This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Will PurcellThe diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Tuesday was a bleak 59-104-127. The TSX Venture Exchange fell 11 points to 815 while rough diamond prices were flat. Patrick Power's Arctic Star Exploration Corp. (ADD) gained one-half cent to 21...Read More

Refineries in India are working to find ways to deal with the hazardous residue created from bauxite during the alumina production process, according to the president of the International Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium Society. Vinod Sood said that the residue, known as "red mud," is highly alkaline and its storage creates serious environmental concerns."There is now environmentally friendly dispo...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business ReporterNew York spot gold fell $15.20 to $1,317.70 on Tuesday. The TSX Venture Exchange fell 11.69 points to 815.18 while the TSX Gold Index dropped 4.55 points to 180.01. Detour Gold Corp. (DGC) led Canadian gold miners lower today, dropping...Read More

Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for copper concentrates dropped further toward the end of February, with traders in the market for tonnages at even lower levels.The Metal Bulletin copper concentrate TC/RC index dropped to $68.80 per tonne /6.88 cents per lb from $69.50/6.95 cents a fortnight ago.Deals to Chinese market were reported as smelters there returned from the Lunar New Year holida...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business ReporterThe TSX Venture Exchange lost 11.67 points to 815.20 Tuesday. Andrew Shapack and Sean Nakamoto have filed a preliminary prospectus to list a capital pool shell called Pine Trail Capital Trust. The shell is a trust, rather than a corpor...Read More

Jamaica must focus on sustaining the "paradigm shift" in investment that occurred in the past couple of years, and "go full steam ahead" to maximize the benefits of value-added activities, the country's Minister of Transport and Mines said.Lester Michael Henry said that the $6-billion investment planned by China's Jiuquan Iron & Steel (Group) Co Ltd (Jisco) as part of its acquisition of Alumina Pa...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business Reporter West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery lost 90 cents to $63.01 on the New York Merc, while Brent for April lost 87 cents to $66.63 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $28 to WTI (...Read More

A second shipment of alumina produced at Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart) has recently been loaded from Jamaica's Port Kaiser, according to Sun Jing, a senior engineer and manager at China's Jiuquan Iron & Steel (Group) Co (Jisco).The global financial crisis of 2008-09 and soaring energy costs had forced the closure of the plant in May 2009, but Jisco reopened it in June last year. An initial...Read More

Copper concentrate deliveries from the Ok Tedi mine in Papua-New Guinea may be affected after an earthquake-induced landslide cut off the mine from road access, well-informed sources have told Metal Bulletin.An earthquake of 7.5 magnitude hit the Southeast Asian country on the morning of Monday February 26. A resulting landslide cut of road access to the mine and damaged a pipeline which transport...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Mike CaswellScotia Capital Inc. has settled a lawsuit it faced in the Supreme Court of British Columbia over losses in the accounts of an Alzheimer's patient. The suit, filed by the Public Guardian and Trustee, claimed that Scotia Capital had allowed speculative...Read More

The Jamalco alumina refinery at Clarendon in Jamaica will end its reliance on oil within the next two or three years when it converts to using natural gas, its managing director has said.A new heat and power facility, developed through a joint agreement with New Fortress Energy, will produce 100 MW of energy, of which 94 MW will be exported to the country's grid, Austin Mooney said."The natural ga...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange fell across the board at the close on Wednesday February 28, with the complex under pressure from the resurgent dollar, which hit its highest level since January 19.The three-month copper price plummeted to a two week low and closed below the $7,000-per-tonne support level. "The base metals complex has retreated on the back of a stronger dollar index...Read More

Brazil-based steel group Gerdau is confident about a recovery in steel demand in the country, mainly from the industrial and automotive industries."We are seeing an increase in demand, especially in the industrial and automotive sectors," chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck said on Wednesday February 28."In construction, there are signs of a gradual recovery, and at a stronger pace than in 201...Read More

German steelmaker Salzgitter expects to benefit from generally stable selling prices in the EU steel market in 2018, combined with raw material prices for iron ore and coking coal that will stay close to the levels seen at the end of 2017.The positive outlook, however, is threatened by significant volumes of coil imports into Europe from such countries as Turkey and India, despite anti-dumping mea...Read More

Gerdau considers its current portfolio of assets in the United States and Canada to be "adequate" following the divestments in January of some of its US rebar production units, a wire rod mill and two downstream facilities, it has said."We reached a point where we consider our portfolio [in North America] adequate, and from now on we will draft our growth strategy," Gerdau chief finance officer Ha...Read More

Prices for rebar made and delivered in Northern Europe are expected to increase over the coming weeks amid an upturn in prices for the ferrous scrap used to make the bar product, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday February 28."Prices are more or less unchanged [over the past week]; we expect them to go up in the coming weeks," one Northern European trader said."Scrap prices have turned aroun...Read More

Key data from the Wednesday February 28 pricing session in Europe. Ferro-titanium 70% (max 4.5% Al) $ per kg, delivered duty-paid in EuropeKey drivers: - The ferro-titanium spot market was steady, with more than 100 tonnes of alloy reported to have traded. - The titanium scrap markets were stable for a third week in a row despite a lack of reported trades. - Sources are waiting for tenders from st...Read More

Good news, Pretium at the BMO Conference is telling us that everything is great (link), no need to worry. Production at Brucejack is swell, and everything is going to be super-good after the mill expansion. For fun, they are looking for the source porphyry, because, why not.We also got the Brucejack ramp up production figures, you know, the ones where grade and ounces produced went down. We actual...Read More

The following Metal Bulletin noble alloys and ores prices changed on Wednesday February 28:Noble alloys Molybdenum Europe drummed molybdic oxide, $/lb: $12.80-12.85 per lb from $12.55-12.75 Ferro-molybdenum basis 65% min, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/kg Mo: $30.60-30.75 per kg from $30.40-30.60...Read More

Noble Group made a net loss of $4.94 billion in the 2017 financial year ended December 31, the company said on Wednesday February 28.This compares with net profit of $8.14 million in 2016. The losses included $3.24 billion of exceptional items recorded during the period from Noble's continuing operations, which included results from the hard commodities, freight and light natural gas segment. The...Read More