Bingham Canyon mine. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) The world's number two miner, Rio Tinto, (ASX:RIO) said it has invoked force majeure on contracts at its Kennecott copper operation near Salt Lake City, Utah following an earthquake last month.Kennecott copper mine and smelter was shut down following a 5.7 magnitude earthquake close to the town of Magna on March 18. There were no injuries and Rio at...Read More
Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver mine. (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto.) Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) is facing a new setback at its giant copper project in Mongolia with a large investor demanding a shakeup at the Oyu Tolgoi operation over what it claims is "a massive devaluation" of the asset.US hedge fund Pentwater Capital wants the designation of a new independent director to represent the inte...Read More
Gold miners' stocks have endured epic volatility in this past month, literally crashing before blasting back higher in a violent V-bounce. That preceding wicked capitulation flush savagely forced the weak hands out, paving the way for gold stocks' next major upleg. The resulting fierce rebound signals it is already underway, with plenty of speculators and investors now chasing the huge gains this...Read More
Grupo Mexico has started to gradually reduce its mining operations in an effort to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, with its activities declared non-essential by the government. The world's fifth-largest copper producer said on social media platform Twitter that it was complying with a decree issued by the governor of the state of Sonora in a manner that would protect its workers' health...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month aluminium price briefly breached the $1,500 per tonne mark, with an intraday high of $1,505 per tonne, but closed at $1,481.50 per tonne on Friday April 3. A little more than 9,100 aluminium lots were traded on Friday, and the underlying price remained under pressure despite an outflow of 2,550 tonnes across LME-registered warehouses. Overall aluminium invento...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrates treatment charges and refining charge (TC/RC) index moved up to $65.70 per tonne and 6.57 cents per lb this week, underpinned by a handful of deals reported in the high $60s per tonne. Traders are cautious about offering tonnages to the spot market in anticipation of supply uncertainties from South America. Notably, the counterparty spread between TC purchase level...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Adam HamiltonArchivesApr 03, 2020 Gold miners' stocks have endured epic volatility in this past month, literally crashing before blasting back higher in a violent V-bounce. That preceding wicked capitulation flush savagely forced the weak hands out, paving the way for gold stocks' next major upleg. The resulting fierce rebound signals it is already underway, with plenty of speculators and investor...Read More
Grupo Mexico has started to gradually reduce its mining operations in an effort to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, with its activities declared non-essential by the government. The world's fifth-largest copper producer said on social media platform Twitter that it was complying with a decree issued by the governor of the state of Sonora in a manner that would protect its workers' health...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday April 3. China The spot domestic ferro-chrome market continued to rise on tightened supply. The UG2 chrome ore market is largely on hold amid South Africa's Covid-2019 lockdown, while prices for portside cargoes are higher. Absence...Read More
Gold COT Report - FuturesLarge SpeculatorsCommercialTotalLongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort287,52928,68032,344128,083412,042447,956473,066Change from Prior Reporting Period -30,399-882-11,535-7,628-35,492-49,562-47,909Traders18355635752269146 Small Speculators (C) GoldSeek.com LongShortOpen Interest 47,69622,586495,652 -2,120-3,773-51,682 non reportable positionsCha...Read More
By: Ira Epstein$1484.60 - 1672.40 rang on gold. Not good for the emotional trader. Gold is building a better base. But the overall pattern..Read More
Gold, silver and copper are bullish. Crude oil is bullish. But some weekend correction can be there. At the moment rise in crude oil is short covering. If crude oil manages to trade over $23.00 till Tuesday, then chances of a long term bottom formation will be very high. A lot of people are worried as to what will happen to gold and silver after the release of today's US March nonfarm payrolls?...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrates treatment charges and refining charge (TC/RC) index moved up to $65.70 per tonne and 6.57 cents per lb this week, underpinned by a handful of deals reported in the high $60s per tonne. Traders are cautious about offering tonnages to the spot market in anticipation of supply uncertainties from South America. Notably, the counterparty spread between TC purchase level...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday April 3.China The buy-side of the seaborne market significantly drove up prices after the lockdown in South Africa sparked supply fears and portside price rises. Portside ore prices continued to rise after traders increased offer prices, however, buying interest waned in...Read More
The inter-merchant spot price for light iron scrap in the UK has stabilized over the past week after falling by more than 37% between March 13 and March 27, as the market pauses ahead of monthly delivery settlements to consumers for April.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK, was unchanged at ?45-55 ($56-68) per tonne on...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrates treatment charges and refining charge (TC/RC) index moved up to $65.70 per tonne and 6.57 cents per lb this week, underpinned by a handful of deals reported in the high $60s per tonne. Traders are cautious about offering tonnages to the spot market in anticipation of supply uncertainties from South America. Notably, the counterparty spread between TC purchase level...Read More
As flagged by MNN when Bellevue raised A$26.5 million last week, BlackRock was a cornerstone investor to that placement.Read More
The price of ferrous scrap imported into India continued to dip this week following a substantial drop last week when the country implemented a 21-day nationwide lockdown, bringing trade to a halt, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday April 3.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $243.49 per tonne on Friday, down from $247.00 per tonne one week p...Read More