Russian mining major Alrosa has revised the production plan of its International underground mine, near Mirny, as it takes a tougher stance on health and safety management.The production plan for 2018 remains unchanged at 36.6-million carats, but under the revised plan for 2019 to 2022, output at International will decline by between 500 000 ct and 800 000 ct a year.Advertisement“T...Read More

RAPAPORT... New York-based Global Diamond Group has refused to return a 30-carat pink diamond in an attempt to force the stone's majority owner into a buyoutdeal, according to a lawsuit.Global, which has the diamond on memo, held the stone"hostage" so that L.J. West Diamonds would buy its 15% stake in the diamond, L.J. West alleged in a June 14 filing at the Supreme Court of the State of NewYork....Read More

Zimbabwe could become a major producer of high-grade chrome ore, according to South African miner Tharisa, which just announced two acquisitions in the country. Tharisa acquired a 26.8% stake in Karo Mining Holding, a platinum group metals (PGM) and base metals project in Zimbabwe, which could lead to new future chrome and PGM projects, it said last week. In May, it announced it had acquired a 90%...Read More

Pig iron exporters from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have logged four consecutive weeks without large bookings from the key outlets of the United States and Italy, market sources told Metal Bulletin."Buyers from the United States, [which is the largest global pig iron importer,] purchased a lot last month, that is why now they are not in [a] hurry to buy," a pig iron exporter said....Read More

Trading activity in the physical iron ore market was lackluster on Thursday June 21 with prices staying rangebound.Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $64.88 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.61 per tonneMetal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $53.58 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.03 per tonneMetal Bulletin 65% Fe Iron Ore Index: $87.70 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.60 per tonneMetal Bulletin 62% Fe...Read More

The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreRio Tinto, tender, 190,000 tonnes of 61% Fe Pilbara...Read More

The seaborne coking coal market remained deadlocked on Thursday June 21, with end-user sources in China saying that they saw few factors that might provide more upside to prices.A coke plant source in Tangshan pointed out that coking coal inventory levels were high at the moment amid a lot of uncertainties in the market. "We need some time to digest all these factors before making our next procure...Read More

Chinese ferrous futures were mixed during morning trading on Thursday June 21, with the rebar and hot-rolled coil contracts recording slight decreases while those for steelmaking raw materials edged up.Futures closing prices - morning sessionShanghai Futures Exchange October rebar: 3,812 yuan ($589) per tonne, down 5 yuan per tonneOctober hot-rolled coil: 3,902 yuan per tonne, down 4 yuan per tonn...Read More

Now for the fifth trading day in a row, we have seen gold trade and close lower on the day. It began with Friday's dramatic plunge when gold opened at $1,305 and closed $26 lower at $1,279. From that point forward, each day gold closed below the prior low creating a new all-time low for 2018.This trend has continued for the last five consecutive trading days and, based upon the fundamentals behind...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold prices are down and hit another six-month low in early-afternoon U.S. trading Thursday. However, prices have moved up from their daily lows. An appreciating U.S. dollar on the foreign exchange market continues to squelch buying interest in the precious metals. However, the gold market is now short-term oversold and due for a least a decent corrective upside bounce very soon, an...Read More

(Kitco News) - Financial markets are about to reach an inflection point reminiscent of 2007, said David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc.At the Inside ETFs Canada conference in Montreal, Rosenberg said that equities markets have peaked following a year of rallying across all asset classes.“This has not happened in at least five decades,” R...Read More

Since last Sunday afternoon, while investors continue to sell most of their junior resource stock holdings in panic fashion, there have been three high-profile merger/acquisitions announced in the complex. What is most encouraging is the fact that two of these deals were large premium, all-cash offers for juniors who have been developing high-margin deposits. On June 17th, BHP spin-off South 32 en...Read More

Gold remains under pressure. It seems that there are no buyers, no bottom pickers and no interest. Like all markets, this move in gold was not announced. However, as we have written the last few days, the market footprint has gold in trouble and a move down to $1,240 is very realistic. Of course, the conspiracy theorists are out and talking about gold manipulation by the Russians, Chinese and the...Read More

Central banks in emerging-market nations are likely to keep adding gold to their reserves, says BMO Capital Markets. Analysts offered this view after citing a Bloomberg news report that the Bank of Russia added another 1% to its gold holdings in May, taking its total to 62 million troy ounces. “This continues the trend over the past few years where Russia is selling U.S. Treasuries and alloc...Read More

Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) reports that Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. has obtained a 5% stake to become a partner in Minera Yanacocha SRL. As a result, Newmont and Buenaventura’s ownership interests in Yanacocha will be 51.35% and 43.65%, respectively. Sumitomo paid $48 million for the ownership interest. The transaction is structured as a new share issuance to Sumit...Read More

(Reuters) - The Trump administration’s recent tax overhaul will lead to a short-term boost in economic growth but it is uncertain if that will be sustainable, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Thursday.“We know if you cut taxes on the margin that should boost economic growth in the short term,” Kashkari said at an event in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “The question...Read More

Pre-opening Comments for Thursday June 21stU.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 2 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for Weekly Jobless Claims was 221,000 versus revised 221,000 last week. Actual was 218,000. Consensus for June Philly Fed Index was a slip to 28....Read More

China's domestic rebar market on Thursday June 21 recovered the losses experienced a day earlier after a major mill issued higher list prices. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,120-4,160 yuan ($636-642) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,900-3,950 yuan per tonne, up 20-30 yuan per tonne Major rebar producer Shagang raised its selling price for rebar by 100 yuan per t...Read More

Selenium prices continued to fall this week in Europe dropping by more than 6% amid weakening demand and increasing spot availability, market sources told Metal Bulletin. And worries over demand from Tianyuan Ningxia Manganese Industry Co (Ningxia Tianyuan) - the world's leading manganese flake producer and biggest selenium dioxide consumer - also continued to weigh on sentiment in the selenium ma...Read More

"Can a tightening be considered effective if financial conditions... ease?"Claudio Borio, head of the Bank for International Settlements' Monetary and Economic Department, here poses a thumping question.The Federal Reserve bumped interest rates 0.25% one week ago today - its seventh rate hike since 2015.The Fed is also hard at the business of quantitative tightening.It has unloaded $112 billion of...Read More