One does not need to look to the gold-silver ratio, which is currently off the charts, to see that the world has gone mad. Silver, it has long been understood, has... by Keith Weiner of Monetary-Metalshe price of gold has been up steadily for the last 30 days (with a few zigs and zags), now re-attaining the high it achieved prior to the big drop in March. Gold ended the week at $1,662. Alas, it's...Read More

London Metal Exchange base metals were universally trading down at the close on Tuesday April 21, with risk-off sentiment capping LME base metals' futures prices, which precipitated a broad-base sell off across the whole complex. Brent Crude Oil futures' prices were hit significantly during the afternoon session, down 4.15% at $25.17 per barrel, with some analysts suggesting that the commodities s...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices dropped further on Tuesday April 21 due to inactive trading and persistent bearish sentiment among market participants.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $125.05 per tonne, down by $3.21 per tonne.Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $135.04 per tonne, down by $1.47 per tonne.Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $116.01 per tonne, down by $1.00 per tonne.H...Read More

China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices dropped on Tuesday April 21, with market sentiment hurt by a slump in financial markets triggered by an oil crash in the United States.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,300-3,320 yuan ($466-469) per tonne, down 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,240 yuan per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneSellers across China lowered their offers in response to...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers and its parent company Anglo American have contributed an additional $3 million in aid to help mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19.The donation, announced Monday, will be split between two emergency finance bodies in South Africa, which is home to De Beers' Venetia deposit.The Solidarity Fund, launched by the South African government last month, will receive two-thir...Read More

RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales at Titan Company slipped in the fourth fiscal quarter as news of the pandemic weighed on consumer sentiment in March. Revenue for the jewelry division - which includes the Tanishq, Zoya and Utsava collections- decreased 5% in the three months ending March 31 due to lost sales during the final month of the quarter. As the coronavirus spread, and the World Health Organ...Read More

RAPAPORT... New York diamond dealer Emanuel "Manny" Gordon died on April 7 aged 79, after contracting COVID-19.The industry veteran, who founded the eponymous Manny Gordon Trading in 1984, trained and subsequently worked with his brother-in-law, the late William Goldberg. Goldberg's jewelry house, William Goldberg Diamonds, announced Gordon's passing last week - stating that his death had "le...Read More

RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports slumped in March amid continued market pressures resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.Shipments slid 22% to CHF 1.36 billion ($1.4 billion) for the month, with most markets declining significantly, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported Tuesday. Orders from Italy plunged 58%, while supply to Hong Kong fell 41% to CHF 138.5 million ($142.6 millio...Read More

London Metal Exchange base metals were universally trading down at the close on Tuesday April 21, with risk-off sentiment capping LME base metals' futures prices, which precipitated a broad-base sell off across the whole complex. Brent Crude Oil futures' prices were hit significantly during the afternoon session, down 4.15% at $25.17 per barrel, with some analysts suggesting that the commodities s...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds' revenue slipped in the first quarter, as the coronavirus weighed on the average price of rough diamonds from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho. "Prices for Let??eng's diamonds have been negatively impacted in March 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but have demonstrated a resilience in this global crisis," the company said Tuesday.Sales fell 9% to $47.3 million fo...Read More

RAPAPORT... AGD Diamonds has recovered a 50.36-carat, gem-quality diamond from its Grib mine in Arkhangelsk, Russia.The stone, which the miner unearthed last week, is its second-largest find this year. In January, it uncovered a diamond weighing 86.46 carats at the same deposit. This followed a yield of 11 large stones in 2019, each weighing in excess of 50 carats.AGD is owned by Russian inve...Read More

(IDEX Online) -  Yoram Dvash has been elected acting president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses following the temporary departure of Ernie Blom.Mr Blom headed the Antwerp-based group of 30 worldwide bourses from 2012, but has stepped down citing "personal reasons". His South Africa-based Ernest Blom Diamonds is currently involved in a legal dispute with the Dubai Diamond Exchan...Read More

RAPAPORT... The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has named Yoram Dvash as acting president following Ernie Blom's decision to stand down temporarily.The WFDB's executive committee elected the Israel Diamond Exchange president in a Zoom meeting Sunday, it said in a statement. He had already been named president designate at a previous WFDB congress."The diamond industry, like all oth...Read More

(IDEX) - Firestone has halted operations at its Liqhobong mine, in Lesotho, for at least a year. It blames the "dramatic and severe" impact of the coronavirus crisis on the global diamond market. Work was suspended at the end of March in response to a lockdown imposed by South Africa, which surrounds the landlocked kingdom.   The company now says it is now extending the care and maintena...Read More

Fastmarkets is proposing to reduce the frequency of publication of its lead premium assessments for Indian and Southeast Asian markets. There has been a notable fall in spot liquidity in these two markets. In particular a lack of trading in primary lead ingots has caused the 99.99% lead premium for Southeast Asia to remain unchanged since July 2018, while the 99.99% cif India lead premium has only...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Bosses at Anglo American are donating 30 per cent of their earnings to coronavirus charities. Board directors and group management committee members have made a three-month pledged, which will total more than $1m. The company's Anglo American Foundation will match their donations dollar for dollar. Anglo American is one of the world's largest mining businesses and is pare...Read More

RAPAPORT... Michael Hill's sales fell 12% in the third fiscal quarter as stores closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.Group revenue dropped to AUD 105.1 million ($66.8 million) in the three months ending March 31, the jeweler reported last week. The company was forced to close all its retail locations in Canada on March 20, and shut stores in Australia and New Zealand a few days later. Same-...Read More

A raft of auto closures in the United States drove the lead premiums down further this week, moving the range for the 99.99% ingot premium for the first time in more than two years and sinking the 99.97% ingot premium to its lowest in seven-and-a-half years.Fastmarkets assessed the lead 99.97% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US at 8-9 cents per lb on Tuesday April 21, down by 5.6% from its previous ran...Read More

United States-based Ball Corp has announced that the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has approved the company's targets for the reduction of absolute carbon emissions in its own operations by 55%, and within its value chain by 16%, by 2030 against a 2017 baseline.The metals packaging and aerospace supplier was the first in the can-making industry to have an approved science-based target, a...Read More

The lockdowns imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic were offering automotive manufacturers a rare opportunity to take a step back and to re-evaluate their long-term strategies, the chief executive officer of Eurasian Resources Group has said.Benedikt Sobotka said that although the world is currently facing distressing times, it was also a chance to restructure supply chains and to take more decisiv...Read More