Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The most important driver of the zinc market in 2020 will be the performance of the world’s zinc smelting industry, according to Wood Mackenzie.The easing of trade tensions between the US and China, the struggling manufacturing...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Antwerp's polished import and export figures for April are well up on a year ago - during the depths of the pandemic - but are still significantly lower than the same month in pre-pandemic 2019.The value of rough exports soared by almost 25 times in April, compared with a year ago, when Covid brought the diamond industry to a near-standstill.Polished exports increased more tha...Read More

Steel slab prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States region showed some signs of softening in the week to Tuesday June 1, despite the fact that mills have not been active in the market."It is too early. [According to what I have heard,] they will not make any offer before June 10," one trader said.A producer from Russia said that it was not offering any material at the moment, but if it w...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Why is zinc expected to see significantly higher zinc prices later this decade?A spate of scheduled mine closures, an underdeveloped project pipeline and steady demand growth is expected to provide the basis for significantly higher z...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Fifteen workers have died so far this year and more have been injured in accidents mining for gold and other precious metals in Zimbabwe, says a union boss.Justice Chinhema, general secretary of Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) says many mines are increasingly unsafe. Ten fatalities were at small scale mines, he said. Five were at larger operations."...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Customs officials in Surat, India, seized two consignments of loose "lab grown" diamonds that were over the declared weight - and were actually higher-value natural gems.They were being sent from the tax-free Surat Special Economic Zone and were destined for Hong Kong, via Mumbai airport.The owner of Universal Diamonds, Meet Kachhadiya, wrongly declared the diamonds, said the Direc...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.On Friday 15th February 2019, Vale announced there was a fire affecting a conveyor belt system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day halt in operations and note that a planned 10 da...Read More

(IDEX Online) - There was a slight overall increase in round prices among rounds. Fancies were more of a mix, and a number of sizes in both rounds and fancies saw little or no movement at all. There were a couple of localized bursts of activity, with a raft of price rises among 0.3-0.39-cts and 2.00-2.99-cts. Aside from that there was little or no movement in many sizes. There was virtually...Read More

Operations at one of Vale's largest nickel mines - located in Sudbury, Ontario - will be disrupted following a partial impasse in negations with the United Steelworkers (USW) union, the Brazilian miner said on Tuesday June 1."United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500, representing production and maintenance employees in Sudbury, voted to reject the company's offer of a new five-year collective bargaini...Read More

Austria Metall AG (AMAG), a producer of aluminium cast and flat rolled material has shipped its first aluminium certified under the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) chain of custody standard, the company has said, with the customer being German carmaker Audi.The metal has been sent to the Audi plant in Neckarsulm, Germany, and will be used for the outer body sheet of the tailgate for the A6...Read More

Two-time Vale president Eliezer Batista diesLeadershipLook beyond market approach to project valuations: van ZylLeadershipGreat Panther Mining is a precious metals miner in the AmericasSPONSOREDgreat pantherStellar metrics just the start for near-term developer Theta GoldSPONSOREDtheta gold minesQC reported 138m at 0.48% copper-equivalent, including 76.5m at 0.78% Cu-eq and 27.8m at 1.4% Cu-eq; pl...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe union was awaiting a decision by labour authorities over whether substitute workers BHP called in were legal, a union leader told Reuters.BHP told the wire service both Spence and Escondida "have adopted contingency plans to maintain its operations, always fully respecting the legal framework governing co...Read More

London Metal Exchange prices were mostly unchanged on the first trading day of this month, but maintained the bullish tone they struck at the end of May at the close on Tuesday June 1, given a release of positive economic data."A short-lived pullback seen in the base-metals complex suggests that underlying sentiment remains very bullish, with dip buyers welcoming lower prices with open arms," Fast...Read More

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries have reaffirmed their commitment to fair trade and criticized the use of subsidies that create excess capacity, including in steel and aluminium.In a joint statement issued at the virtual G7 Trade Track meeting on May 28, the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States called for the start of talks to d...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices held above $80 per hundredweight ($1,600 per ton) for the sixth consecutive business day after market participants said that there continues to be more demand than the spot market can supply in the next couple months.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $80.08 per cwt ($1,601.60 per short ton) on Tuesday June 1, a decrease of 0.46% fr...Read More

German carmaker Volkswagen will halt production at two sites in Brazil for 10 days due to the global semiconductor chip shortage, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday June 1.Units in S??o Jos?(C) dos Pinhais, a city in the southern state of Paran??, and in Taubat?(C), in the southeastern state of S??o Paulo, will cease activities for a 10-day period starting on June 7, the company said."A signi...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in the EU increased in the week to Friday May 28, supported by continuing coil shortages and good demand.The mood in the market, however, has changed due to a decline of prices in China.Sentiment in the European coil segment has turned from bullish to mixed, with buyers starting to believe that a recent price correction in China might put an end to the price ris...Read More

Prices for steel billet originating from the Commonwealth of Independent States continued to slide amid limited trading activity during the week to Tuesday June 1.The downtrend was driven mainly by the absence of activity in China, which has been one of the major outlets for CIS-origin billet recently.Few bookings were heard concluded in Italy and Turkey late last week because most customers prefe...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 22 points in pre-opening trade. The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at US83.13 cents following release of Canada's March GDP report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a month-to-month increase of 1.0% versus a gain of 0.4% in March. Actual was an increase of 1.1%Crude oil gained $2.28 to a three year high at $68.60...Read More

Brazil exported 26.66 million tonnes of iron ore in May, a 24.25% year-on-year rise from 21.46 million tonnes, the country's ministry of economy said on Tuesday June 1.May 2021 had 21 working days, one more than in the same month a year before, which contributed to the rise. Daily average exports also grew, by 18.33% to 1.27 million tonnes from 1.07 million tonnes in the same comparison.Reven...Read More