Common themes throughout the US economy are high and rising transportation and logistics costs. Those problems have been acute for the copper industry, leading to ever-rising premiums and questions on when the issue will be mitigated.The confluence of increased regulations, difficulty finding truck drivers and costly fuel surcharges are all leading to spot rates increasing by up to 30% in certain...Read More

The deal, announced in February, was resisted by big Layne shareholders Cetus Capital and Nokomis Capital but ultimately won approval by holders of more than 90% of the stock.All Layne shares have been exchanged for 0.27 Granite shares.Outgoing Layne president and CEO Michael Caliel said the "compelling premium" offered by California-based Granite recognised the driller's turnaround of recent year...Read More

The US Midwest aluminium premium inched up on Friday June 15, with market participants noting that prices in the spot market are not dropping to incentivize buying despite a backwardation on the London Metal Exchange. American Metal Market assessed the spot P1020 premium at 21.75-22.25 cents per lb delivered to the Midwest, widening slightly from 21.75-22 cents per lb earlier i...Read More

RUL has traded in the past 12 months in a A53-80c band and was capitalised at A$137 million today.The agreement with Proquire will see its software products offered as part of Accenture's Connected Mine suite, on a subscription basis, through Accenture.Connected Mine aims to break down traditional mining data siloes and provide valuable, timely information to decision makers through a combination...Read More

Big mining blastedMining and metals investors were offloading the sector's big names on Friday over fears of the impact of a trade war between the US and China, which is responsible for nearly half the world's industrial metal demand and two-thirds of the world's seaborne trade in steelmaking raw materials.Copper fell nearly 3% to $3.13 a pound or $6,900 a tonne, pushing the bellwether metal back...Read More

The company said its deep directional coring and Strike's aircore and reverse circulation capabilities were highly complementary, allowing it to offer clients a full suite of drilling services across the resources life cycle.Read More

Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka rose another 6.4% month on month in May, according to Marubeni Corp data released on Friday June 15.MJP aluminium stocks totaled 284,200 tonnes at the end of last month compared with 267,100 tonnes at the end of April. Total stocks at the end of May were also up by 6.9% from the same period of 2017. ...Read More

Global trader Glencore plans to resume royalty payments to a former business partner in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ending a legal dispute that could have resulted in severe disruption to its copper and cobalt mining operations.The company will make the payments because it is seen as the only viable way to avoid the material risk of the seizure of its assets, which comprise Mutanda Min...Read More

Comex copper prices tumbled Friday morning in the US amid a strong dollar, escalating trade war fears and disappointing Chinese data.Copper for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 5.20 cents - or 1.6% - to $3.1700 per lb. Earlier, the contract touched $3.1645. "We maintain our friendly copper view in the near term, treating the recent price weakne...Read More

In April, Ventora Development Sasu, led by Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, served freezing orders of almost US$3 billion against Glencore's subsidiaries Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper alleging breaches of royalty agreements of $695 million and $2.28 billion, respectively.Read More

"The mining industry fared reasonably well in 2017. Higher prices for some metals, in particular gold and copper, stimulated mineral exploration and increased overall output at the region's mines," partner at professional services firm KPMG, Stan Mitchell said this week.Mitchell pointed to the Barkerville Gold Mines' Bonanza Ledge gold mine, east of Quesnel, which re-opened in 2017 after being shu...Read More

Germiston-based pumps supplier Centex Africa has supplied13 dewatering pumpsets, with another eight pumpsets on order, to Namibian diamond mining company Namdeb to prolong the life of the mine by ensuring the safer mining of diamonds in the ocean water lakes in Oranjemund, on the southern coast of Namibia. “Our project scope was to dewater 50-billion litres of water from the lakes as quickly...Read More

Flat steel import prices in South America remained unchanged this past week, due to stable offers from China.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment of South American hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports held at $620-630 per tonne cfr. Meanwhile, cold-rolled coil (CRC) was assessed at $670-680 per tonne cfr, hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) at $750-760 per tonne cfr and plate at $630-640 per tonne cfr -...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have surpassed $45 per hundredweight ($900 per ton) for the first time in nearly 10 years, with sources citing higher quotes from some mills.American Metal Market's hot-rolled coil index rose to $45.52 per cwt on Thursday June 14, up 1.5% from $44.85 per cwt previously and a 54.3% gain from $29.50 per cwt a year ago.This marks the highest level...Read More

Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.Turkish scrap import prices recovered this week on steady demand from the country's steel mills. This was due to bullish sentiment in the markets arising from the United States' decision to impose its Section 232 import tariffs on material from the EU, Canada and Mexico.The US import pig iron market imp...Read More

Domestic rebar prices in Poland remained largely unchanged over the past week despite slow trading, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday June 15.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic 12mm B500B-grade rebar in Poland was 2,230-2,300 zloty ($610-629) per tonne ex-works on June 15, compared with 2,220-2,300 zloty per tonne ex-works a week earlier.The assessment reflects the latest re...Read More

Tata Steel Europe and South Korean steelmaker Posco will look to increase their offering of corrosion-resistant steels to the automotive and construction sectors in their respective markets after signing a cross-licensing agreement, the companies said on Thursday June 14.The deal will allow Tata Steel Europe to access Posco's Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) technology, which allows anti-corrosion...Read More

The number of new passenger car registrations in the European Union increased slightly by 0.83% year-on-year in May 2018.New car sales in Europe totalled 1,398,913 units in May this year, compared with 1,387,450 vehicles sold in the corresponding month of 2017, the...Read More

Key data from the pricing session in the week ending Friday June 15.China Chinese domestic ferro-chrome market strengthens further owing to tightened supply following a new round of environmental inspections in 2018. Higher prices reported for imported charge chrome this week, buoyed by fuel costs increase in winter of South Africa and supply disruptions during maintenance period...Read More

The following Metal Bulletin noble alloys, bulk alloys and ores prices changed on Friday June 15Noble alloys Molybdenum Europe drummed molybdic oxide, $/lb: $11.20-11.30 per lb from $11.30-11.40 Ferro-molybdenum basis 65% min, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/kg Mo: $27.55-27.80 per kg from $27.75-28.00 Ferro-molybdenum US 65-70% Mo, $/Ib: $12.60-13.00 per Ib from $12.70-13.10 Tungsten European free mark...Read More