(IDEX Online) -  Members of the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), in Mumbai, voted yesterday, as expected, to allow the trading of lab-growns.The managing committee of the world's largest bourse will now draw up strict guidelines to keep natural and lab-grown diamonds (LGD) separated and is likely to set aside a dedicated LGD office. No date has been set for the new policy to be implemented.T...Read More

Chile is set to reach its peak total copper production in 2028 at 7.35 million tonnes, a 26.9% increase from 5.79 million tonnes in 2019, the country's copper commission, Cochilco, said in its 2020-2031 outlook on Tuesday December 29.Output will start to retract from 2028 on due to depletion to reach 7.09 million tonnes in 2031, with an average growth of 1.7% per year from 2020 until then, the com...Read More

Base metals futures prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed on Tuesday December 29 morning, with slight gains for copper and nickel but decreases for aluminium and zinc with uncertainty still looming over the United States' coronavirus stimulus checks.LME zinc's three-month price recorded the biggest loss on Tuesday morning, dropping by 1.7% to $2,793.50 per tonne from $2,842.50 per tonne o...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa says it will maintain its "prudent sales strategy" to safeguard the sustainability of the whole diamond pipeline.Sergey Ivanov, CEO, (pictured) was addressing expectations for 2021 and beyond at an end-of-year meeting with banks and financial institutions, held online because of travel restrictions.He said the Russian state-owned company was chasing prices and profit rather...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A restaurant in Colombia is selling gold-plated burgers to boost business during the pandemic.Toro McCoy, in the capital Bogota, is wrapping its standard $11 double beef, cheese and bacon burger in 24k gold foil and charging diners $59 for the privilege.Chef Maria Paula told news media it was a tough job to apply the edible gold leaf without damaging it, before it melted on the bur...Read More

A summary of China's battery raw materials imports for November 2020.In briefChina's imports of cobalt intermediates dropped on a monthly basis, but still sat at a relatively high level for the year. Import appetite has been strong since the second quarter, with a majority of smelters operating with low inventories of feedstock following persistent supply disruptions since April. China's imports o...Read More

A summary of China's battery raw materials exports for November 2020.In brief China's cobalt metal exports fell to a single digit, recording the lowest level since June 2016. Export appetites have been relatively thin due to a stronger domestic Chinese market and sluggish overseas demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic fallout.China's lithium carbonate exports decreased in November both on a monthly an...Read More

Export deal prices for steel slab from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) went up during the week to Tuesday December 29 on a strong hot-rolled coil (HRC) market, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS at $675-680 per tonne on December 29, up from $620-625 per tonne a week before. Sales of Ukraine-origin steel slab were...Read More

Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia were stable over the past week because of the Christmas and New Year holidays in most of the world, while buyers were confused about the direction of prices after sharp decreases in China, sources said on December 29.China's hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices continued to fall over the week to December 29 because of low trading,...Read More

Steel rebar and billet prices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained stable over this assessment week after producers closed their order books a week ago and intend to announce new prices next week or later, sources said on Tuesday December 29.Domestic rebarThe country's steel producers sold rebar at 2,259-2,295.5 dirhams ($615-625) per tonne ex-works for orders to be produced in January last...Read More

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) exported from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) went up during the week to Tuesday December 29 on new sales, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $725-755 per tonne on Tuesday, up from $710-720 per tonne a week earlier.Early in the week, sales of Russia-origin HRC were heard...Read More

The price of steel billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) exported via the Black Sea jumped on a deal heard to the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) while some producers withdrew from the market due to the holiday period and on expectations prices would move even higher in January, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday December 29.The booking for Ukraine-origin billet was heard to Qatar at...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices declined again on Tuesday December 29 due to the cold wave in China suppressing operations at ports and leading to weakened steel demand, sources said. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $163.02 per tonne,down $0.83 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $163.50 per tonne,down $1 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $152.15 p...Read More

The premium hard coking coal fob price edged up further on Tuesday December 29 after transactions concluded at higher prices late on Monday while in the cfr market, the hard coking coal price rose by $1 per tonne following the recent increase in the premium hard coking coal cfr price, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.88 per tonne, up $0.80 per tonnePremium h...Read More

Apple (AAPL), a Dow Jones Industrial Average stock moved above $137.74 to an all-time high extending an intermediate uptrend. Canadian Pacific (CP), a TSX 60 stock moved above $444.49 to an all-time high extending an intermediate uptrend.Franco-Nevada (FNV), a TSX 60 stock moved below $162.21 extending an intermediate downtrend. Pre-opening Comments for Tuesday December 29thU.S. equity index...Read More

The CME Group's cash-settled cobalt futures contract, which is tied to Fastmarkets' daily benchmark price assessment for the metal, was traded for the first time on Monday December 28. One lot was traded for each month of the first quarter of 2021 at $15.60 per lb. These are the first three lots to be traded since the contract's launch on December 14.The contract, traded under the Bloomberg ticker...Read More

- Earlier test hole CK20-04cA, which was lost at 29.6m (97 ft) and averages 29.2 meters of 5.075 g/t AuEq, shows similar grades and mineralization thicknesses as CK20-04cB.- 04cB also includes an interval of 104 meters (342 ft) of 1.41 g/t AuEq below the higher-grade intercept.- Drill hole location was to obtain metallurgical sample for process optimization from the center of the deposit as outli...Read More

A whitepaper published by the Chinese government on December 21 entitled "Energy in China's New Era" underlines Beijing's determination for the development of a green, low-carbon and sustainable energy sector."Building a clean and diversified energy supply system" is listed as one of the five action points that China needs to work on to develop its energy sector. The other four points center on en...Read More

This week's episode features Haywood Securities vice president and director David Elliott, who discusses junior mining, ESG, jurisdiction and M&A with Northern Miner group publisher Anthony Vaccaro at the Global Mining Symposium. David also explains how the lack of exploration in the last few years has led to a dearth of good new opportunities in the junior mining space.All this and more with host...Read More

A team led by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the United States have designed a highly active catalyst that contains cobalt interspersed with nitrogen and carbon and therefore doesn't rely on platinum to spur the necessary chemical reaction.In a paper published in the journal Nature Catalysis, the scientists explain that their invention is four times more durable than s...Read More