PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major Rio Tinto has introduced Covid-19 testing at its Diavik diamond mine, in the Northwest Territories, in Canada, as an additional precautionary measure to protect employees and community members.The miner said over the weekend that not-for-profit public health experts GuardRX have installed an on-site laboratory at Diavik to conduct a testing progra...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Young Diamantaires group is planning to become a more structured organization, with regional chapters and an online networking platform for registered members, its founder told Rapaport News. The initiative of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has expanded since it launched in 2016 as a small club that met at trade shows to discuss the sector's future. With close...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A spectacular asscher-cut Golconda five-carat diamond ring by Harry Winston has been sold at auction.It was valued at $600,000 but the price, paid by an unnamed online buyer from New Orelans, Louisiana, USA, was not disclosed. The 5.06 carat stone, graded by GIA as internally flawless, D-color, and type IIa, was described by sellers as the "ultimate diamond". The ring was made by t...Read More

TSX-listed Lucara Diamond Corporation has posted a net loss of $3.2-million, or $0.01 a share, for the quarter ended March 31.This compares with a net income of $7.4-million and earnings a share of $0.02 apiece reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.AdvertisementLucara explains that a decrease in total revenue had a significant impact on the quarter’s results.“The first tender f...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lightbox, De Beers' lab-grown diamond jewelry brand, has delayed commissioning its new facility in Portland, Oregon, by a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic."The building itself and plant infrastructure [are] already complete, and we are now in a phase of installing and commissioning the deposition equipment," Lightbox CEO Steve Coe said in an email to Rapaport News. "To ensu...Read More

Gold royalty company Franco-Nevada will fund up to $150 million of Solgold's Alpala project in Ecuador, the mine operator said on Monday May 11. The net smelters returns (NSR) agreement includes an initial $100 million to Solgold which will pay a perpetual 1% NSR interest. The total amount could increase by $50 million and to a 1.5% NSR interest rate within eight months. NSR is the amount of reven...Read More

US Midwest aluminium premiums have slumped in reaction to the ramifications of the spread of Covid-19. The US aluminium market has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and is expected to remain challenged for much of this year. The extent of the impact will depend upon factors including how long it will take for demand from the major end-use markets to recover and what the mills' supply response...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month lead price increased during morning trading on Monday May 11, with a fresh cancellation of some 14,025 tonnes prompting a 1.5% price incline, while steady buying allowed copper futures also to improve. LME lead's outright price was recently at $1,670 per tonne, climbing from an intra-morning low of $1,641 per tonne, while turnover was moderate with just over 1...Read More

Nickel briquettes will be allowed for delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange from October 16 for contracts for November delivery onwards, the Exchange announced on Friday May 8.The announcement, however, did not specify designated delivery warehouses or the rate of premium and discount applied to delivery warehouses at different locations, and will be separately specified an...Read More

The London Metal Exchange will not rush back into trading on the open outcry ring and is happy with the effectiveness of the current electronic pricing model, chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain said."The LME will be adopting a very staged and cautious return to its office, given the effectiveness of our work at home practices," Chamberlain said, speaking in video format on May 7 on the LM...Read More

Sentiment in the Commonwealth of Independent States' (CIS) export billet market improved over the weekend amid ongoing demand from China as well as increasing scrap costs, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $345 per tonne on May 11, up by $9 from Thursday May 7.  Several cargoes of Ukraine-origin billet totaling 90,000 tonnes were sold to C...Read More

The value added tax (VAT) rate in Saudi Arabia will increase to 15% - from the current 5% - in effect from July 1, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance announced on Monday May 11.The country had initially imposed 5% VAT from January 1, 2018 alongside the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - forthe first time in the history of the two countries.Saudi Arabia's Ministry of...Read More

China imported around 1,820 tonnes of ferro-niobium in March, a drop of 43% from 3,200 tonnes over the corresponding period in March 2019, according to the latest official but unconfirmed data seen by Fastmarkets. China's imports of ferro-niobium started to fall in December 2019 when the volume slid to 2,915 tonnes from about 5,954 tonnes in the previous month. The total imported volume in th...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesFranco-Nevada will receive a perpetual 1% net smelter return interest from SolGold calculated with reference to NSR from the Cascabel licence area in Ecuador.Read More

Brazil's domestic rebar price fell slightly in the first week of May, with selective discounts applied to encourage trade, while individual states impose their own lockdown measures to combat the Covid-19 virus, sources told Fastmarkets.Despite this, market participants said they expected prices to stabilize in the coming months.Fastmarkets most recently assessed the price for steel reinforci...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices weakened on Monday May 11, with downstream buyers taking a wait-and-see approach following futures losses in the afternoon.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,480-3,510 yuan ($492-496) per tonne, down by 20-30 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said trading activity in the spot market thinned during the day in comparison with last week, with sentiment dampened by t...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 31 points in pre-opening trade.FedEx slipped $1.19 to $119.25 after Deutsche Bank lowered its target price from $142 to $128Marriott dropped $1.93 to $85.24 after reporting less than consensus first quarter earnings.Under Armour fell $0.33 to $9.65 after reporting a higher than expected adjusted first quarter loss.AMC...Read More

Turkish steel mills returned to the deep-sea scrap markets amid better domestic steel demand, causing prices to rise, while other major markets except Vietnam were largely stable during the working week ended Friday May 8.Turkish steel producers resume deep-sea bookings, prices upUS scrap export market silent; dock buying prices flatSentiment in the Vietnamese scrap import market positive due to i...Read More

Turkish steel producers have resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases at higher prices amid recovering demand in the country's local long steel markets, with further sales to Europe anticipated when the safeguarding quota period ends at the end of the June.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 24,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $251.75 per tonne and 6,000 tonnes of b...Read More

Domestic scrap prices in the Turkish markets have increased over the past week amid a strengthening of demand, sources said on Monday May 11.The steel mills in the Izmir region have increased their buy prices for auto bundle scrap by 50-75 Turkish lira ($7-11) per tonne over the past week.Long steel mills ID?? and Habas raised their buy prices for auto bundle scrap to 1,590 lira ($224) per tonne,...Read More