Swedish state-owned iron-ore producer LKAB has confirmed that all production at its Kiruna mine has stopped following a seismic event on Monday, the company said on Tuesday May 19. All production has stopped after a seismic event, with a magnitude of 3.3, occurred at 3:11am on May 18, with no forecast as to when it will resume and an intensive inspection of the mine now underway, the company said....Read More

German diversified industrial group Thyssenkrupp has detailed its restructuring plan, confirming plans to sell shares in its steel business and sell or close its heavy plate sites. Thyssenkrupp released an update on Tuesday May 19 on its realignment strategy initiated last year after a failure of a joint venture with Tata Steel. Challenges resulting from the Covid-19 crisis have made the group spe...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday May 19 that are worth another look.German diversified industrial group Thyssenkrupp has detailed its restructuring plan, confirming plans to sell shares in its steel business and sell or close its heavy plate sites.Swedish state-owned iron-ore producer LKAB has confirmed that all production at its Kiruna mine has stopped following...Read More

A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday May 19.Please click...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico rose for certain grades on thin deals and low availability, while some price cuts were announced in both Baj?-o and Monterrey regions.Local steel producers avoided announcing price changes last week, but market participants reported purchases being made at higher prices.Fastmarkets' assessment of the consumer buying price for No1 heavy melt, delivered mill Bajio rose...Read More

The CIS export billet market remained bullish early this week, with demand from China continuing to support prices after a plunge in interest from Turkey at the end of last week.Market participants reported offers of CIS-origin billet to China at $385-400 per tonne cfr, which would net back to $355-370 per tonne fob for cargoes to be shipped from the Black Sea basin.Some market participants said t...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday May 19 that are worth another look.German diversified industrial group Thyssenkrupp has detailed its restructuring plan, confirming plans to sell shares in its steel business and sell or close its heavy plate sites.Swedish state-owned iron-ore producer LKAB has confirmed that all production at its Kiruna mine has stopped following...Read More

How long it will take the global economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is anyone's guess right now.Could the world's major economic regions be in for an "LUV" recovery similar to the one they saw after the global financial crisis of 2008-09?That was the format of recovery that was expected in 2009 by former Rio Tinto chief executive officer Tom Albanese, who was at the helm of the mining g...Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to lead to another casualty: the mega mine. The volatility created by crises like Covid-19 is adding a layer of uncertainty to the development of large-scale projects that take a decade or more to progress and are highly capital intensive, according to Tom Albanese, the former chief executive officer of Rio Tinto.This means that mining projects are likely to be deve...Read More

Alcoa Corp has called on the aluminium industry to assess the cost effectiveness of its smelting capacity and make cuts where appropriate - or face a ratcheting up of inventories and a protracted period of low prices. Roy Harvey, the US producer's chief executive officer, said that while curtailments were costly, both financially and in terms of job losses, they were more than necessary at this mo...Read More

Alumina prices on an fob Australia basis continued to climb over the past week with buyers from China happy to pay above market levels to import cargoes, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday May 19."The stronger aluminium prices and demand in China are propping up the international price of alumina," a trader said. "Plants are restarting and life is getting back to normal there, after the [Covid-19 pandem...Read More

Does it seem somewhat bizarre that with the Fed running an open-ended hyperinflation campaign, that silver is still trading at $15?Marc Faber interviewed by Chris Marcus of Arcadia EconomicsDoes it seem somewhat bizarre that with theFed running an open-ended hyperinflation campaign, that silver is still trading at $15?Dr. Marc Faber of the GloomBoomandDoomReport finds it odd, although simultaneous...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices remained bullish on Tuesday May 19 with solid increases in steel prices and strong transaction volumes for steel products.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $98.36 per tonne, up by $1.52 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $100.99 per tonne, up by $1.46 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $86.01 per tonne, up by $3.45 pe...Read More

A lot happened in the silver market during yesterday's BIG RISE in price, but LONG LIQUIDATION wasn't one of them! Here are the details...by Harvey Organ of Harvey Organ BlogMAY 18//INTERESTING RESULTS ON 8 HEALTHY SUBJECTS PROPELS MODERNA AND THE STOCK MARKET//DOW UP 911.95 POINTS//NASDAQ UP 220 POINTS//GOLD WHACKED BY $15.40 DOWN TO $1731.80//SILVER UP 40 CENTS//PALLADIUM AND PLATINUM ALSO UP//C...Read More

Some of the silver miners' stock prices outperformed the competitors. Why? Could the silver miners with better stock performance be tied to...by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportThe leading primary silver mining companies have experienced significant stock rallies from their lows in March. Some of the primary silver miners' stock prices outperformed the competitors. Why? Could the silve...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices went up slightly on Tuesday May 19 due to trading activity in the Chinese market, but concerns arose over tighter restrictions on imports, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $116.98 per tonne, up $0.67 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $124.91 per tonne, up $0.81 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $90.56 per tonne, up $...Read More

If so few would agree to short silver at current prices, why are the 8 big shorts so heavily short? What is their reason or motivation for being short?by Ted Butler of Butler Research via Silver SeekMay 18, 2020Having focused intently on the running open losses of the 8 big shorts (ex-JPM) for the past year, the latest price surge would seem to put the 8 big shorts in particular serious jeopardy....Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 'Sell the rally' mentality here to stayAlthough the London Metal Exchange aluminium price has managed to recover modestly from recent lows, we suspect this is mostly short-covering. The lack of producer restraint, growing exchange inventories, a weak demand outlook and the 7 million tonnes of oversupply forecast f...Read More

What does the behavior of the one precious metal that we love to hate and that we hate to love have in common with a legendary race horse?by Michael Ballanger via Streetwise ReportsIn the late 1930s, a young stallion was born in Lexington, Ky., at the legendary Calumet Farm, that went on to win seventeen major races from 1940-1942, including the Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 4-million-tonne surplus for 2020We have made further downward revisions to our aluminium demand expectations for 2020 and, although there have been smelter capacity reduction in China too, the net effect is that our forecast for the global surplus this year has swelled to 4 million tonnes, from 2.7 million tonnes...Read More