Jupiter Mines is starting a feasibility study into an expansion project that aims to increase manganese ore output from Tshipi Borwa by 50% to 4.5 million tonnes per year over three years, the company announced on Tuesday January 7.A concept study into the expansion has just been completed, Jupiter said, adding that the total capital spend required for the expansion is estimated at ZAR1.03 billion...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday January 8 that are worth another look.Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran have not affected appetite in Southeast Asia for Iranian steel products, sources told Fastmarkets.Limited buying interest ahead of national holidays has dragged the Shanghai copper premium to its lowest level in almost three years, whi...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday January 7 that are worth another look.Alexander Shevelev, chief executive officer of Russian steelmaker Severstal, says that the company has changed its culture quite quickly and substantially to focus on being a solutions provider.Brazilian vehicle output shrank by 3.9% year on year during December 2019, because higher domestic...Read More
Vijay Natarajan has become executive vice president of trading at non-ferrous metals company Metal Exchange Corp, effective January 1. He will be responsible for the company's global trading division and will be based at its headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. Additionally, Natarajan will oversee Metal Exchange Corp's international footprint,...Read More
Roberto Ecclefield, chief commercial officer at Chilean copper producer Codelco, is to leave the company, Fastmarkets understands.Ecclefield has been in the role since April 2018, when he replaced Rodrigo Toro. Prior to this, Ecclefield was in charge of sales for the company's...Read More
Former London Metal Exchange chief executive Garry Jones has been appointed chief executive officer of technology provider Perfect Channel, effective January 1, the company said. Jones, who joined Perfect Channel as a director in September 2019, will now seek to deliver a strategic business plan to work with a variety of partners across multiple asset classes, focusing on financial institutions, c...Read More
Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran have not affected appetite in Southeast Asia for Iranian steel products, sources told Fastmarkets. Iran fired multiple missiles on at least two Iraqi military bases housing American forces earlier today, Wednesday January 8, in response to the killing of top Iranian military general Qasem Soleimani via a US drone attack at Iraq's Baghdad Inter...Read More
An already-volatile nickel market will continue to face uncertainty in 2020 while demand wanes and stocks rise amid slowed growth expectations from both the stainless steel and electric battery sectors, market participants predicted.It is widely acknowledged that nickel demand will be driven by the stainless steel and electric vehicle (EV) battery markets, but many analysts expect stainless steel...Read More
The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange settled at a two-month high at the close of trading on Wednesday January 8, climbing by just under 2% and breaching the $2,400-per-tonne resistance level against the highest daily trading volumes since September 2019.Zinc's outright price on the LME closed at $2,403 per tonne, its highest closing price since November 13, while daily turnover...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were driven upward by Chinese buying activity on Wednesday January 8.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $146.26 per tonne, up $1.28 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $157.35 per tonne, up $4.82 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $122.33 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $134.02 per tonne, unchangedLow-vol PCI, fob D...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Wednesday January 8, with prices retreating below the $14,000-per-tonne threshold, while further outflows failed to support aluminium's outright price.Nickel's underlying price on the LME was recently seen at $13,845 per tonne, easing from a morning high of $13,935 per tonne.Turnover in LME nickel was hig...Read More
The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange settled at a two-month high at the close of trading on Wednesday January 8, climbing by just under 2% and breaching the $2,400-per-tonne resistance level against the highest daily trading volumes since September 2019.Zinc's outright price on the LME closed at $2,403 per tonne, its highest closing price since November 13, while daily turnover...Read More
Uncertainty was weighing on the CIS export market for steel billet in the week ended Wednesday January 8, with market participants returning from their year-end holidays and waiting for mills to announce offers of February-rolling material.At the same time, there was a degree of pessimism among many customers, because of the lack of demand for finished long steel products.Adding to the negative se...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday January 8 that are worth another look.Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran have not affected appetite in Southeast Asia for Iranian steel products, sources told Fastmarkets.Limited buying interest ahead of national holidays has dragged the Shanghai copper premium to its lowest level in almost three years, whi...Read More
In what some market participants called a short-term move, the nickel briquette premium crept up in the United States on Tuesday January 7, while all other regions had a slow return to business after year-end holidays. Some US sales pushed up the US nickel briquette premium incrementally Europe welcomes a return to contango in the London Metal Exchange nickel forward price spread Shangha...Read More
China's environmental ministry announced on Wednesday January 8 a second round of import quotas for copper, aluminium and ferrous scrap, but the volumes that will be allowed are significantly smaller than in the first tranche.The latest announcement for imports in 2020 made provisions for 26,566 tonnes of copper scrap, 7,544 tonnes of aluminium scrap and 3,180 tonnes of ferrous scrap.But the perio...Read More
Brazil's Atlantic Nickel started producing around three months ahead of schedule, and expectations of achieving full capacity have also been brought forward to the second quarter this year, chief executive officer Paulo Castellari told Fastmarkets in an interview on Tuesday January 7.The company, owned by the Brazilian branch of Appian Capital Advisory, originally forecast nameplate capacity to be...Read More
Vijay Natarajan has become executive vice president of trading at non-ferrous metals company Metal Exchange Corp, effective January 1. He will be responsible for the company's global trading division and will be based at its headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. Additionally, Natarajan will oversee Metal Exchange Corp's international footprint,...Read More
Limited buying interest ahead of national holidays has dragged theShanghai copper premium to its lowest level in almost three years, while copper premiums are stable in Europe and the United States with minimal spot activity for the first week of 2020.Limited buying interest ahead of the national holidays has dragged the Shanghai copper premium to its lowest level in almost three years Copper prem...Read More
Escalated tension between the United States and Iran has not yet had any direct effect on steel export trade from the Middle East country, Fastmarkets has learned. "China and Southeast Asia take the majority of Iranian material, so the situation will largely depend on traders [selling into these markets]," an Iranian industry source said."[The] market just reopened after holidays. We need sev...Read More