When the "crazies" are out, you have to step aside...by Michael Ballanger via Streetwise ReportsIn early January, I decided that the extra pounds I was carrying around was a definitive mortality check for any sexagenarian lucky enough to be in generally good health, but sufficiently slovenly and undisciplined to allow such to happen. So, with great and good intentions in mind, I decided to try to...Read More

Nickel's futures price on the London Metal Exchange decreased by 1.65% on Tuesday March 30, while copper and aluminium were also down, with a range of macroeconomic forces that have acted as headwinds over the past few weeks continuing to exert downward pressure on prices."In this regard, both the dollar and US ten-year rates seem to be on the move again, with the latter getting to 1.77% at one po...Read More

Iron ore prices fell on Tuesday March 30, sources told Fastmarkets, due to the downtrend in rebar prices and reduced trading activity at Chinese ports.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.58 per tonne,down $1.30 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $167.22 per tonne,down $1.66 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $147.50 per tonne,down $1.96 per...Read More

Apart from aluminium, base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange were firmer this morning, Tuesday March 30, with broader markets also firmer having partially shook off, for now, contagion worries from last week's hedge fund troubles. US Treasury 10-year yields jump higher againWeakness in gold prices and stronger bond yields suggest market is not lookin...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sotheby's will sell a 55.19-carat Kashmir sapphire at its Geneva sale -the largest gem of its kind ever to appear at auction.The oval-cut stone, set in a brooch with a cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire weighing 25.97 carats, surrounded by circular-cut and baguette diamonds, is from the 1930s, Sotheby's said Monday. Previously in the collection of Maureen Constance Guinness, marchioness o...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gemfields recorded a loss in 2020 as it was forced to cancel the bulk of its regular auctions for the year due to coronavirus restrictions.The miner reported a net loss of $93.2 million for the year, compared with a profit of $39.1 million in 2019, it estimated in a trading update last week. The company was unable to hold any of its traditional gem auctions since February. "[The] 2020...Read More

RAPAPORT... A purple-pink diamond weighing nearly 16 carats will take center stage at the Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in Hong Kong, the largest of its kind ever to be offered at an auction.The 15.81-carat, fancy-vivid-purple-pink, internally flawless, type IIa stone, known as the Sakura Diamond, is set in a ring and bracketed by white diamonds. The piece is expected to sell for $25 million...Read More

RAPAPORT... HRD Antwerp has unveiled a report identifying the natural origin of uncut diamonds used to create polki jewelry.The Authenticity Jewellery Report will verify traditional Indian polki jewelry, which has become more popular in international markets, the Antwerp lab said last week. HRD already has a report that covers polished diamonds, but polki jewelry contains mounted, uncut stones, wh...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered three more 100-carat-plus rough diamonds at its Lulo alluvial mine in Angola, it said Monday.The company found a 131-carat, D-color, type IIa diamond, a brown diamond weighing 118 carats and a 133-carat lower-quality grey diamond at the site's high-value Mining Block 46. That section, which is located along the Canguige tributary, also produced a 11...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The largest Kashmir sapphire ever to appear at auction - a 55.19-carat oval gem - is being offered for sale by Sotheby's Geneva.It features in a 1930s Cartier sapphire and diamond brooch alongside another sapphire, weighing 25.97 caratsThe piece belonged to the flamboyant Anglo-Irish socialite Maureen Constance Guinness, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, who died aged 91 in 199...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Police in Brazil are reportedly investigating claims by diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz that the mining company Vale concealed the risks of a joint multi-billion dollar deal from its shareholders.Both parties embarked on a venture in 2010 to extract iron ore for steelmaking from the vast Simandou resource, in southern Guinea.But four years later the country's government con...Read More

Nickel's futures price on the London Metal Exchange decreased by 1.65% on Tuesday March 30, while copper and aluminium were also down, with a range of macroeconomic forces that have acted as headwinds over the past few weeks continuing to exert downward pressure on prices."In this regard, both the dollar and US ten-year rates seem to be on the move again, with the latter getting to 1.77% at one po...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Imperial sapphires and diamonds that belonged to Emperor Napoleon's adoptive daughter are to be auctioned by Christie's Geneva.Nine pieces, including a tiara, a collier, a pair of earrings, two pendants and brooches as well as one ring and one bracelet will be offered as individual lots.They were owned by Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden, and include 38 sa...Read More

Domestic transaction prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe were expected to rise due to shortness of supply from EU mills and a lack of import offers, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 30.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?836.00 ($984.44) per tonne on Tuesday, down by just ?,?0.67 per tonne from ?,?836.67 per tonne on Ma...Read More

As global demand for electric vehicles (EVs) increases, the focus on battery technology and the challenges relating to production costs, sustainability and performance becomes more acute.Fastmarkets has identified the need for more transparency in the seaborne market for nickel sulfate, a key component in nickel, cobalt, manganese (NCM) lithium-ion batteries, which is a battery chemistry of growin...Read More

Force majeure has been declared on shipments of copper concentrate from the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia, Turquoise Hill Resources said in a notice to shareholders on Tuesday March 30.Deliveries have been halted as a result of "Covid-19 health and safety precautions related to Chinese-Mongolian border crossings," said Turquoise Hill, which owns 66% of the Oyu Tolgoi mine and is itself 50.8%...Read More

Nornickel has stopped the inflow of water at its Oktyabrsky mine, one of two flooded mines in its Norilsk Division, and will resume production at both operations in line with the plan announced earlier this month, the company said on Monday March 29.The Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky mines have been closed since February 24 following an inflow of groundwater.The second stage of the remediation plan for...Read More

Nala Renewables, the joint venture between Trafigura and global institutional fund manager IFM Investors, has appointed Jasandra Nyker as chief executive officer, it said on March 30.Jasandra will start in her new role on April 1, 2021, with over 20 years of experience in renewable and clean energy from a project development, investment and acquisition perspective.Before...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationIt declared force majeure in connection with some customer contracts, with concentrate shipments suspended due to COVID-19 precautions at the China-Mongolia border crossings, Turquoise Hill Resources said yesterday.Work was also halted on the troubled underground expansion after two cases of COVID-19 were con...Read More

The residential construction and home improvement sectors are set to drive long steel consumption in Mexico this year, Gerdau Corsa chief executive office Fernando Pessanha said on Tuesday March 30.The infrastructure segment may also benefit from both state-level projects and the United States' spending plan, the executive said during Fastmarkets' virtual Mexican Steel Forum 2021. He did not, howe...Read More