Precious metals were the big winners for the first six months of 2020. Spot gold Continue...Read More
Trying to assess the potential for a correction in precious metals (and in miners especially) is quite tricky, given the current context.Continue...Read More
Sector expert Michael Ballanger takes a look at the latest moves in the financial and precious metals markets, and updates his investment strategy moving into late summer. I've only just returned from the majesty of Georgian Bay, where the first fishing derby of the season had me summarily trounced by my female partner 12 to 5, with most of her catches in the 1- to 2-pound category and mine barel...Read More
Scottie Resources will test at least three high-priority targets there during this campaign. Scottie Gold MineScottie Resources Corp. (SCOT:TSX.V) announced in a news release it commenced a fully funded, 5,000 meter diamond drill program at its Scottie project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.To follow up on last year's drilling, the company will test priority targets such as the Blueberry v...Read More
Seabridge Gold will carry out geotechnical drilling in the proposed area for the tunnel that will connect the mine and mill at its KSM gold-copper project. KSM 2020 PEA Mine PlanIn a news release, Seabridge Gold Inc. (SEA:TSX; SA:NYSE.MKT) announced it started geotechnical drilling in the area tentatively designated for the Mitchell Treaty Tunnels (MTT) that will connect the mine and mill at its...Read More
Steel plate prices in the United States held steady after declines in the previous two weeks, with buyers still satisfied that they do not need to commit to any major inventory replenishment.Demand for plate has suffered after the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors dealt a blow to end-market sectors in the second quarter. The advent of the third quarter has failed to bring succor so far, with fer...Read More
Brazilian miner Vale has entered into a non-binding agreement with Japanese companies Kobe Steel and Mitsui to form a low-emission steel joint venture, it said in a filing to Brazil's securities commission CVM on Monday July 13.Vale will supply metallic and steelmaking solutions with low greenhouse gas emissions to both steelmakers, it added. The final approval for the new venture is subject to an...Read More
Vietnamese integrated steel producer Hoa Phat was forced to halt steel output at its blast furnace (BF) No1 in Dung Quat over the weekend after a fire started at the mill, Fastmarkets understands.The fire emerged on Saturday July 11 at Hoa Phat's sprawling Dung Quat complex in Quang Ngai province and was started at BF No1. The furnace in question was forced to halt operations on Saturday and resum...Read More
Oil is a commodity that plays anindisputable role in the global economy. At the start of the 20th century,the oil industry went into mass production, thus giving birth to what we referto as the modern era of oil consumption. Gradually, coal was starting to take abackseat to it and oil became the world’s #1 fuel source and the undisputedking of commodity trading.To this very day, this remains...Read More
Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the herdThe US economy is nowhere near recovering from the lockdown measures imposed by cities and states during the covid-19 pandemic, and that is weighing on the US dollar, which has fallen sharply since March. The beneficiary, as expected, has been gold (and silver), which normally moves in the opposite direction as the greenback. Year to date, spot gold has ri...Read More
Silver is moving up quite shortly today, whichsounds bullish, until one realizes that silver tends to be particularly strongright before the precious metals market tops. And you know what’s the otherthing that quite often happens at the tops, in addition to silver’s temporarystrength? Miners tend to underperform. What did goldminers do on the last trading day of the previous week? Min...Read More
Seaborne iron ore concentrate and pellet trading with limited by poor demand in China last week, but bullish futures and fines markets led to a rise in prices, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao stood at $112.61 per tonne on Thursday July 9, up by $4.73 per tonne (4.4%) from $107.88 per tonne a week earlier. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore...Read More
Every market corrects, maybe profit taking, maybe of allowing those who missed out, to get in!The current open interest on the gold contract looks to high after a very fast price move, it looks like 2008 may be repeating. A quick flushing out of the weak hands open interest may take place before a real advance in price takes place. The correction may be on the back of a wider sell off of risk asse...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday July 13 that are worth another look.Brazilian miner Vale has entered into a non-binding agreement with Japanese companies Kobe Steel and Mitsui to form a low-emission steel joint venture, it said in a filing to Brazil's securities commission CVM on July 13.Russian multi-metal miner Nornickel reported a second Arctic fuel spill durin...Read More
Gold, silver, and theirminers’ stocks suffer their weakest seasonals of the year in early summers. With traders’ attention normally diverted to vacationsand summer fun, interest in and demand for precious metals usually wane. Without outsized investment demand, goldtends to drift sideways dragging silver and miners’ stocks with it. Feared as the summer doldrums,...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States rose slightly on Monday July 13 while demand remained flat and market participants shared mixed outlooks.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $23.58 per hundredweight ($471.60 per short ton) on Monday, a 1.4% increase from $23.25 per cwt on Friday July 10 but 2% lower than $24.06 per cwt a week earlier on July 6.I...Read More
Gold stocks have led the market for a year, and with economic deceleration and Fed policy response that leadership looks to continue [edit: today’s ‘in the bag’ bounce-back Jobs report does little to alter the economic deceleration theme]We have been on a bullish gold mining view for over a year now. Over that time there have been three interruptions, the downward-biased consolid...Read More
Export prices for steel billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) continued to rise over the week to Monday July 13, supported by a fresh sale and a positive mood in China.A cargo of Ukraine-origin wire rod-quality billet was reported sold to the Mediterranean Sea basin at $373 per tonne fob Black Sea late last week, Fastmarkets has learnt.The price for wire rod-quality material is...Read More