The public pension fund system is approaching apocalypse. Earlier this week teachers who are part of the Colorado public pension system (PERA) staged a walk-out protest over proposed changes to the plan, including raising the percentage contribution to the fund by current payees and raising the retirement age. PERA backed off but ignoring the obvious problem will not make it go away.Every pu...Read More

After a week of strong rallies, nickel and aluminium closed the week lower on the London Metal Exchange, with the rest of the complex steady.Nickel's three-month price fell 1.6% to below the $15,000 per tonne mark, with volumes traded at 8,761 lots - much lower than the mid-week figure of 23,000 lots. The metal climbed to a high of $16,690 per tonne but struggled to find support after specula...Read More

High manganese ore prices and price dislocation between ore and alloy will cause further alloy market uncertainty, benefitting integrated producers, mining group OM Holdings (OMH) said in its annual report. Manganese ore markets soared in late 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, prompting a backlash among manganese alloy smelters in China when prices breached $8.00 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu)...Read More

OM Holdings (OMH) expects continued volatility in manganese ore prices amid active silico-manganese futures trading and predicts a constrained market for high-grade ore, the company said on Thursday April 19. Describing manganese ore inventories in Chinese ports as "healthy" and "far from excessive," despite record import levels in 2017, the miner noted a significant drop in Chinese domestic produ...Read More

Vedanta Resources subsidiary Sterlite Copper must wait a further two weeks to find out if it can restart its 400,000 tonne per year Tuticorin copper cathode smelter in Tamil Nadu, meaning copper concentrate scheduled for the smelter will continue to flow into the spot market. The smelter was closed at the same time as protests against its planned doubling of capacity reached fever pitch towar...Read More

Comstock Metals (CSL.V) has entered into an option agreement to acquire full ownership of five mining claims located ('the Rawhide property) in the Gowganda area in Ontario. This Gowganda area is in close proximity to the so-called Cobalt Camp (which produced 25 million pounds of cobalt and in excess of half a billion ounces of silver in the previous century) which is currently heating up as the p...Read More

The alumina supply landscape has transformed over the past three years, but has been brought into focus of late as a result of a severe shortage of prompt and conveniently-located units. Prices have soared in recent weeks, sending Metal Bulletin's daily fob Australia alumina index to fresh highs every few days. The benchmark index was last calculated at $672.50 per tonne on Thursday April 20, 2018...Read More

High-grade malachite and chalcocite copper mineralization from Cardero's Zonia Project in Arizona. Source: Cardero Resources Corp.Cardero Resources Corp. [CDU-TSX, CDYCF-OTC, CR5-FSE] has filed a NI 43-101 compliant technical report containing details of a preliminary economic assessment for its Zonia Copper Project in Arizona. The Zonia Copper Oxide Project is located in the north end of the Weav...Read More

The companies on our list have the highest dividend yields of the Canadian publicly-traded REITsSmallCapPower | April 20, 2018: In the current volatile marketplace, stocks or REITs that can provide consistent returns look especially attractive to investors. The REITs on our list today have historically provided solid returns to their investors, with an average 9.3% 5-year dividend yield. Their att...Read More

ABcann Global Corporation (TSXV:ABCN) estimates its revenues to grow multifold through 2021, reaching $500 million from less than $1.0 million run rateSmallCapPower | April 20, 2018: ABcann Global Corporation (TSXV:ABCN) is a junior cannabis player holding a niche in cultivation technologies that deliver higher yields and consistent quality. ABcann is planning aggressive expansion of its flagship...Read More

An overview of China's minor metals markets in the week of April 16-20 and the reasons for any price moves.Read More

It's a volcano... a tidal wave... an asteroid falling from space...The electric vehicle revolution is an unstoppable force.Its eruption in popularity has already created billions of dollars in wealth. And with global market share set to continue skyrocketing, the EV uprising is fixed on creating billions more.The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts total worldwide sales of full battery...Read More

Compagnie de Tifnout Tiranimine (CTT) has resumed cobalt production at its plant after operational difficulties resulted in a one-week closure. Operations restarted at the plant in Morocco this week and production is ramping up to normal levels, a source close to...Read More

Toronto, Ontario - April 20, 2018 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. (TSX: AVL) (OTCQX: AVLNF) ("Avalon" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has once again placed among Corporate Knights' 2018 Future 40 Responsible Corporate Leaders in Canada from a shortlist of eligible small and mid-size organizations.Don Bubar, Avalon's President and CEO, com...Read More

Vancouver, British Columbia - April 20, 2018 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) M2 Cobalt Corp. (TSXV: MC) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that results from rock and soil samples taken as part of the initial phase of the work program recently launched on its exploration licenses ("Els") at Bujagali have resulted in the discovery of a new Cobalt ("Co") and Copper ("Cu") anomaly de...Read More

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people” -Karl MarxA group of researchers agrees. They think they have proven that if you have a government you don’t need religion. They concluded that “religiosity” wanes as people get more help from government programs. They th...Read More

The light iron scrap market in the UK was unchanged for a second week in a row in the seven days to Friday April 20, with steady domestic demand counteracting a drop in export prices to key destinations such as the Turkey and the Indian subcontinent.The market has been stable for two weeks after price losses on the European export market in late March and early April.Metal Bulletin's weekly price...Read More

Vancouver, British Columbia - April 20, 2018 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Labrador Gold Corp. (TSXV: LAB) ("Labrador Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on plans for the upcoming field season to follow up on the successful first stage exploration of its Labrador projects. The district scale gold anomalies found on the Hopedale and Ashuanipi Projects last year w...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in the bulk sector dipped during the working week ended Friday April 20 due to downward pressure from Turkish import prices, which fell midweek in several trades for material from the United States and the Baltic Sea.But this downward trend was not seen in the containerized scrap import market. Taiwanese scrap import prices remained flat on sparse trading this week, while the...Read More

 CloseGain/LossOn WeekGold $1335.60-$10.40-0.65%Silver$17.13-$0.12+2.94%XAU85.12-0.65%+1.24%HUI184.18-0.58%+0.41%GDM636.70-1.27%-0.32%JSE Gold1103.42-3.26-0.97%USD90.33+0.46+0.64%Euro122.89-0.62-0.41%Yen93.03-0.28-0.08%Oil$68.38+$0.09+1.47%10-Year2.959%+0.047+4.85%Bond143.00-0.78125-1.76%Dow24462.94-0.82%+0.42%Nasdaq7146.13-1.27%+0.56%S&P2670.14-0.85%+0.52%  The Metals: Gol...Read More