RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, January 5, 2021, Las Vegas... Diamond trading was seasonally slow in December as the industry's focus shifted to retail and as diamantaires took their end-of-year break. Sentiment received a boost from strong holiday e-commerce sales, the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, and the US approval of a $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package.Polished prices firmed as supply de...Read More

RAPAPORT... The passing of Henry Verstandig, founder of Verstandig & Sons Diamonds, is a sad occasion for the diamond industry. It marks the end of a generation that formed the foundation of New York's diamond district. Henry and his brother Willy were true diamantaires who reflected the honest values and integrity of the diamond trade. They were traditional De Beers sightholders who loved the...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co is to sell the most expensive piece of jewelry in its 183-year history - a necklace with an 80-carat diamond that is expected to fetch at least $10m.The New York-based jeweler, founded in 1837, declined to say what it paid for the gem but told the fashion Bible Women's Wear Daily (WWD) the necklace's price tag would be "within the eight-figure range"...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lucara is to operate the Karowe mine, in Botswana for another 25 years after the government extended its mining license.The move will allow it to pursue an underground expansion program costing more than $500m, with first ore anticipated from underground in 2026. The company anticipates financing to be in place by the second half of this year.Canada-based Lucara is known for its la...Read More

For the first quarter of 2021, the quarterly benchmark main Japanese port (MJP) aluminium premium has settled at $130 per tonne, its highest level since it was settled in July-September 2018 at $132 per tonne.Market participants said that this high premium was unexpected, and attributed it mostly to the open Chinese arbitrage window, which at premiums as high as $150 per tonne was driving aluminiu...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Masked men armed with metal bars made off with over $500,000 of jewelry in a lightning raid on a store in southern Israel.The gang of three cleared the contents of the shelves into large sacks, emptied the safe and were gone in under two minutes.Toni Roytman, owner of Roytman Diamonds, a family business at a mall in the city of Beersheba, said in a Facebook post that "due to techni...Read More

Peru reported a year-on-year increase in both zinc and tin production during November 2020, while output of copper and lead fell on the same basis of comparison, the country's ministry of energy and mines, Minem, said on Tuesday January 5.Copper output was down from a year before but remained close to the highest levels seen through 2020, the data showed. Production hit 206,387 tonnes in November,...Read More

Chile's output of copper decreased by 3% year on year in November 2020 amid a drop in volumes from large mines such as Escondida and Collahuasi, national copper commission Cochilco said on Tuesday January 5.Production in Chile totaled 485,100 tonnes during November, down from 500,100 tonnes a year earlier, data from Cochilco showed.Government restrictions to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in Chile re...Read More

Chilean copper producer Codelco is to go ahead with the $1.38-billion Rajo Inca expansion project at its Salvador mine, the state-owned company said on Tuesday January 5.The company expects commercial production to begin in the second half of 2022 and aims to achieve full production capacity of 90,000 tonnes per year in the first half of 2023. The mine's current output is 60,000 tpy, the company s...Read More

Two-time Vale president Eliezer Batista diesLeadershipLook beyond market approach to project valuations: van ZylLeadershipBardoc eyes long-term growth in prime goldfields locationSPONSOREDbardoc goldDrill results multiply value options in front of YandalSPONSOREDyandal resourcesWith around $100 million in the bank, the real work now starts on proving up the potential of the 5km by 5km porphyry clu...Read More

London Metal Exchange spreads are usually a key driver for duty-unpaid aluminium premiums in Europe but this was not the case toward the end of 2020, leaving market participants wondering what will be main driver in 2021. Since late November, the Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium has been steadily rising despite spreads trading at levels that would usually bring it down. Fastmarkets assessed the ...Read More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.With 22 months of pre-stripping to be undertaken, production is scheduled for the second semester of 2022. Salvador produced about 60,000t of copper in 2020.Read More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.Jefferies said the demand would "more than offset" a slowdown in Chinese consumption.Read More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.The state agency said a significant change in the country's production profile was anticipated with existing copper mines expected to reduce their production 31% by 2031 compared with 2019 levels.Read More

The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange crossed the $21,200-per-tonne mark while copper edged above $7,900 per tonne during morning trading on Tuesday January 5, with a weak dollar continuing to offset worries about new lockdowns in Europe and the Georgia run-off election in the United States. Tin's forward price stood at $21,215 per tonne as at 9am London time, a 0.8% rise on its M...Read More

Prices for carbon steel plate in the United States spiked after mills accumulated a backlog of unconfirmed order requests that may keep them busy for months and service centers grew more concerned about how long they must wait to officially book spot material. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US jumped to $45 per hundredweight ($900 per shor...Read More

Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia remained stable over the past week, although buyers expect new offer prices to be higher, sources said on Tuesday January 5.Prices were unchanged because of the recent Christmas and New Year holidays in most parts of the world, sources added.Buyers are expecting to see higher prices because China's hot-rolled coil pric...Read More

Turkish exports of flat steel products increased by 2.46% year on year to 416,333 tonnes in November 2020, according to figures recently released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).This compared with a volume of 406,321 tonnes in November 2019, TUIK said.Despite the increase in the total exported volume, Turkey's hot-rolled coil flat steel exports decreased by 25.28% to 186,574 tonnes in...Read More

Domestic transaction prices for hot-rolled coil were largely stable day on day in Northern Europe on Tuesday January 5, as market activity remains slow after holidays. Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?666.25 ($817.06) per tonne on Tuesday January 5, down by just ?,?0.42 per tonne from ?,?666.67 per tonne on Monday. The index was, how...Read More

The export market for steel billet originating in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has remained quiet this week with most producers still out of the market for holidays, although sentiment remained upbeat, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 5.Most CIS mills were out of the market for new year and Christmas holidays and were expected to come back next week, sources said.There a...Read More