SHANGHAI, Jul 2 (SMM) –Copper: LME copper met resistance at the five-day moving average last Friday night with support at $6,600/mt as final labour negotiation is expected in July at the world's largest copper mine, Escondida, in Chile. Trading range is set to be $6,590-6,640/mt today with the SHFE 1808 contract at 51,000-51,500 yuan/mt amid slack season. Spot discounts are expected to b...Read More

(Adds detail)July 2 (Reuters) - Vedanta Resources Plc VED.L said on Monday chairman Anil Agarwal's family trust has agreed to buy the rest of Vedanta in a deal that values the mining conglomerate at 2.3 billion pounds ($3.03 billion).An independent committee, formed to review and evaluate the proposal, has indicated to Volcan Investments that it supports the offer and intends to recommend a firm...Read More

BP plc is to buy Chargemaster, the UK's largest charging company for electric vehicles (EVs), in the latest move by oil and gas companies to tap into the electromobility revolution.Along with peers such as Royal Dutch-Shell and Total, oil conglomerate BP has been making relatively small but significant investments into the infrastructure required for charging EVs, and not just as a contributor to...Read More

Blister copper refining charges (RC) terms in China increased in June due to higher availability of overseas materials, which offset part of the capacity lost in the production halt while inspections took place over the month.The monthly blister copper 98-99% spot cif China RC rose to $215-235 per tonne, with a sale of several thousand tonnes reported at the higher end of the range and offers comi...Read More

Comex copper prices softened for the fourth consecutive day on July 2 morning in the US, with a stronger dollar keeping base metals pressured.Copper for September settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 2.10 cents or 0.7% to $2.9450 per lb. The red metal is being pressured by threats of a global trade war due to increasing tariffs. New reports of president....Read More

The latest metal markets news and price moves for the start of the North American day on Monday July 2.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange edged lower during morning trading with ongoing global trade tensions and subsequent dips in equity indexes continuing to deter market investment.Here's how base metals prices looked at 12:29pm London time:Read our live futures report here.Tata...Read More

RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has completed the final phase of its credit-outsourcingprogram for its non-prime receivables, for which it received $445.5 million, itsaid Monday. CarVal Investors, a global alternative-asset manager, agreedin March to acquire approximately 70% of the retailer's existing creditaccounts. Signet secured a contract with Castlelake, another investment firm,for the remaining...Read More

Anil Agarwal, the founder and majority-owner of Vedanta Resources, has agreed to buy the remaining stake of the mining company, a move to pave the way for delisting it from the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Anil Agarwal's discretionary trust's investment vehicle, Volcan, which owns a 66.53% stake in the London-listed Vedanta, has agreed to acquire the rest of its shares at a total offer value of ?...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange edged lower during morning trading on Monday July 2, with ongoing global trade tensions and subsequent dips in equity indexes continuing to deter market investment. "European PMI numbers came in lower this morning, and people are backing away. The Chinese have backed off quite a lot. The appetite to price metal there is quite low. Copper is showing e...Read More

RAPAPORT... Angola plans to allow miners to sell up to 60% of roughdiamonds to companies of their choice, including to their own tradingdivisions, Reuters reported last week. The changes are part of the country's reforms to its diamondsector under President Jo??o Louren??o, who came to power inSeptember. Producers must currently sell through state-owned tradingcompany Sodiam. As a result, Catoca,...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Natural Color Diamond Association (NCDIA) has releasedits first educational video on yellow diamonds, claiming they are the biggestgrowth opportunity for colored diamonds in the "affordable" jewelry market. In the video, the group's educational director, Thomas Gelb,covers topics including what causes color in diamonds, the ranges of coloravailable, and where the stones occur in th...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered an 89-carat yellow diamond from the Mothae diamond project in Lesotho. The diamond was recovered from current bulk sampling program at Mothae as construction of the new 150 tonne per hour commercial diamond plant continues on schedule for H2 2018 commissioning, the miner said.  The bulk sampling program is designed to expand and improv...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Russia's ALROSA will acquire the Kristall polishing company by October at a market price, according to the country's Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev. "There is an agreement with the Federal State Property Management Agency to close the deal until the end of the third quarter," Moiseyev told the PRIME news organization. He said that ALROSA has made an offer for Kristall, and...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa sold $10.4 million worth of rough at a large-stone auction in Hong Kong, the miner said last week. The 100 diamonds - each over 10.8 carats - weighed acombined 1,550 carats, and garnered an average price of $6,710 per carat. Stonessold for more than one and a half times their original asking price, thecompany noted. A total of 28 companies from Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel,India,...Read More

Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday July 2*Copper -$86.53 (-576.62 yuan)Aluminium -$521.01 (-3,472.06 yuan) Zinc $5.59 (37.27 yuan) Nickel -$233.79 (-1,558.03 yuan) *Metal Bulletin calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China...Read More

Petra Diamonds has received valid acceptances in respect of 316.92-million shares, representing about 94.97% of the rights issue shares offered in a five to eight rights issue announced in May.Further, subscribers have been procured for 16.7-million rights issue shares, for which valid acceptances were not received, and which represents about 5.03% of the rights issue shares, at a price of 56.25p...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Rapaport editorial team analyzes De Beers' synthetics launch, Martin Rapaport's criticism of the miner's disclosure rules, and other surprises from the Las Vegas shows.Rapaport's reporters, fresh from their visit to the shows,reflect on the mood of the key JCK Las Vegas fair and the other events thatgraced the Nevada city last month. Sonia Esther Soltani, Rapaport's Editor inChief,...Read More

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday July 3.Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange fell by more than 2% by the close of trading on Monday July 2, topping broad losses across the complex while escalating trade tensions and dwindling equity markets weighed on commodities. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at the close of tradin...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered an 89-carat yellow roughdiamond from its Mothae mine in Lesotho, it said Friday. The miner found the stone during bulk sampling in theasset's southeast zone. The diamond is not part of the miner's original forecastfor the Mothae resource, it said. "Having recently recovered a 25-carat yellow diamond fromthe previously untested neck zone in our bulk...Read More

US domestic merchant bar prices have risen after early June mill hikes, while import merchant bar prices held steady due to a lack of market activity following the implementation of Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.American Metal Market's latest price assessment for US domestic 2x2x 1/4 angle merchant bar rose to $38.05 per hundredweight ($761...Read More