JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A new Proudly South African mine tunnel borer that requires no blasting, delivers higher production advances, comes with a collaboration imprimatur and can be retrofitted to existing operations, will be unveiled at next month’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town and commissioned in the third quarter of this year.Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Master Drilli...Read More
RAPAPORT... US polished-diamond imports jumped 11% year on year inNovember, government data showed. Shipments grew to $1.77 billion as a 26% rise in the averageprice of imports - to $2,573 per carat - outweighed a 12% drop in volume to687,000 carats. Polished exports declined 13% to $1.48 billion, according tothe recent figures. Net polished imports, representing imports minus exports,stood at po...Read More
RAPAPORT... Judith McKenna will become the new president and CEO of Walmart International, the US retail chain's second-largest operating section, replacing David Cheesewright. McKenna will continue in her current role as executive vicepresident and chief operating officer of Walmart US until February 1, when shewill assume her new role, the company reported. She has been with the retai...Read More
WINDHOEK – Namdeb, a joint venture between Namibia's government and Anglo American's diamond unit De Beers, is expected to lay off at least 130 of its 1,700-strong workforce, a union official said on Wednesday.Shavuka Mbidhi, from the Mineworkers Union of Namibia's Oranjemund branch, said the diamond miner had written to staff offering voluntary redundancies and at least 130 work...Read More
RAPAPORT... Luk Fook's same-store sales increased 1% year on year in thethird quarter ending December 31, driven by a 10% rise in gem-set jewelry."The gem-set jewelry products in [the] Hong Kong and Macau market continued to benefit from the market improvement, as well as the successful introduction of more varieties of stylish and good-value-for-money products," the jeweler said Wednesday. T...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Lead stood out among nonferrous metals with a 1% rise. Tin declined 1% and nickel slipped 0.43%. Copper, zinc and aluminium slid slightly.The ferrous complex performed better. Iron ore rose 1.42% and rebar rose 1%. Coke edged up 0.74% and hot-rolled coil gained 0.55%. Coking coal gained slightly.Copper: Copper faces a downward trend in the short term, an...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Lead stood out among nonferrous metals with a 1% rise. Tin declined 1% and nickel slipped 0.43%. Copper, zinc and aluminium slid slightly.The ferrous complex performed better. Iron ore rose 1.42% and rebar rose 1%. Coke edged up 0.74% and hot-rolled coil gained 0.55%. Coking coal gained slightly.Copper: Copper faces a downward trend in the short term, an...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Lead stood out among nonferrous metals with a 1% rise. Tin declined 1% and nickel slipped 0.43%. Copper, zinc and aluminium slid slightly.The ferrous complex performed better. Iron ore rose 1.42% and rebar rose 1%. Coke edged up 0.74% and hot-rolled coil gained 0.55%. Coking coal gained slightly.Copper: Copper faces a downward trend in the short term, an...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for Weekly Jobless Claims was 250,000 versus 261,000 last week. Actual was 220,000. Consensus for January Philly Fed Index was a drop to 25.0 from a revised 27.9 in December. Actual was 22.2....Read More
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.9% in 2017, beating expectations of 6.8%. GDP growth for 2016 was also 6.9%GDP in Q4 2017 grew 6.8%, slightly above expectations of 6.7%.On a quarterly basis, GDP expanded 1.6%, just under expectations of 1.7%.The article is edited by SMM and is provided for information purpose only. It does not mean SMM agrees with its views and...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Premiums of Jinchuan nickel traded at 200-300 yuan/mt against contract 1802 on the Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange. Jinchuan offered 96,800 yuan/mt for refined nickel on Thursday January 18, 2017.Nickel traded in the range of 96,100-96,800 yuan/mt.Russian nickel traded against contract 1802 at discounts of 100-200 yuan.For editorial queries, please contact Dais...Read More
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.9% in 2017, beating expectations of 6.8%. GDP growth for 2016 was also 6.9%GDP in Q4 2017 grew 6.8%, slightly above expectations of 6.7%.On a quarterly basis, GDP expanded 1.6%, just under expectations of 1.7%.The article is edited by SMM and is provided for information purpose only. It does not mean SMM agrees with its views and...Read More
A January 2018 Bloomberg article suggests that Chinese officials may reduce their purchases of U.S. government bonds. It is very unlikely that China can do so in any meaningful way because doing so would almost certainly be costly for Beijing. And even if China took this step, it would have either no impact or a positive impact on the U.S. economy.The furor over recent comments by Chinese official...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan. 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Nonferrous metals saw more deficits from January to November 2017 compared to the same period in 2016, according to a release from the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS).AluminiumAluminium saw a deficit of 1.57 million mt, following a deficit of 770,000 mt in 2016. Demand for primary aluminium for January to November 2017 was 54.92 million mt. This was 1.41...Read More
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.9% in 2017, beating expectations of 6.8%. GDP growth for 2016 was also 6.9%GDP in Q4 2017 grew 6.8%, slightly above expectations of 6.7%.On a quarterly basis, GDP expanded 1.6%, just under expectations of 1.7%.The article is edited by SMM and is provided for information purpose only. It does not mean SMM agrees with its views and...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan. 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Nonferrous metals saw more deficits from January to November 2017 compared to the same period in 2016, according to a release from the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS).AluminiumAluminium saw a deficit of 1.57 million mt, following a deficit of 770,000 mt in 2016. Demand for primary aluminium for January to November 2017 was 54.92 million mt. This was 1.41...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has appointed Robin Martin as its new head of market development, the exchange said. Robin is currently managing director for market infrastructure at the World Gold Council (WGC). He joined the organisation in November 2012. In July 2017, the LME and the WGC teamed up to launch LMEprecious which introduced...Read More
One of the topics that seems to be on the minds of investors right now is the idea of rising inflation. The recent global economic upturn, combined with a stimulative tax package, is causing some to believe that we're about to see the whites of inflation's eyes.If that truly is the case, how should we handle this as investors? Should we move our portfolios into asset classes that have been deemed...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan. 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Nonferrous metals saw more deficits from January to November 2017 compared to the same period in 2016, according to a release from the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS).AluminiumAluminium saw a deficit of 1.57 million mt, following a deficit of 770,000 mt in 2016. Demand for primary aluminium for January to November 2017 was 54.92 million mt. This was 1.41...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: Prices face downward pressure in the short term. LME copper is expected to trade at $7,000-7,130/mt today while the SHFE 1803 contract is to trade at 53,000-54,200 yuan/mt. On the spot market, discounts are likely to narrow to 160-110 yuan/mt as downstream customers restock.Aluminium: LME aluminium is expected to stay rangebound at $2,175-2,200/mt tod...Read More