Sir Mick Davis, former chief executive officer of Xstrata plc, has launched an investment company focused on battery minerals and has made its first strategic financing move in a graphite mine in Madagascar.The new company is called Vision Blue Resources. It has said that it intends to capitalize on the structural change in battery mineral demand now under way globally, by acquiring a portfolio of...Read More

The spot premium for copper rod has moved for the first time in eight months, boosted by improving demand for the commodity in the United States.Although copper rod is mostly traded on long-term contracts, spot demand for rods has been growing recently.Fastmarkets assessed the copper rod premium, ddp Midwest US at 17-18 cents per lb on Thursday February 4, rising from the previous range of 16-17 c...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The global diamond industry proved resilient in 2020, despite a 20 per cent drop in rough production and a fall of 15 per cent in diamond jewelry sales. And it is poised for recovery in 2021.Those are among the key findings of the comprehensive 54-page Tenth Annual Global Diamond Report 2020-2021, published today by the business consultants Bain & Company and the Antwerp World...Read More

RAPAPORT... Increased synthetic-diamond production led to a price drop last year, giving lab-grown a greater share of the fashion-jewelry market, according to Bain & Company.Production of lab-grown diamonds has seen double-digit growth over the past two years, reaching 6 million to 7 million carats in 2020, Bain said Monday in its annual report on the industry conducted in partnershi...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co has reportedly told its 5,000 US workers they must start working two days a week on site, from 1 March.The French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which completed its acquisition of the New York-based jeweler last month, wants to bring it in line with the hybrid working schedule operated at its other interests."It's critical at this time of change that we adopt a hyb...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The sale of Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine, has been completed.Troubled owners Dominion, the world's third biggest supplier of diamonds by carat, sold the mine and associated assets to Arctic Canadian Diamond Company.The new company has been established by DDJ Capital Management and Brigade Capital Management, representing holders of Dominion's second lien notes....Read More

Peru reported a year-on-year decrease in copper production for the second month in a row in December, while zinc output continued to recover, according to the latest data from the country's Ministry of Energy & Mines (Minem).The country produced 221,980 tonnes of copper equivalent the last month of 2020, down 1.6% from the 225,496 tonnes produced in December 2019. Production had fallen 2.4% y...Read More

A summary of aluminium producer Rusal's results for the year ended December 31, 2020.SummaryRusal's aluminium sales fell 6.0% year on year in 2020 to 3.93 million tonnes. The drop in sales is attributable mostly to a higher base in 2019, when sales volumes were above normal levels due to the partial sell down of surplus inventories of primary aluminium...Read More

Copper mine workers in Myanmar have joined a nationwide protest that broke out in response to a military coup early this month, but production in the country has experienced minimal impact so far, Fastmarkets has learned.Some 300 out of a total of 2,000 workers at the Kyisintaung copper mines in Sagaing region stopped work last Friday February 5 to join a civil disobedience movement against Myanma...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price gained the most on the morning of Monday February 8 with the rest of the base metals complex trading sideways from their prices on Friday, when a dip in the dollar led to an upsurge in futures prices. The three-month copper price was up 0.9% at $7,984.50 per tonne at 9am, after a rise of 1.1% on Friday's 5pm close to $7,912.50 per tonne. There was...Read More

Neo Lithium moving closer to productionSPONSOREDneo lithiumPantoro charging towards second gold mineSPONSOREDpantoro limitedMaximus ready to resume search for more Wattle Dam richesSPONSOREDmaximus resourcesEnvironmental and social governance (ESG) is critical to the success of miningSPONSOREDonyen corporationThe study was initially due at the end of September 2020, but was delayed to the end of D...Read More

European steel association Eurofer is concerned that the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will result in a substantial rise in the costs of steel production, it said on Friday February 5.The European Parliament's environment committee (ENVI) voted on Friday in favour of adopting the CBAM by a margin of 58 votes for, 8 against and 10 abstentions, Eurofer said."The consequences of the...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil across Europe were stable on Monday February 8 despite attempts by mills to achieve price increases, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe unchanged at ?,?710 ($855.36) per tonne on Monday.The index was down by ?,?3.33 per tonne week on week but up by ?,?42.50 per tonne month on month...Read More

CIS rebar and wire rod prices fell in the week to Monday February 8, with mills reducing their offers after Turkish suppliers did the same in an attempt to attract customers.Ukraine-origin rebar was available at $600-615 per tonne fob, compared with $640 per tonne fob a week earlier.And Russia-origin material was offered at $600 per tonne fob Black Sea, sources told Fastmarkets.Several m...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly weaker this morning, Monday February 8, while those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly firmer, but this comes after a strong performance on the LME on Friday, when prices closed up by an average of 1.7%.* Poor US employment report may help rescue package pass through Congress* US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen predicts the Unit...Read More

Turkish steel producers were quiet on the first working day of the week with no deep-sea trade reported, but demand is recovering slightly, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday February 8.Mills resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases at the end of last week and achieved lower prices. The most recent bookings put the HMS 1&2 (80:20) price at $380 per tonne cfr for Baltic Sea-origin material and $387 p...Read More

Turkish domestic scrap prices continued their decline in the week to Monday February 8 amid weakening imported scrap values, sources told Fastmarkets.Steel mills in Turkey have slowed their deep-sea scrap purchases in recent weeks to put prices under pressure due to weak rebar and billet demand.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was $386.21 per ton...Read More

Iron ore prices went up on Monday February 8, with growing steel mill interest in mid-grade fines at ports, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $160.50 per tonne, up $3.49 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $160.80 per tonne, up $3.27 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $146.45 per tonne, up $2.16 per tonn...Read More

The seaborne fob coking coal market trended down on Monday February 8 amid weakened market sentiment and limited trading activity, sources said. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $154.04 per tonne, down $2.49 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.23 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.57 per tonne, down $1.63 per tonne Hard coking coal, cfr...Read More

Dow Jones Industrial Average moved above 31,272.22 to an all-time high extending an intermediate uptrend. Also, its related ETF, DIA moved above $312.71 to an all-time high.Disney (DIS), a Dow Jones Industrial Average stock moved above $183.40 to an all-time high extending an intermediate uptrend.ExxonMobil (XOM), a Dow Jones Industrial Average stock moved above $51.08 extending an intermediate up...Read More