The Chinese ferro-silicon market dropped on Friday March 2, with one major tender signaling a slower return in demand from Chinese consumers after the recent national week-long holiday. Chinese steel tenders signal shift in demand  Other consumer markets also dropped  European market moves sideways, eyes March business  US steady on reduced imports Chinese domestic ferro-silicon pr...Read More

A little heat has gone from the market for battery materials but the sector's very much still on the boil.Last week cobalt quoted on the LME retreated from 9-year peaks to finish below $80,000 a tonne for the first time since mid-January. But the price of the metal – now constituting less than 50% of global cobalt production – is still up 64% compared to March last year.Lithium carbona...Read More

Low-grade manganese ore prices sailed through the $8 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) mark on Friday March 2 in China after producers ratcheted up their offers and on continued demand. Low-grade ore prices exceed $8 per dmtu in ChinaHigh-grade ore market lags in thin tradingSmelter backlash fails to slow rallyAlloy prices hold in most regionsUS ferro-manganese prices edge higher Low-grade mangane...Read More

The Italian election will have an impact on the euro and will also affect decision making among Eurozone members. Merkel gets a fourth term in Germany. I do not foresee a sustainable government in Germany. Merkel's pro migrant chant will reduce if she needs to stay in power. Even new Italian leaders will support the need to take in less migrants. Less migrants implies less chaos and lawlessness...Read More

SHANGHAI, Mar 5 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures on the SHFE dropped for the most part today except for tin, which inched up slightly. Zinc fell over 2%, aluminium slid over 1%, while copper and lead edged down.Ferrous metals fell across the board with iron ore leading the slump and closing 4% lower. Coke dropped over 2%, rebar and hot-rolled coil slipped over 1%, and coking coal fell sligh...Read More

Growth in the Chinese manufacturing sector slowed significantly in the first two months of 2018, and coupled with falling figures for car and house sales the outlook would appear to be far from positive.With a large portion of the year so far having been taken up by official holidays, however, the overall health of China's economy is clearly distorted right now, so it is difficult to draw any clea...Read More

Growth in the Chinese manufacturing sector slowed significantly in the first two months of 2018, and coupled with falling figures for car and house sales the outlook would appear to be far from positive.With a large portion of the year so far having been taken up by official holidays, however, the overall health of China's economy is clearly distorted right now, so it is difficult to draw any clea...Read More

RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto has lowered its estimate of diamonds it can viably extract from the Argyle mine, after experiencing operationaldifficulties and reducing its price forecast. The asset's ore reserves slumped 45% to 16 million tonnes atthe end of 2017 versus a year earlier, the company said in a statement lastweek. That translates to 38.5 million recoverable carats, at a grade of 2.4carats...Read More

China's major mills raised their crude steel output rates in early February, while their inventories for finished products decreased. Member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) produced crude steel at an average rate of 1.7847 million tonnes per day during the first 10 days of February, up 27,900 tonnes - or 1.6% - from 1.7568 million tpd during the last 11 days of January,...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), a leading global free zone for commodities trade and enterprise, has announced that it will hold the 7th edition of its industry-leading annual Dubai Precious Metals Conference (DPMC) on 9 April at The Westin Hotel, Habtoor City, Business Bay.   The annual conference aims to bring a fresh global outlook on the precious metals sector a...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Aim-listed Stellar Diamonds has, over the past six months, continued to focus on sourcing the necessary funding to bring its Tongo-Tonguma project, in eastern Sierra Leone, into production."The capital markets in the UK have proven extremely difficult to raise funds for junior mining companies in recent years. Further, the market capitalisation of Stellar dur...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Diamond Producers Association (DPA) unveiled its China marketing program at the recent Hong Kong International Jewellery Show, as it plans to launch in the country in July.The DPA's "Real is Rare, Real is a Diamond" initiative, which has already launched in the US and India, is the industry's first generic-marketing initiative in 10 years. The DPA hopes to appeal to the millen...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Easyfairs, the organizer of CARAT+, has announced a partnership with the Federation of Belgian Diamond Bourses (FDBD) and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) for the second edition of the show from May 6-8.   Under the agreement, Easyfairs and the Antwerp diamond sector "will combine their efforts to continue to build an ambitious vision for the future of the internationa...Read More

RAPAPORT... J.C. Penney has named James Starke head of merchandising forthe jewelry, men's, children's and home departments, the retailer said lastweek. The retailer has also promoted Jodie Johnson to head ofmerchandising for the women's, beauty and family footwear divisions. BothStarke (pictured) and Johnson will report to Joe McFarland, the newly appointed executivevice president and chief cust...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Angola-focused diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company sold 2 072 ct of diamonds recovered from the Lulo mine, achieving gross proceeds of $1.7-million during its second sale for the year.This represented an average price per carat of $804. The ASX-listed miner said the largest diamond in the sale parcel weighed 44 ct, which also included a vivid pink of 1.9 ct.Adver...Read More

Steel producers in Russia are planning further price rises in the domestic markets for hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) sheet, Metal Bulletin has been told.Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of the price for Russian 4mm HR sheet was unchanged at 43,000 roubles ($757) per tonne cpt Moscow, including VAT, on Monday March 5.Steel producers kept their March-rolled HR sheet prices for both stockist...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lucapa Diamond Company Limited and its partners have completed the second sale for 2018 of diamonds from the Lulo diamond project in Angola.   The sale of 2,072 carats of Lulo diamonds achieved gross proceeds of $1.7 million, with an average price per carat of $804. The largest diamond weighed 44 carats, which also included a vivid pink of 1.9 carats.   The latest sale br...Read More

RAPAPORT... The March Hong Kong show closed on Monday with dealers disappointed in the number of buyers that attended, even as they remain satisfied with the recent improvement in Far East demand. "Sentiment is positive, and buyers adapted to higher price levels that emerged in the past few months," said one Israel-based diamantaire who requested anonymity. Many noted that trading before the...Read More

Lead and zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange both closed lower on Monday March 5, reflecting recent stock increases. Zinc hit a two-month low of $3,273.50 per tonne today after a massive 78,950-tonne delivery into LME-listed warehouses in New Orleans. The metal was still $59 per tonne lower at $3,296 at the 5pm London close.The metal's cash/three-month spread briefly swung back into contango...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The 61st Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair, organized by the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), Ministry of Commerce, held from February 21-25 attracted visitors from 113 countries with the top five visiting nations being India, Myanmar, China, USA and Russia, the organizers reported.   The Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair is part of the Thai government's aim of mark...Read More