Canada-based junior miner Wealth Minerals has entered into an agreement with Chile's state-owned Empresa Nacional de Mineria (Enami) to help it develop and commercialize its Salar de Atacama and Laguna Verde lithium projects. The strategic alliance gives the companies two years to study and assess the properties and to form a partnership for their exploration, development and mining, as well as fo...Read More

The second-quarter European ferro-chrome benchmark price will rise sharply once it is announced later this week, market participants spoken to by Metal Bulletin said.Traders have reported reduced liquidity while market participants await the release of the new settlement.On Friday, Metal Bulletin's benchmark indicator predicted that the settlement would be $1.41 per lb, which would represent a qua...Read More

Would-be lithium traders could learn from the development of the copper concentrate pricing structure to open the battery raw material to greater pricing transparency and liquidity, Lord Copper suggests. In the metals business, we are accustomed to a particular form of price discovery that has largely stood the test of time, even through technological change and development. Despite occasional mut...Read More

Chinese vanadium suppliers pushed up their offer prices considerably last week, after the market continued to be supported by low availability of stocks. Chinese suppliers elevate offers on thinning inventories European ferro-vanadium market stabilizes temporarily amid spot demand slowdownUS ferro-vanadium market quiet, but further gains expected after strong late week dealsChinese vanadium export...Read More

Tensions are building in the manganese market with ore consumers protesting a four-month price rally that has left them effectively boycotting the market for their raw material.Manganese ore prices have risen as much as 70% since early December but showed signs of faltering last week. Metal Bulletin's 37% manganese ore index, fob Port Elizabeth dropped 5 cents to $7.52 per dry metric tonne unit (d...Read More

Domestic prices for ferrous scrap in Italy increased by ?,?30 ($35) per tonne this month following the positive trend in the international market, sources told Metal Bulletin.Metal Bulletin's monthly price assessment for domestic grade E3 scrap in Italy was ?,?290-310 ($357-381) per tonne delivered in March, up from ?,?260-280 per tonne delivered a month earlier. The increase was...Read More

Iron ore prices slipped below $67 per tonne cfr China on Tuesday March 20 following further losses in China's steel and futures markets. Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $66.94 per tonne cfr Qingdao Daily change: down by $0.51 per tonne Month-to-date average: $72.69 per tonne Metal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $54.58 per tonne cfr Qingdao Daily change: unchanged Month-to-dat...Read More

Physical iron ore prices dipped further on Tuesday March 20 amid further losses in China's steel and futures markets, though some are expecting a turnaround.Key driversChina's steel and iron ore futures tanked further in the morning before recovering the losses in the afternoon, though the contracts still ended negatively compared with Monday's settlement prices. Iron ore remained the worst perfor...Read More

The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreRio Tinto, tender, 170,000 tonnes of 61% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, sold at $65.77 per tonne cfr China,...Read More

Participants in the seaborne coking coal market continued to take a wait-and-see approach on Tuesday March 20.A top Australian brand with an approaching loading date was offered at $221 per tonne cfr China while an April-laycan cargo of premium hard coking coal was offered at $211 per tonne fob Australia during the day, according to market sources. Despite a lack of clarity over the direction of t...Read More

Glencore has reached an agreement to acquire Rio Tinto's 82% interest in the Hail Creek coal mine in Queensland, Australia, as well as other resources, for a total cash consideration of $1.7 billion, it said on Tuesday March 20.The transaction also includes adjacent coal resources, as well as Rio Tinto's 71.2% interest in the Valeria thermal coal resource in central Queensland, Australia. The rema...Read More

China's ferrous futures continued to trend downward during morning trading on Tuesday March 20, extended the losses from a day earlier when most contracts recorded big losses.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange May rebar: 3,623 yuan ($572) per tonne, down 34 yuan per tonne May hot-rolled coil: 3,813 yuan per tonne, down 19 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodity Exchange May...Read More

Market participants say they expect mercury prices to remain elevated after over two thirds of signatories ratified the Minamata Convention, which came into force on August 16, 2017. Metal Bulletin assessed mercury prices at $2,700-3,000 per flask on an in-warehouse basis on Friday March 11, down from $2,500-3,450 per flask two weeks ago but still 54% higher than at the start of the year. Mer...Read More

Selenium prices surged last week in Europe, reaching their highest level since February 2015 on continued material tightness and healthy Asian demand.Metal Bulletin assessed selenium free market in-warehouse prices at $22-24.5 per lb on Friday March 16, steady on Wednesday's assessment when the quotation rose by 6.9% to a level last seen in February 2015. "It's the perfect storm - India's hea...Read More

AbraPlata Resource Corp. (TSXV: ABRA) has tabled a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on its 80 sq. km Diablillos silver-gold project in Argentina's Salta Province, 150 km southwest from the city of Salta.The PEA features strong economics, with an after-tax net present value (NPV) of US$197 million at a 7.5% discount rate, an after-tax internal rate of return of 30.2%, and a 3-year pay...Read More

Mining companies operating in South Africa, including Anglo American (LON:AAL) and Sibanye Gold (JSE:SGL) (NYSE:SBGL), may soon have to increase their black-owned stakes to 30%, from a previous 26%, but the government is promising to deliver "policy certainty" in return.Newly appointed Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe said the key to regain investors and miners confidence in the South...Read More

The gold price is up just 1% year to date in 2018 and has advanced 5.5% from the December 2017 low. There are some bullish signs from the chart, including a number of higher highs and higher lows following the late 2015 bottom at $1,045. But it certainly hasn't been the powerful breakout the gold bugs have been hoping to see.The late 2017 spike above the resistance trend line was also bullish, but...Read More

The company bought 85% of Worcester-based Materials Solutions in 2016, describing the business as a pioneer in the use of selective laser melting (SLM) technology for the manufacture of high-performance metal parts. The business had "grown considerably over the last two years".Siemens' new investment is expected to increase the number of engineers, metallurgists and manufacturing specialists at th...Read More

The company said an electrical technician was injured while working on an underground voltage regulator. It said he was immediately transported to hospital, where he later passed away.Capstone said it was committed to the highest safety standards at its operations and sincerely regretted those efforts did not prevent the incident."Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to our miner's family and our entir...Read More

Mar 21, 2018 Guest(s): Joe Foster Portfolio Manager The bull market run that started in 2009 may soon be coming to a halt, meaning investors will rush back into safe havens like gold, said Joe Foster, portfolio manager at VanEck."There's many signs in the economy that we are towards the end of the cycle. So I think in the next 12 to 18 months, you're going to see an economic slowdown, probably a...Read More