The Brazilian branch of Toyota Motor Corp has decided to postpone the restart of its operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, following other automakers either considering or already enforcing longer idle periods in the country.Production was expected to resume at Toyota's four plants in the southeastern state of S??o Paulo on Monday April 6. After further gauging demand and availability...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesCopper production will grow by 1.9% in 2020 to 21 million tonnes, down from the 3.4% growth originally forecast by GlobalData."Production growth in China is forecast to be around 6%, which is down from the 9.6% forecasted before the outbreak. Lockdowns in Chile and Peru will reduce the output in two markets that currently account f...Read More

Dual-listed Botswana Diamonds’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Sunland Minerals, has been awarded six new prospecting licences by the Botswana government.The licence tenure is for a period of three years until March 31, 2023.AdvertisementThe licences cover an area of 4.32 km2 in the Central and Kgalagadi districts, colloquially known as the Kalahari.Moreover, the government has renewed four existin...Read More

Spain's Ministry of Industry, Trade & Tourism has finally confirmed the steel industry is considered "essential" and can continue operating, albeit at a slower pace, the Spanish steel distributors association, UAHE, said on Wednesday April 1.The Spanish government issued a royal decree on March 29, ordering the shutdown of all non-essential activities and businesses from March 30, with a rest...Read More

London-listed Gem Diamonds has raised $12.1-million during the first round of its Lets?OEeng flexible tender sales process on March 26.The Lesotho-focused miner in March launched the flexible tender sales process, following a large tender that had to be cancelled owing to travel and other restrictions imposed by various governments, including in Belgium, where the tender would have been held from...Read More

Two-time Vale president Eliezer Batista diesLeadershipLook beyond market approach to project valuations: van ZylLeadershipCardinal heading down familiar gold roadSPONSOREDcardinal resourcesSarama right in the middle of big exploration, corporate build-upSPONSOREDsarama resources Rockcliff said Tuesday indicated tonnes had grown 42% to 1.17Mt grading 3.Read More

The mood in the European market for hot-rolled coil has been downbeat but prices have remained stable despite limited trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday April 1.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, fell by just ?,?0.26 per tonne to ?,?472.50 ($519.73) per tonne on Wednesday, from ?,?472.86 per tonne on March 31.Wednesday's index was ca...Read More

Diamond miner Petra Diamonds reports that Peter Hill will succeed founder Adonis Pouroulis as nonexecutive chairperson as of March 31.The miner previously noted in its interim results on February 17 that additional board changes would also take place this calendar year. These include independent nonexecutive director Varda Shine assuming the role of chairperson of the remuneration committee, ...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesIndonesia's Ambassador to New Zealand Tantowi Yahya said Graeme Thomas Wall died and two Indonesian civilians were injured in the incident on Monday.He said police believed the group of eight attackers were members of an armed criminal group.Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesThe West Papua National...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesKatanga's subsidiary Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) agreed in December to buy land next to its mine from Gécamines and said it would pay an initial $150 million.However, Congolese prosecutors have issued an injunction preventing the company from consummating the deal until the investigation, announced in December, has concluded...Read More

Stainless steel scrap dealers and processors in the United States are now concentrating on keeping employees safe and healthy while stainless prices continue to fall on weaker demand and market uncertainty amid the Covid-19 pandemic."The focus here has been on staying healthy while trying to continue operations," one dealer said.So far, most pricing respondents have indicated that many peddler ope...Read More

Brazilian miner Vale is seeking alternatives to waste disposal at its Brucutu iron ore mine to produce at 80% capacity this year, up from 40% currently, the company said on Wednesday April 1.The mine is located in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state, with capacity to produce 30 million tonnes per year of iron ore.The Brucutu mine used the Norte/Laranjeiras tailings...Read More

China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was released earlier on Wednesday April 1; it rebounded to 50.1 in March from 40.3 in February, which supports the rebound in the official PMI data released on Tuesday - another sign that purchasing managers reported conditions were just “better” in March than they were a month earlier.But the same was not true in Ja...Read More

The direct-reduced (DR) iron pellet market is under pressure due to depressed steel demand resulting from global Covid-19 quarantine measures, while negotiations on the premium for second-quarter shipments continue. Fastmarkets' assessment of the iron ore DR-grade pellet premium, Middle East reference, was at $30 per tonne on Tuesday March 31, down by $1 from $31 per tonne on Februa...Read More

Turkish steel producers remained quiet in the deep-sea scrap import markets while suppliers were unwilling to sell at current price levels, sources said on Wednesday April 1.The mills were mostly shunning scrap purchases because of the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, which brought steel trade to a halt and caused mills to close or cut production.After several steel mills in the Izmir region were...Read More

Prices for Japanese ferrous scrap continued to soften over the past week, but the scale of the decline was tempered by falling collection volumes, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday April 1.Japanese H2 scrap prices have fallen by ?4,000 ($37) per tonne over the past seven weeks, and these weaker prices, together with slowing industrial activity due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices fell on Wednesday April 1, with buyers bearish and traders standing by. Fastmarkets IndicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $144.90 per tonne, down $1.27 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $150.65 per tonne, down $3.60 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $128.51 per tonne, down $2.50 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $137.00...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices managed to stay above $80 per tonne cfr on Wednesday April 1 despite weakening from a day earlier amid a softening rebar market in China.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $82.49 per tonne, down $0.83 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $83.80 per tonne, down $0.28 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $71.48 per tonne, do...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Coronavirus continues to shape scrap markets but tighter supply may partly offset lower demandWe have downwardly revised our ferrous scrap price forecasts for the following few months and, as a result, for the whole year of 2020, with the Covid-19 outbreak outside China stalling the markets. The Fastmarkets' daily benchmark...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 88 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the March ADP Employment Report at 8:15 AM EDT. Consensus was a drop of 150,000 versus a gain of 183,000 in February. Actual was a drop of 27,000.AT&T dropped $1.06 to $28.09 after JP Morgan downgraded the stock from Overwe...Read More