Malaysia Smelting Corp (MSC), the world's second-largest tin exporter, has resumed production following a hiatus related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company told Fastmarkets."At the moment, MSC has commenced its smelting and mining activities and is operating at approximately 50% capacity," company spokeswoman Mei-Lynn Keow said.MSC had been under a Malaysian government lockdown that began on Ma...Read More

This week Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called out "mismanaged" states, suggesting that the federal government should not be responsible for bailing out states that had poorly managed budgets before the coronavirus pandemic brought business activity to a halt, triggering a deep recession.Mnuchin's comments echoed those of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who earlier said that he w...Read More

By Hubert Moolman 29 April 2020 It is reasonably well known that many Roman emperors debased their currency (coinage). This was a very bad practice, since it is really a reflection of the debasement of the value of the kingdom (empire or country); going from a honest and just society to a corrupt and unjust society. One of the reasons (effects) of debasing the currency was the transfer of wea...Read More

Things appeared normal, and then everything changed...By: Gary Christenson, The Deviant InvestorU.S. COVID-19 official cases on March 7: 338.U.S. COVID-19 official cases on April 28: over 1,000,000, if you believe the Johns Hopkins numbers. Exponential growth in sickness, debt, and expenditures are "killers."The economic, emotional, and physical scars from the virus will torture us for a long ti...Read More

Craig Hemke, TF MetalsIn the annual forecast that we issued back in January, we wrote that "out-sized gains" would likely be coming for the mining shares in 2020. Well...so far, so good.Let's start as we often do, with a look back at some of the previous posts on this topic. First, here's a link to an interview on the TD Ameritrade Network that was recorded on December 18, 2019. Below that is a...Read More

Dave Kranzler, Mining Stock JournalAnd this could usher in the "suddenly" moment: "The president of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) called for a new super-sovereign currency to offset the global dominance of the U.S. dollar, which he predicted would decline long term, while gold prices rally." - Reuters, April 28, 2020Chris Marcus of Arcadia Economics and I discuss the potential of a Comex...Read More

Ira EpsteinGold's daily chart shows a pattern of an inside consolidation defined by the short-term swing lines..Read More

I expect some more additional stimulus measures today. Federal Reserve will copy its counter parts of bank of Japan and bank of England on additional stimulus measures. European central bank meeting tomorrow will have least impact on gold and silver. It can impact Euro versus the US dollar and Euro versus the Yen. In the month of May more and more nations will allow factories and businesses to f...Read More

Brazilian mining company Vale expects to find a potential investor to exit its South Pacific nickel asset Vale New Caledonia (VNC) in the next one to two months, base metals director Mark Travers said in a conference call on Wednesday April 29.The company confirmed it was looking to divest from the business in December last year, while talks with interested parties began in November, Travers added...Read More

A summary of Brazilian mining company Vale's financial results for the first quarter of 2020.In brief Pro forma adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) down by 26% year on year due to depreciation of Brazilian Real.Net income of $239 million, compared with a net loss of $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2019. Investments totaled $1.12 billion, up by...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 29 that are worth another look.Export prices for Japan-origin plate and structural (P&S) grades of ferrous scrap rose by ?500 ($5) per tonne week on week on April 29, with tighter supplies over recent weeks keeping the values up, sources have told Fastmarkets.Brazilian mining company Vale expects to find a potential invest...Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic may well provide Freeport-McMoRan with a silver lining it had never expected. The US copper producer is discussing with the government of Indonesia what should be done with the planned smelter in the Gresik region in the province of East Java. It has been forced to delay the completion timeline of December 2023 for the plant, due both to Covid-19-related disruptions to the wo...Read More

When the oil price fell into negative price territory at the start of the week ended April 24, it fueled fears that a similar situation could materialize in metals. The good news for users of the London Metal Exchange is the exchange's delivery mechanism that makes it virtually implausible, while its contract structure makes it even more unlikely. Here's why. The reason the West Texas In...Read More

Last month, analysts started warning that oil prices could fall below zero. On Monday April 20, they did.The May futures contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil fell as low as minus $37.63 per barrel, the first time ever that the price of the commodity has entered negative territory. By contrast, the June WTI contract is trading at around $20 per barrel, marking the biggest perce...Read More

The three-month copper price on the LME was higher at the close of trading on Wednesday April 29, staying firmly above nearby support levels despite only average turnover, while tin futures showed some weakness over the afternoon. Copper's outright price on the London Metal Exchange closed at $5,273 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, climbing from an intraday low of $5,197 per tonne, while turnover...Read More

Global nickel premiums held steady amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in the week to Tuesday April 28, with demand lackluster in all regions, sources said. Sluggish spot trade keeps premiums in the United States steady China premiums flat on closed arbitrage window, lack of appetite  European premiums unchanged despite forward demand optimism US in holding pattern Slow spot trade amid t...Read More

The seaborne iron ore market was mostly unchanged on Wednesday April 29, with Pilbara Blend fines closing around $80 per tonne, and with active Chinese portside trading before the country's Labor Day holiday on May 1.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $82.50 per tonne, up by $0.30 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $85.15 per tonne, up by $0.55 per tonne.58% Fe fi...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

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

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Average LME aluminium price down by 2.5% week on weekAlthough LME aluminium began this week on the rebound, prices extended their recent downtrend further last week, approaching the $1,400-per-tonne level. The weekly average LME aluminium cash price was down 2.5% last week to $1,432.50 per tonne from previous week's $1,469.6...Read More