Growth in the Chinese manufacturing sector slowed significantly in the first two months of 2018, and coupled with falling figures for car and house sales the outlook would appear to be far from positive.With a large portion of the year so far having been taken up by official holidays, however, the overall health of China's economy is clearly distorted right now, so it is difficult to draw any clea...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 5 (SMM) – SMM assessed spot imported copper concentrate treatment charges (TCs) $4/mt lower to $70-78/mt on Friday March 2 due to higher demand and possible lower output.While some small and medium-sized smelters stocked up before the Chinese New Year holiday, traders actively sourced copper concentrate in anticipation of tighter supply. Lingbao Gold’s additiona...Read More
SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean delegation met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday, a South Korean official said, after arriving in the North on a visit aimed at encouraging North Korea and the United States to talk.Both North Korea and the United States have expressed a willingness to hold talks, but the U.S. position has been that they must be aimed at North Korea’s denuclearization...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 5 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macro-economic news over the weekend and what is expected today.Last Friday nightThe US dollar slid following the country’s plan to impose sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. LME zinc dropped over 1% and tin edged down slightly, while SHFE tin inched up.Germany’s retail sales in January dropped 0.7% month on month a...Read More
Growth in the Chinese manufacturing sector slowed significantly in the first two months of 2018, and coupled with falling figures for car and house sales the outlook would appear to be far from positive.With a large portion of the year so far having been taken up by official holidays, however, the overall health of China's economy is clearly distorted right now, so it is difficult to draw any clea...Read More
South Africa's Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation arrested 33 people that were illegally extracting gold at the rehabilitated Ellerton mine, just outside the northeastern town of Giyani.In a joint operation that involved the Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit?EUR? the Department for Mineral Resources?EUR? the Provincial Organised Crime Unit?EUR? Public Order Police?EUR? the Air W...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto has lowered its estimate of diamonds it can viably extract from the Argyle mine, after experiencing operationaldifficulties and reducing its price forecast. The asset's ore reserves slumped 45% to 16 million tonnes atthe end of 2017 versus a year earlier, the company said in a statement lastweek. That translates to 38.5 million recoverable carats, at a grade of 2.4carats...Read More
Global stocks rise as trade war fears recede; oil rallies By Kitco News For Kitco NewsFollow @kitconewsnownews@kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This...Read More
China's major mills raised their crude steel output rates in early February, while their inventories for finished products decreased. Member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) produced crude steel at an average rate of 1.7847 million tonnes per day during the first 10 days of February, up 27,900 tonnes - or 1.6% - from 1.7568 million tpd during the last 11 days of January,...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 5 (SMM) - Copper: As SHFE copper stayed firm with support at the 52,000 yuan/mt level, we expect the 1805 contract to trade at 52,000-52,600 yuan/mt today, with LME copper at $6,880-6,950/mt. Spot discounts are seen slightly smaller at 180-130 yuan/mt today with the recovery of downstream consumption.Aluminium: With the US dollar index falling below the 90 level, LME aluminium i...Read More
Niel Pretorius, chief executive of DRDGOLD Limited, discusses with Proactive's Andrew Scott the proposed deal with Sibanye-Stillwater.Towards the end of last year DRDGOLD announced its intention to acquire some of the assets at Sibanye-Stillwater's West Rand Tailings Retreatment Project for about 38 percent of DRDGold - there's also the option for them to up their stake to just over 50% after 24 m...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), a leading global free zone for commodities trade and enterprise, has announced that it will hold the 7th edition of its industry-leading annual Dubai Precious Metals Conference (DPMC) on 9 April at The Westin Hotel, Habtoor City, Business Bay. The annual conference aims to bring a fresh global outlook on the precious metals sector a...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Aim-listed Stellar Diamonds has, over the past six months, continued to focus on sourcing the necessary funding to bring its Tongo-Tonguma project, in eastern Sierra Leone, into production."The capital markets in the UK have proven extremely difficult to raise funds for junior mining companies in recent years. Further, the market capitalisation of Stellar dur...Read More
West Africa-focused Stellar Diamonds (LON:STEL) posted Monday a deeper first-half loss due to an increase in costs of developing its Tongo-Tonguma project in eastern Sierra Leone.Delivering interim results for the six months to Dec. 31, chief executive Karl Smithson said market conditions for junior miners attempting to raise funds remained "extremely difficult."The executive noted the company, wh...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Diamond Producers Association (DPA) unveiled its China marketing program at the recent Hong Kong International Jewellery Show, as it plans to launch in the country in July.The DPA's "Real is Rare, Real is a Diamond" initiative, which has already launched in the US and India, is the industry's first generic-marketing initiative in 10 years. The DPA hopes to appeal to the millen...Read More
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Canada and Mexico on Monday pushed back against President Donald Trump’s suggestion that steel and aluminum tariffs could be waived if they signed a new and“fair” NAFTA deal, setting the stage for a tense end to the latest talks to update the trade pact.The two U.S. trading partners have threatened retaliation unless they are exempted from the planned tari...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Easyfairs, the organizer of CARAT+, has announced a partnership with the Federation of Belgian Diamond Bourses (FDBD) and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) for the second edition of the show from May 6-8. Under the agreement, Easyfairs and the Antwerp diamond sector "will combine their efforts to continue to build an ambitious vision for the future of the internationa...Read More
RAPAPORT... J.C. Penney has named James Starke head of merchandising forthe jewelry, men's, children's and home departments, the retailer said lastweek. The retailer has also promoted Jodie Johnson to head ofmerchandising for the women's, beauty and family footwear divisions. BothStarke (pictured) and Johnson will report to Joe McFarland, the newly appointed executivevice president and chief cust...Read More
Australia's Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) said Monday it had achieved gross proceeds of $1.7 million (A$2.1 million) from selling 2,072 carats recovered at its prolific Lulo mine in Angola.The sale, the second this year, included a 1.9-carats vivid pink diamond and a 44-carats rock, the largest in the parcel.The figure obtained represents an average price per carat of $804, the company said, adding tha...Read More