Silicon metal export volumes from Brazil rose by 33.68% year on year in January, due to higher shipments to Europe, according to figures released by Brazil's foreign trade ministry MDIC on Wednesday February 7.Exports totaled 20,859 tonnes, against 15,604 tonnes in January 2017, MDIC data shows. In December, Brazil's silicon metal shipments totaled 13,015 tonnes.Meanwhile, Brazil's revenues f...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves. Read More
Nornickel has signed a $4.4 billion partnership deal with Russian Platinum Plc in a 50:50 owned enterprise to jointly develop three major PGM deposits in Russia, it said on Wednesday February 7.The joint company aims at producing approximately 70-100 tonnes per year of platinum and palladium, as well as 50,000 tpy of nickel, Nornickel's president Vladimir Potanin said in...Read More
JFE Holdings' operating income rose sharply for the first three quarters of fiscal 2017 due to a change in accounting methods, cost reductions and improved sales, while its steel business renewed old facilities to ensure stable steel output.Consolidated operating income stood at ?172.32 billion ($1.56 billion) for April to December 2017, up 373.2% from ?36.4 billion for the same period a year ag...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday February 7:Titanium scrap Turnings, unprocessed type 90/6/4, 0.5% Sn max: $0.95-1.00...Read More
G?(C)camines expects to complete an audit of its joint-venture partners active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by mid-March, with the report expected to back up the state-run mining firm's drive to renegotiate contracts, chairman Albert Yuma said.Yuma told Metal Bulletin in an interview that the audit, conducted by E&Y over the past three years, would probably result in the renegotiation...Read More
The roller coaster ride that is U.S. equities continues at full steam, with extreme price swings resulting in a 1100-point range in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. U.S. equities opened lower and the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded lower during the first part of the trading session. The Dow traded to a new low of 23,778 before finding tentative support and moving sharply off of those lows. Wi...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices hit session lows late Tuesday afternoon as U.S. stocks bounced back up in what analysts described as a very volatile trading environment.The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tumbled 1,600 points in the previous session, closed with a 567-points gain — the biggest intraday rise in almost a year. And S&P 500 Index rose 85.80 points, rising the most in a year,...Read More
(Repeats with no changes to text. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)By Clyde RussellCAPE TOWN, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Africa's mining industry should be poised on the verge of great things, but instead it appears to be seeking a reset button as miners continue to clash with governments over how best to exploit the continent's resources. Africa is home to lar...Read More
(Kitco News) - The case for holding broad commodities and gold just got stronger as U.S. equity markets could struggle following Monday’s flash crash, according to one commodity expert. In a telephone interview with Kitco News, Will Rhind, CEO of GraniteShares, said that commodities have held up well as investors continued to digest Monday’s market correction, which saw the bigges...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver markets were ending the U.S. day session moderately lower, with gold hitting a three-week low and silver futures closing at a six-week low close. A big recovery in the U.S. stock market Tuesday, after Monday’s major beat-down, worked to push the metals markets down. Losses in the gold and silver markets were limited, however, when the U.S. dollar index could no...Read More
(Kitco News) - Monday’s biggest one-day price drop in the Dow Jones should be a way up call for investors that they need to start taking risk management more seriously, according to one asset manager.In a telephone interview with Kitco News, Axel Merk, chief investment officer of Merk Investments, said that he doesn’t think the unprecedented drop in equities Monday, coupled with a rise...Read More
(Kitco News) - While gold won’t be immune to lower prices in the near term, analysts note that the yellow metal is doing what it advertises as it provides important diversification while outperforming crashing global equity markets.“Gold has traded relatively calmly during the bond and stock market turmoil this past week. Investors who bought gold in recent months in response to increa...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold demand rallied in the fourth quarter of 2017, but it was not enough to save last year from an annual drop, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in its latest report. Overall demand declined 7% to 4,072 metric tons during fiscal year of 2017, down from 4,362 metric tons reported in 2016, the WGC said in its “Gold Demand Trends Full Year 2017” report. Rising equity marke...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday February 6.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the 5pm close on Monday February 5, although lead again bucked the trend. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how LME prices looked at Monday's close:Peru's copper production grew nearly 4% in 2017 thanks to higher output at the MMG's Las Bamb...Read More
Chinese and European ferro-vanadium prices softened last week amid lackluster spot market demand, while the US market held firm under similar conditions.Chinese market slows as Chinese New Year holidays approachEuropean market slightly softer on sluggish spot demandUS market holds course despite thin trading activity Inquiries were thin for fob China vanadium products over the past week, but domes...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday February 6.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the 5pm close on Monday February 5, although lead again bucked the trend. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how LME prices looked at Monday's close:Peru's copper production grew nearly 4% in 2017 thanks to higher output at the MMG's Las Bamb...Read More
Comex copper prices were pulled lower on Tuesday February 6 by a combination of the recent equity sell-off and a dollar increase. Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 3.75 cents or 1.2% to $3.2250 per lb. The red metal dipped to a one-week low on Friday following a heavy sell-off in equity markets. "Judging by the limited pullback in the base...Read More
The benchmark Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium touched a fresh one-year high of $100-107 per tonne on Monday February 5, fuelled by a surging US Midwest premium. The aluminium P1020A in-warehouse Rotterdam, duty-unpaid premium touched highs of $105 per tonne in February 2017. Participants short of material and some who want to ship metal to the Midwest, where the premium is at a four-y...Read More
Mining investors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are united in their desire to fight the country's new mining code, and could take legal action if they fail to reach a mutually-agreeable solution, according to the chief executive officer of Randgold Resources.Speaking during an interview with Metal Bulletin on a panel at the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, Bristow said that it was...Read More