Peter Krauth provides the investment case for silver. In many ways, most of us can't wait to put 2020 behind us and call it last year.We've experienced a once-a-century global pandemic, infecting almost 80 million people. Lockdowns caused businesses to shutter and soaring unemployment, with massive economic consequences.If you dig a little deeper, other costs include soaring debts and deficits wo...Read More

Thibaut Lepouttre, editor of the Caesars Report, offers his analysis of the latest news from this Mexican explorer drilling in a historic mining district. Introduction Reyna Silver Corp. (RSLV:TSX.V; RSNVF:OTCMKTS) has now received the drill permits for the Guigui project in Mexico's Chihuahua state. The company has been trading for about six months now and Reyna is ready to hit the ground runnin...Read More

Previously,I have shown how Bitcoin is leading silver higher, and vice versa. .This makes perfect sense in these time,since it is all about the US dollar. Assets that offer a “safehaven” from USdollar meltdown will go higher in some sort of related pattern.Here is an update on that analogue whereBitcoin is leading silver higher (you can find the analogue where silver isleading Bitcoin...Read More

Theworld’s largest gold exchange traded fund (ETF) seems to be having a lotof trouble when it comes toaccounting.TheSPDR Gold Trust (GLD) recently appointed its 6th chief financial officer since2014. And the problem of finding and keeping executives who are willing tocertify the Fund’s accounting does not appear to be the only reason for concernat GLD.Thetiming of the most re...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday December 21 that are worth another look.Market participants in Asia are bracing for sharp price corrections amid historically high prices for steel, iron ore and ferrous scrap in the region, industry sources told Fastmarkets this week.China's Zhuzhou zinc smelter has successfully met...Read More

Vale's permit for running operations in Brumadinho city was suspended for seven days following a landslide that caused the death of an employee from a third party contractor in the company's C??rrego do Feij??o mine in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state.The Brumadinho city hall decided to suspend the permit after the accident, which occurred during maintenance activities in the mine on Frida...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday December 22 that are worth another look.Russia is set to impose early next year a temporary increase to its export duty on ferrous scrap exports to combat the threat of a shortage of steelmaking raw...Read More

Chilean copper producer Codelco signed a new 36-month labor agreement with supervisors and overall management at its Chuquicamata division, the company said on Tuesday December 22.The parties agreed to no pay raises and a 3.6 million Chilean pesos ($4,944) bonus, according to the miner. The new contract will go into effect on April 1, 2021.This followed a series of labor deals signed with no salar...Read More

A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday December 22.Please click on the thumbnail...Read More

LME nickel's three-month price saw the biggest drop in the base metals complex on Tuesday December 22, with most metals correcting down from their recent 2020 highs in reaction to news of a new variant of Covid-19. Nickel's forward price fell 3.8% on Tuesday to $16,614 per tonne, down from Monday's 5pm close of $17,267 per tonne. On December 15, nickel set a year-to-date h...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday December 22 that are worth another look.Russia is set to impose early next year a temporary increase to its export duty on ferrous scrap exports to combat the threat of a shortage of steelmaking raw...Read More

Now is not the time for Freeport-McMoRan to be thinking about mergers and acquisitions, the mining company's chief executive officer says.According to Richard Adkerson, the company - which is just over half-way through a mega-project to transform its giant Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia from an open-pit to an underground operation - is on the verge of creating huge shareholder value."I jus...Read More

Shipping problems faced by commodity market participants are likely to get worse ahead of Chinese New Year on February 12, 2021, sources told Fastmarkets.Freight rates for both bulk vessels and containers have soared to record highs in recent months amid a perfect storm of higher global shipping demand and rising crude oil costs.Those involved in the container trade have been particularly hurt, fa...Read More

The premium hard coking coal in the fob market continued to be active while the seaborne premium hard coking coal cfr price began to lose its price advantage over its Chinese domestic counterpart on Tuesday December 22. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $102.68 per tonne, up $0.29 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $190.20 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal,...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices fell from their record highs on Tuesday December 22, after the market began "cooling off" following the introduction of new counter-speculation measures at the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $164.53 per tonne, down $11.92 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $165.07 per...Read More

Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was down by 1.6% during morning trading on Tuesday December 22, with the rest of the complex mostly trading lower given the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 across Europe. The LME nickel price was the most affected on Tuesday morning, dropping to $16,980 per tonne from Monday's 5pm close of $17,267 per tonne.The stainless-steel additive st...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More

Joy to The World!by J. Johnson via JS MinesetGreat and Wonderful First Day of Winter Folks, What a day already and it hasn't even started here with February Gold now trading at $1,884.20, down $4.70 after hitting a high of $1,912 with the low at $1,859. Silver is still positive with its trade at $26.54, up 50.7 cents after spiking to $27.635 (up $1.602) and with a spiked low at $25.1...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US flat product prices maintained momentum through November, with increases accelerating in early December in response to supply shortfalls, rising scrap prices, and improving demand.While we correctly forecast further pricing gains in November, actual prices surpasse...Read More