain in the first three months of this year - the longest stretch of gains since 2011. Bullion rose 4.8 percent in the first quarter. Last week, the gold market was thrown into turmoil as logis...Read More

The stock market wafted last week into a psychologically surreal zone somewhere between terror and, if not greed, then at least jittery optimism. How can stocks rally at all when no one can predict whether the deadly spread of coronoavirus is about to overwhelm America as it did Italy? The economic picture remains just as murky, since odds the global economy will fall into a full-blown depressio...Read More

The recent range trade in gold and silver will be broken soon and a new range will be formed. Physical gold supplies are expected to rise with Swiss gold refiners opening. I am doubtful whether they will be able to meet the current demand. Gold mines supplies are less. Russia has said that it's central bank will not buying gold at the moment. Russia will sell it mined gold in the market. Russia'...Read More

Global ferrous scrap prices continued to move downward in the week ended Friday April 3, with reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic responsible for further lockdowns around the world, bringing trading to a halt in key export markets.Turkish import prices plungeUS export market pausesTaiwan import price dips on lower demandTrading remains at a halt in India.TurkeyPrices for scrap imported into Turkey f...Read More

Demand for slab originating from the Commonwealth of Independent States came from China only during the week to Monday April 6, as activity in other outlets was disrupted due to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic.A 40,000-tonne cargo of Russia-origin slab to be shipped from the port of Saint Petersburg was reported sold to China at $347 per tonne cfr. Another mill sold a 50,000-tonne cargo to the sa...Read More