Treatment charges for lead concentrates fell sharply in April after the arbitrage between Shanghai and London prices encouraged more imports into China, sources said.Fastmarkets' lead spot concentrate TC, low silver, cif China assessment was $55-65 per tonne on April 30, a 20-month low and down from an $80-100-per-tonne range in March.Lead concentrates with a low silver content are historically mo...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Two shipments of counterfeit jewelry, including hundreds of fake Cartier and Hermes items, have been seized by customs officers as they entered the US from China.The total haul would have been worth almost $3.2m if genuine. The shipments, intercepted in Cincinnati, Ohio, were were headed to private residences in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Miami Beach, Florida, according to a...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Pandora today announced it is ditching mined diamonds entirely, in favor of sustainable lab-grown stones.The Danish jewelry giant said the move was part of its ethical and carbon neutral strategies that have also seen it outlaw the use of newly-mined gold and silver and use only recycled precious metals.Pandora gas pledged to achieve complete neutrality by 2025 and says that by nex...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Price Index rose 0.73 per cent during April, and remains at its highest point since June 2019. It increased 0.80 per cent in March after a flat February.  Throughout most of April the Index fluctuated slightly, but it dipped then rose in the final week of the month. It closed at 124.04.  The average daily value of the Index through the month wa...Read More

Prices on the London Metal Exchange continued to the upside on the first trading day of May, with aluminium and nickel marking the biggest increases on the morning of Tuesday May 4, with aluminium reaching new year-to-date highs.The metal was up by 1.5% on Tuesday morning at $2,432 per tonne after it had already reached a new 2021 peak of $2,441.50 per tonne during early trading and despite the ab...Read More

Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States remained below $75 per hundredweight ($1,500 per short ton) for a second consecutive day while buyers probed domestic mills for hints about July volumes and pricing. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $74.70 per cwt ($1,494 per ton) on Tuesday May 4, down slightly from $74.82 per cwt on Monday May 3 but up b...Read More

Duferco Travi e Profilati, the Italian long steel producer of the Duferco group, has received a loan of ?,?72 million ($86.5 million) from two banks to build a new sustainable steel plant in Brescia, Italy, the company said on April 29.This follows Duferco's recent announcement that it was to partner with equipment provider SMS group for the new green beam mill.The new plant should go into product...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe inched up further on Tuesday May 4, with steelmakers remaining in full control of pricing, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?1,011.00 ($1,217.84) per tonne on Tuesday, up by just ?,?3.86 per tonne from ?,?1,007.14 per tonne on April 30.The index was also up b...Read More

There was only limited demand for imported flat steel in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the week to Tuesday, May 4, largely because of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but also due to labor day holidays in China and elsewhere, sources said.Working hours in both countries are reduced during Ramadan, which started on the evening of April 12 and will end next week.China, which is one...Read More

Prices for steel billet and rebar were stable in the United Arab Emirates during the week to Tuesday May 4 because of poor demand during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, sources told Fastmarkets.Most buyers, however, expect prices to increase by around $30-40 per tonne after the Eid-al Fitr holiday, which marks the end of Ramadan, in the next week.  Usually, working hours are reduced d...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in the EU increased over the week to Friday April 30, going above ?,?1,000 ($1,205) per tonne for the first time.At the end of last week, ArcelorMittal again increased its official offer prices for all steel coil products in Europe - by ?,?20 per tonne for HRC and by ?,?50 per tonne for downstream products. Its new offers for HRC were heard at ?,?1,020 per tonne...Read More

Pakistan rebar producer Amreli Steels has increased its annual production of reinforcing and round bars to 400,000 tonnes per year after Primetals Technologies supplied it with a new bar mill, the companies said.Amreli Steels' mill, based in Karachi, issued a final acceptance certificate in February 2021 for the bar mill from Primetals Technologies. Previously, Amreli Steels' mill had a capacity o...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe convertible debenture will have a five-year term, carry an 8% coupon and will be convertible into stock at a share price of C$10.82.Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman exploration"The tax burden of copper companies in Chile, which today reaches 40.3%, is in line with other relevant mining districts. Something is not right in a bill which seeks to raise that load to 82%.Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationFirst-quarter royalty payments amounted to US$451,314, the company said in an update on Friday.Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationIvanhoe Mines said construction and commissioning of the phase one, 3.8Mtpa Kamoa-Kakula concentrator plant had been accelerated."We now expect to produce our first copper concentrate by the end of May or early June, months ahead of the original schedule," Kamoa Copper CEO Mark Farren said.Huntsman Set to Exp...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe company has been operating the field for about a quarter and has produced 99.999% copper cathodes, but is still learning how to balance fluid flow, pressure, chemistry and other aspects.Read More

With Chinese markets closed, volume traded on the London Metal Exchange has been light this morning, Tuesday May 4, with 2,368 lots traded as of 6.14am. But the base metals were holding up in high ground with gains averaging 0.7%, led by a 1.1% rise in copper to $9,916.50 per tonne.The US Dollar Index, recently at 91.16, was consolidating off last week’s low of 90.42.Base metalsThe rallies in...Read More

Turkish domestic scrap prices increased over the past week due to the recent upturn in imported scrap values, market sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 4.Turkish steel mills sped up their deep-sea scrap purchases at the end of the last week, with Asian demand for steel products increasing sharply after China confirmed it had cancelled its export tax rebate on some steel products.Fastmarkets'...Read More

Liquidity in the seaborne iron ore market remained weak on Tuesday May 4 due to the Labor Day holiday in China (May 1-5) despite several active bids on trading platforms, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $188.85 per tonne,unchanged62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $190.01 per tonne,unchanged58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $161.53 per tonne,unc...Read More