Turkish steel mills stayed out of the deep-sea scrap market on Wednesday May 20, with national holidays and Covid-19 lockdown measures continuing to inhibit trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets.In addition to the public holiday on May 19 and the upcoming Eid al-Fitr break - from Friday May 22 to Tuesday May 26 to mark the end of Ramadan - the country's major cities remained subject...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 36 points in pre-opening trade.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at US 72.00 cents following release of the April Canadian Consumer Price Index at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a drop of 0.6% versus a decline of 0.6% in March. Actual was a drop of 0.7%..Lowe's gained $6.80 to $123.67 after reporting higher than...Read More

Prices for H2-grade heavy steel scrap remained stable in Japan over the past week after several deals were booked to Vietnam, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 20.Deals for H2 material were heard at ?23,000 ($214) per tonne fob to Vietnam in recent days, equivalent to $248 per tonne cfr South Vietnam and $253-255 per tonne cfr North Vietnam, Fastmarkets heard.The Japanese deals cam...Read More

The seaborne price indices for coking coal rose further on Wednesday May 20, except for the premium hard coking coal cfr China index. There was active trading in the seaborne market with several transactions reported.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $118.98 per tonne, up by $2 per tonne.Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $124.62 per tonne, down by $0.29 per tonne.Hard co...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices fell on Wednesday May 20 amid slow trading activity, bringing to an end a run of consecutive increases seen since the start of May.Fastmarkets iron ore indices  62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $96.95 per tonne, down $1.41 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $99.54 per tonne, down $1.45 per tonne. 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $84.05 per t...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

- U.S. Gold Corp. will potentially drill up to 38,200 feet (approx. 11,600 m) in up to 22 holes- This program is designed to assess a number of targets that have seen little or no historic drilling- Identification, qualification, and prioritization of these targets were determined by means of detailed surface geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and recent Vulcan 3D modelling using surface and dril...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month aluminium price was once more capped by a significant fresh inflow of material during morning trading on Wednesday May 20, with 35,300 tonnes of metal put back into LME-approved sheds as of 9am.Aluminium continues to flow into LME warehouses because Covid-19 restrictions have weakened demand and metal holders content to store their material...Read More

China's import arbitrage window for aluminium may remain open until the end of May amid expectations of a stronger price performance on the Shanghai Futures Exchange relative to that on the London Metal Exchange, Fastmarkets understands."I think the import window won't close in the short term because the Covid-19 pandemic overseas has not yet reached a turning point. You can see that LME stocks ar...Read More

Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday May 20.Key drivers Europe ferro-titanium market extends steady trend for seventh consecutive week while reduced production is counteracted by less demand, with little change in the near term. UK-based sources say domestic production has been cut by up to as much as 40% from some furnaces due to reduced staffing levels, while workers...Read More

Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in China on Wednesday May 20. Key driversSome domestic producers lowered offer prices to facilitate sales amid persistently weak demand. A few others still held offers firm, though.The rapid spread of Covid-19 in countries outside of...Read More

The high-carbon and low-carbon ferro-markets in Europe increased in price last week, while industry sources reported around 900 tonnes of done deals in the former and about half of that for more refined-grade material.The high-carbon ferro-chrome price spread narrowed to $0.12 per lb after deals were reported that raised the lower end of the assessment.Deals for around 900 tonnes were reported and...Read More

Kore Mining (TSXV: KORE; US-OTC: KOREF) has released assay results from the top of hole 20-368 completed at its wholly owned 130-sq.-km FG gold property, 100 km east of Williams Lake. This drill hole returned 76.5 metres of 1.1 grams gold per tonne, which starts at 6 metres and includes seven quartz vein intervals. Assays for the bottom 40 metres, with three additional quartz vein intersections, a...Read More

Following up on a positive 2019 exploration program, Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO) is planning 2,000 metres of drilling, plus mapping, prospecting and geophysical surveys this year at the Janice Lake copper-silver project in northern Saskatchewan.The major is earning up to an 80% interest in the project from Forum Energy Metals (TSXV: FMC), which has optioned the property from Transition Metals...Read More

Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) and Japan Gold (TSXV: JG) have begun their joint exploration program in the Asian country under an alliance formed in February, which seeks to uncover the nation's gold mining potential.The partnership, known as Barrick Alliance, will see the Canadian gold giant fund a two-year evaluation phase of 28 of Japan Gold's 30 projects in the country.Barrick will also f...Read More

The smooth flow of material from South Africa will remain uncertain for a considerable period even after the country eased its restrictions on activity in response to the Covid-19 virus. South Africa entered lockdown on March 26, which severely tightened exports of 37% manganese ore, UG2 chrome ore and foundry grade chromite, among other materials. The government has since granted permission for m...Read More

McEwen Mining (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX) posted a net loss of US$99.2 million, or US25 ? per share, for the quarter ended March 31, primarily due to a US$83.8 million impairment charge for its Gold Bar mine in Nevada.The company says the write-down was necessary because a change in the geological interpretation resulted in a substantial reduction in the expected gold production over the life of the min...Read More

China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) forecasts the country could post a decline of 16 million tonnes in steel exports in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, sources told Fastmarkets. The association convened with several major mills on May 12 to address concerns of the country's rising imports against falling exports in the steel industry, two sources familiar with the meeting said. Steel export bus...Read More

Australia's state of Queensland has passed a law that will see mining executives spend up to 20 years in jail, and companies hit with fines of up to A$13 million (US$8.6 million), if they are found to be criminally negligent over deaths at their operations.The legislation extended industrial manslaughter laws to the resources sector, as part of a package of safety and other reforms for an industry...Read More

Seven ways the resources sector can survive the COVID-19 crisisSPONSOREDproudfootCardinal heading down familiar gold roadSPONSOREDcardinal resourcesSarama right in the middle of big exploration, corporate build-upSPONSOREDsarama resources Exore excels in Cote d'IvoireSPONSOREDexore resourcesA large part of Australia's relative success in combatting coronavirus was the geographical convenience...Read More