Iron ore prices edged up on Monday July 26 due to higher steel prices, while news of production cuts in China affected the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $202.74 per tonne, up by $1.41 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $203.93 per tonne, up by $1.07 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $167.65 per tonne, up b...Read More
China's domestic prices for hot-rolled coil increased on Monday July 26 due to early-hour futures gains, but the export market was inactive due to participants' concern about a possible export duty.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,900-5,910 yuan ($910-911) per tonne, narrowing upward by 40 yuan per tonneSome sellers raised prices following strong futures in the morning. The most-traded October...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa has purchased rough diamonds from Russia's national stockpiles to help manage inventory shortages ahead of this week's monthly contract sale.The miner bought "some 70%" of goods that Gokhran - the state gem and precious-metal depository - offered at a special auction last Friday, Alrosa said Monday. The company did not disclose the purchase's value or volume.According to a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mining company Fura Gems is set to launch a trade organization aimed at unifying the colored-gemstone industry, debuting the group at the upcoming Las Vegas jewelry shows.The Fura Marketing Council (FMC) will have booths at both JCK Las Vegas and the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) fairs, the miner said Sunday. It will support the sector by coordinating marketing, training a...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Women's Jewelry Association Foundation (WJAF) has revealed the winners of its 2021 Excellence Awards.The group will award a total of $35,000 to 12 women, using funds that it raises at its annual Awards for Excellence Gala, it said last week.The prizes range from $1,000 to $5,000 each and are offered in five categories: The Cindy Edelstein Jewelry Design Scholarship, the Gabriel Lov...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Trans Atlantic Gem Sales (TAGS) last week sold a record $62m at a rough tender in Dubai.It more than doubled its June sales of $30m, though the overall price per carat was lower.There were many single stones +10-ct among the goods offered, from southern Africa and Angola, and several exceptional special stones, between 30-cts and 100-cts.Over 100 companies were represented at the t...Read More
RAPAPORT... In June, Covid-19 cases were shrinking in many US states, and restrictions were relaxed in a lot of major US cities, including New York and Chicago, Illinois. Retailers, too, felt a weight had been lifted from them, with some even talking about attending the rescheduled JCK Las Vegas and Couture shows in August. But even with the country reopening, store owners believed a true recovery...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Burgundy, the new owners of the Ellendale Diamond Project, in Western Australia, today said it had raised $37m and aimed to bring the mine back into production next year.The investment will fund the re-opening of the deposit, which is a leading source of rare fancy yellow diamonds. It ceased production in 2015 when previous owner Kimberley Diamond Company went into liquidation...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The world's third-largest diamond - a 1,174.76- carat clivage stone recovered last month at Karowe, Botswana - has arrived in Antwerp.It will be scanned and analyzed for composition, quality, thickness and clarity by HB Anwerp, the diamond tech newcomer that cut and polished the 1,758-ct Sew?? ?lo, recovered from the same mine in April 2019.Plans for the newly-recovered diamon...Read More
RAPAPORT... The India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Premiere exhibition will take place in Bengaluru this year, occurring outside of Mumbai for the first time.The fair, the country's largest exhibition of gems and jewelry, is now set to run from September 15 to 19, India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said last week. The annual event was originally scheduled for Janua...Read More
Seaborne manganese ore markets were quiet during the week to Friday July 23, with low-grade manganese ore prices remaining under pressure from heavy stocks of South African material in Chinese ports.Fastmarkets' calculation of the manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin edged down by 7 cents per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) to $4.58 per dmtu on Friday from $4.65 per dmtu on July 16.The index...Read More
A summary of China's battery raw materials exports for June 2021.In brief Exports of cobalt tetroxide increased both month on month and year on year in June amid rising buying appetite from South Korea, the Netherlands and Belgium.Lithium carbonate exports fell slightly on a monthly...Read More
Rio Tinto is cutting production at its BC Works aluminium smelter in Kitimat, Canada, to just 35% of its annual capacity, after workers went on strike following failed labor contract negotiations.That would bring production at the 432,000-tonnes-per-year smelter to just over 150,000 tonnes."We will continue to look for longer-term solutions with the union and work closely with customers and suppli...Read More
The company produced 25.5Mlb copper, 7,627 ounces gold and 147,973oz silver for 29.6Mlb copper equivalent in the quarter to June 30 at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1.83/lb.Read More
Norway-based aluminium and renewable energy producer Norsk Hydro hopes to increase annual earnings by as much as 1.1 billion krone ($124 million) through investments into recycling and the use of post-consumer scrap, according to chief financial officer P??l Kildemo.Kildemo was speaking to Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Friday July 23, after Hydro announced its second-quarter results.The...Read More
Highlights included 97m grading 1.3% copper, 1.6 grams per tonne gold, 3.2% zinc and 32g/t silver including 15m grading 5% copper, 0.4g/t gold, 0.4% zinc and 19g/t silver.Read More
A summary of China's battery raw materials imports for June 2021.In Brief Imports of cobalt intermediates increased in June with improved logistics and buying appetite increased due to rising downstream cobalt salts prices. Imports of cobalt metal decreased month on month with most materials being purchased by overseas buyers driven by...Read More
Canada-based supplier First Cobalt has extracted nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, lithium and graphite from a "black mass" product recovered from recycled batteries, the company said on Thursday July 22.The extraction was done at the company's hydrometallurgical refinery located north of Toronto.Black mass represents the main chemical composition of the battery, and is obtained after removal of...Read More
The price of nickel ore narrowed upward amid limited supply in the week to Friday July 26 amid bad weather and increasing Covid-19 infections in southeast Asia, while the cargo liquefaction of nickel ores also concerned sources, Fastmarkets learned.Fastmarkets' latest assessment for the price of laterite ore with 1.5% Ni content, cif China was $78-80 per tonne on Friday July 23, up by $3 (1.0...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up by an average of 1.1% this morning, Monday July 26, while they followed Friday’s gains on the London Metal Exchange that averaged 1.3%.* Chinese equities under pressure after authorities tighten regulations* Pre-market western equity index futures showing a weaker startBase metalsLME three-month base metals prices were mainly weaker...Read More