The London Metal Exchange's average daily volume (ADV) of trades declined across all base metals in December 2020 despite price rallies, according to latest LME data. Copper's ADV had the smallest decline but was still down 11.9% year on year at 119,141 lots. This came in spite of the average official three-month copper price increasing by 9.8% in December month on month to an average of $7,7...Read More
The seaborne hard coking coal cfr price rose by $1 per tonne to $196.03 per tonne cfr China on Monday January 11 while coke producers in parts of China proposed a 13th round of domestic price increases of around 100 yuan ($15) per tonne - effective from 12am China time on January 13, Fastmarkets understands.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $103.93 per tonne, unchangedPremium...Read More
Is inflation running hot, and will silver be able to reclaim $25?(by Half Dollar) There is a lot of inflation data coming out this week, and we also get the December Retail Sales Report on Friday.Some of the reports in the week ahead include, in chronological order of release:Consumer Price Index (Inflation)Jobless Claims*Producer Price Index (Inflation)December Retail SalesIndustrial Production (...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has sold $5.6 million worth of rough to manufacturer Safdico via a partnership the two companies formed last year.The Graff subsidiary bought 4,676 carats of diamonds from the Mothae deposit in Lesotho at Lucapa's first sale of goods from the site this year, the miner reported Monday. The sale achieved an average price of $1,198 per carat, the highest Lucapa has...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales at Hong Kong-based jeweler Chow Tai Fook grew 17.5% year on year in the last three months of 2020 as a recovery in mainland China outweighed weakness in its home territory."In light of the easing Covid-19 situation in mainland China, business there sustained an encouraging improvement," the company said in a trading update on Monday. "Challenging macros, the pandemic develop...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds received a New Year's surprise, retrieving a 146.9-carat rough diamond from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho.The miner found the high-quality, type II diamond on January 7, it said last week. The stone is the first 100-carat-plus diamond the company has found this year. The discovery also comes a month earlier than 2020's first recovery of a stone in that size category, which...Read More
Glencore has concluded discussions with the Zambian government about the sale of a majority stake in the Mopani copper mine, state media reported on Friday January 8.An agreement will be signed this week, according to a report by the Zambian National Broadcasting Corp, citing President Edgar Lungu."Glencore confirms that it is in final-stage negotiations relating to a possible sale of Carlisa's 90...Read More
Brazilian domestic rebar prices reached a new record high once again in early January, after steelmakers increased their offers by 12-12.5%, market participants told Fastmarkets.Sources reported persistent low availability from mills, long lead times and no room for discounts. Most suppliers, they said, were offering and selling at similar, higher prices.Fastmarkets' price assessment for ...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tech firm Sarine says its digital tender solutions, already adopted by Alrosa and Lucara, are now being used by Stargems as well.The coronavirus pandemic has proved to be a catalyst to rough sellers trading with remote buyers.Israel-based Sarine says Stargems is now using its systems to map external internal features and help determine the true value of the polished diamonds that c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa's mine at Mothae, in Lesotho, achieved its highest ever per-carat price in a sale earlier this month.The Australian miner sold a parcel of 4,676 carats of rough diamonds for a total of $5.6m, averaging $1,198 per carat.The sale included a Type IIa 101-carat D-color diamond announced last month and a number of other specials over 10.8 carats.Lucapa Diamond Company Limite...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's only industrial diamond has resumed operations, days after work was halted because of environmental concerns.Mining at the Majhgawan mine (pictured), near the town of Panna, in Madhya Pradesh, has been stopped several times over the last 50 years because of concerns by the National Wildlife Board.The mine, estimated to have reserves of 34m carats, is close to the Panna...Read More
Canada Nickel Co has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Glencore Canada to examine the potential treatment and processing of future nickel and cobalt production from Glencore's Kidd concentrator and metallurgical site in Timmins, Ontario.Canada Nickel, which is developing nickel-cobalt projects to deliver metals for the electric vehicles and stainless steel markets, comple...Read More
Copper and nickel's forward prices shed more than 3% on Monday January 11, in a second day of declines in the base metals complex on the London Metal Exchange, following a sharp increase in the United States dollar index and concerns over a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China. Copper's three-month price closed at $7,864 per tonne at 5pm, a 3.3% decrease from Friday's closing price of $8,131 per...Read More
Waiting times for aluminium at Istim warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, fell to just 20 days at the end of December, according to the London Metal Exchange's latest queue report.This is down from 30 days at the end of November and 71 days at the end of October.There was a queue for aluminium at Istim warehouses in Port Klang every month in 2020.The queues originally built up due a series of...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's average daily volume (ADV) of trades declined across all base metals in December 2020 despite price rallies, according to latest LME data. Copper's ADV had the smallest decline but was still down 11.9% year on year at 119,141 lots. This came in spite of the average official three-month copper price increasing by 9.8% in December month on month to an average of $7,7...Read More
Neo Lithium moving closer to productionSPONSOREDneo lithiumPantoro charging towards second gold mineSPONSOREDpantoro limitedMaximus ready to resume search for more Wattle Dam richesSPONSOREDmaximus resourcesDecade of performance: Pitram delivers diamond standard for Argyle diamond mineSPONSOREDmicromineTeething issues with the transition to a new pit at the company's Gibraltar mine in British Colu...Read More
The Chinese nickel sulfate market marked a strong start to 2021, with the price climbing above its previous 2020 high amid good demand and limited supply, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel sulfate min 21%, max 22.5%, cobalt 10ppm max, exw China at 31,000-31,500 yuan ($4,786-4,864) per tonne on Friday January 8, a level last reached on October 11, 2019, up by 500-1,...Read More
Nickel's forward price was the most affected by a rising United States dollar index in morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Monday January 11, with the rest of the base metals complex also registering price falls following a bullish first week of 2021. Nickel's three-month price lost 1.65% to trade at $17,375 per tonne at 9am on Monday, compared with Friday's 5pm closing price of $17,66...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States resumed their historic climb on Monday January 11 after inching lower on Friday January 8. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index was calculated at $54.49 per hundredweight ($1,089.80 per short ton) on Monday, up by 4.57% from $52.11 per cwt on Friday and 5.38% higher than $51.71 per cwt one week earlier. Inputs were received in a wide range of $...Read More
Ford Motor Co announced that it will cease manufacturing activities in Brazil following "years of significant losses" and idle capacity exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.The automaker said on Monday January 11 that it will stop operating three plants in the country - one in Ca??amari city, in northeastern Bahia state; one in Taubat?(C) city, in southeastern S??o Paulo state; and a third one in...Read More