Upside momentum in London Metal Exchange base metals prices was capped during the afternoon session on Tuesday April 28 while pervading uncertainty across the complex left three-month prices mixed at the close. Some analysts suggested participants were waiting on the sidelines in anticipation of macro developments from virus-hit global economies including the United States, before committing to fu...Read More

RAPAPORT... Swarovski has appointed Robert Buchbauer CEO of the family-run business as part of a management reorganization.Buchbauer, who is the great-great grandson of company founder Daniel Swarovski, will retain his role as chairman of the executive board. The restructuring, which was implemented earlier this month, will streamline the crystal brand's various divisions under one entity, Sw...Read More

RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Mines has requested an extension to the insolvency protection it was awarded last week, stating that it needs more time to restructure its finances or find new investment.The miner asked the Alberta Court of the Queen's Bench to delay its repayment deadline to June 1, according to a court filing Monday. The original order of protection gave the company - which own...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies expects the coronavirus pandemic to have a heavy impact on revenue in the second and third quarters amid shutdowns in its major markets. "We cannot yet forecast what our business results will be for the rest of [the second quarter] or the subsequent quarters of 2020," the maker of equipment used in diamond manufacturing said Sunday. "We are assuming that even f...Read More

RAPAPORT... As the diamond market considers its options during the industry-wide lockdown, manufacturers in India are planning a freeze on rough imports. The move has precedent. Back in 2008, as financial markets collapsed, India imposed a one-month moratorium on rough buying. Ultimately, it helped the local trade realign inventory and gain market share while other manufacturing and trading center...Read More

Swedish mining company Boliden increased its concentrate stocks of zinc, copper and lead during the first quarter of 2020 to ensure supplies of raw materials for its smelters amid the growing market uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic."The company is planning for normal business operations during the coming quarters," Boliden said in its interim report for the January-March quarter on Tue...Read More

RAPAPORT... Belgium's polished-diamond exports dropped 51% to $513.7 million in March, reflecting the impact of the coronavirus on global shipments.Exports to the US fell 47% to $152.9 million, according to data from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, as the pandemic spread to North America. Shipments to the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Switzerland also fell. A 44% rise in exports to Hong...Read More

RAPAPORT... India's polishing revenues will plummet to their lowest in a decade this year, as prices have dropped and inventory has built up, a credit agency has warned.Diamond sales will decline up to 32%, to $13 billion to $15 billion, in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, India-based Crisil Ratings estimated Tuesday. This compares to approximately $19 billion in the fiscal year...Read More

ASX-listed Lucapa Diamond Company plans to undertake a nonrenounceable rights issue on a 1 for 5 basis with a free attaching options exercisable at $0.10 each and expiring two years from the date of issue.If fully subscribed, the intended rights issue will raise up to $5.25-million.AdvertisementThe funds will be used to advance the search for the primary kimberlite sources of the high-value Lulo m...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The two-man crew of plane that crashed collecting workers for the Ekati diamond mine, in Canada, died because of instrument failure compounded by pilot error, says a report. Pilots Will Hayworth and Zach McKillop came down in their eight-seat Air Tindi King Air 200 in January 2019. "The accident was not survivable," says a newly-released report into the accident by the Transpo...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Opencast mines are permitted to return in phases to 100% operation from May 1 but underground mines must continue at 50% of production capacity, Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said on Saturday.Speaking during a media briefing covered by Mining Weekly on South Africa’s easing from the current Level 5 lockdown stage to Level 4, Patel said: &ld...Read More

French metals and ore producer Eramet reported an 11% drop in revenues in the first three months of 2020 because of lower steel demand globally, with increased uncertainty about the future due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Eramet's manganese business reported sales down by 17% in January-March to ?,?359 million ($389 million), due to falling steel demand and a build-up of manganese ore at Chinese ports...Read More

RAPAPORT... The National Retail Federation (NRF) is predicting a 1.5% increase in US consumer spending on jewelry this Mother's Day, despite financial pressures arising from COVID-19.Americans will shell out $5.27 billion on the category this year, compared with $5.19 billion in 2019, the trade organization reported last week. Jewelry will retain its position as the top-grossing item for the...Read More

Zambia is highly unlikely to impose restrictions on the mining sector during the Covid-19 pandemic because current practices are working very well, a senior executive at First Quantum said. Hannes Meyer, the company's chief financial officer, said Zambia's population demographics have also aided the limited spread of the virus in the copper-rich country. "I don't think for one minute that we will...Read More

Over the past month, Chinese importers have been keen to buy overseas copper scrap at more competitive prices, with scrap production shrunk by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as disruptions in the supply of substitute copper products from Africa."Buy, buy, buy whatever copper scrap, ingots, blister you see on the market. This is what I have been told," a major Chinese copper smelter...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The rapidly evolving Covid-19 crisis learning curve is still too steep to conclusively define what a ‘best practice’ response looks like from the mining industry, says the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), which is facilitating a rapid exchange of information and knowledge to support the responses to the pandemic of its members.I...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange consolidated during morning trading on Tuesday April 28, characterized by thin volumes and sideways trading, while a 7,300-tonne fresh cancellation from Asian locations bolstered copper's price incline. The LME three-month copper price was recently at $5,188 per tonne, inching up by 0.1% from an intra-morning low of $5,170 per tonne. Trading turnover...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Lesotho government has permitted diamond mines to reopen from Monday, ahead of the May 5 lockdown extension, Gem Diamonds said on Friday.Mining Weekly can report that Lesotho is authorising diamond-mining’s recommencement in the Mountain Kingdom, contingent on compliance with Covid-19 health and safety guidelines.AdvertisementThe small country surr...Read More

US hot-rolled coil prices have crashed below $23 per hundredweight ($460 per short ton) despite some mills trying to lift prices in tandem with an expected increase in scrap costs in May.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $22.63 per cwt ($452.60 per ton) on Tuesday April 28, down by 1.7% from $23.03 per cwt on Monday April 27 and down by 4.8% from $2...Read More

RAPAPORT... Technology company Everledger has partnered with De Beers sightholder Shairu Gems Diamonds and Atit Diamond Corporation to offer more transparent data on the goods they supply, as well as a mechanism to offset their carbon footprint.The London-based business, which provides blockchain services to the diamond industry, has teamed up with the suppliers to collect, track and report r...Read More