Cobalt has continued to trade on either side of $15 per lb so far this week, with thin spot demand, lockdowns and economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic limiting scope for gains despite some sellers holding back from the spot market. Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam held at $14.80-15.20 per lb on Wednesday May 20; the price has remained...Read More

Editor's Note: Mining Journal is making some of its most important coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic freely available to readers. For more coverage, please see our COVID-19 hub. To subscribe to Mining Journal, click hereThe distribution centre had been closed on March 24 as Vale said at the time it was unable to secure the minimum resources to safely operate the terminal amid the COVID-1...Read More

Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday May 20.Key drivers Europe ferro-titanium market extends steady trend for seventh consecutive week while reduced production is counteracted by less demand, with little change in the near term. UK-based sources say domestic production has been cut by up to as much as 40% from some furnaces due to reduced staffing levels, while workers...Read More

Turkish steel mills stayed out of the deep-sea scrap market on Wednesday May 20, with national holidays and Covid-19 lockdown measures continuing to inhibit trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets.In addition to the public holiday on May 19 and the upcoming Eid al-Fitr break - from Friday May 22 to Tuesday May 26 to mark the end of Ramadan - the country's major cities remained subject...Read More

Prices for H2-grade heavy steel scrap remained stable in Japan over the past week after several deals were booked to Vietnam, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 20.Deals for H2 material were heard at ?23,000 ($214) per tonne fob to Vietnam in recent days, equivalent to $248 per tonne cfr South Vietnam and $253-255 per tonne cfr North Vietnam, Fastmarkets heard.The Japanese deals cam...Read More

Cobalt has continued to trade on either side of $15 per lb so far this week, with thin spot demand, lockdowns and economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic limiting scope for gains despite some sellers holding back from the spot market. Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam held at $14.80-15.20 per lb on Wednesday May 20; the price has remained...Read More

Sometimes you just can't wrap your head around how things have gotten to the point that they have.Don't worry, I'm not talking about COVID-19. With the media blasting that crisis to you from every angle, it's far too easy to lose sight of other things right now.So today, we're delving into something that may have even more dire consequences for the U.S. if certain catalysts fall.For the last few w...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday May 20 that are worth another look.China will maintain anti-dumping duties on some alloy steel seamless steel pipe imported from the United States and European Union for the next five years, according to the country's Ministry of Commerce.The Beer Institute has opposed a proposal by S&P Platts to impose a floor for the implied du...Read More

On Monday Real Vision's Raoul Pal interviewed Galaxy Digital (GLXY) CEO Michael Novogratz. Novogratz is a former Goldman Sachs partner and hedge fund manager. The interview covers a broad range of topics ranging from the current state of markets to Novogratz's philanthropic work in the area of prison reform. The meat of the interview starts around the 30-minute mark when the discussion turns to d...Read More

Domestic prices for heavy steel plate in Europe have been under pressure from limited trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 20."The market is very quiet. Buyers are not interested in placing orders because they have high stocks," a Northern European trader said."There are some signs of a slow recovery, but it is very slow. Generally speaking, demand is still absent, especiall...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe have been fairly stable due to slow market activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 20.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?410 ($448.14) per tonne on Wednesday, up by only ?,?0.16 per tonne from ?,?409.84 per tonne on Tuesday.Wednesday's index was calculated based on deals heard at ?,?405-415...Read More

Turkey has imposed additional duties on imports of several steel products with effect from Wednesday May 20, according to the Turkish Official Gazette.Imports of hot-rolled flat steel under HS codes 7208 9080 1012 and 7208 9080 2012 will be subject to 14% additional import duty until September 30, 2020.A 10% additional import duty will be applied to various cold-rolled flat steel under HS code 720...Read More

Steel rebar prices in Europe have remained largely stable over the past week, supported by costlier scrap, with buying remained limited especially in the south, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 20.Buying activity was slow in the south of the region because the key rebar-consuming sector, construction, was still running at low rates while various countries eased their way out of their Covi...Read More

By Dave KranzlerThe chart above speaks for itself. You could not find a more bullish chart set-up in the stock market. Note that the HUI/Dow ration bottomed out in late 2019 at the same level where it bottomed in late 2000. Most investors in this sector were not around for the beginning of the precious metals bull market in late 2000. But you can see the big move that started in 2008 - for which...Read More

Prices for hollow steel sections in Europe dipped further this week with buyers rejecting current offer prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 20. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?560-580 ($612-634) per tonne on Wednesday, down from ?,?580-590 per tonne one week previous. "We are not buying, domestic prices...Read More

By Keith Weiner Suppose you wanted to run an enterprise the right way (we know, we know, this is pretty far-out fiction, but bear with us). And, your enterprise has a $1 million dollar piece of equipment that wears out after 10 years. You must set aside $100,000 a year, so that you have $1 million at the end of 10 years when the equipment needs replacing. There's a word, now archaic, to describ...Read More

Another day, another fight over hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)...On the data side, more and more evidence mounts that not only does HCQ make a positive difference in lessening the impact of covid-19 (when delivered early along with zinc and an antibiotic like azithromycin), but it also appears to work effectively when taken in advance of infection as a preventative measure. On the headline side, it's "d...Read More

Craig Hemke, TF MetalsBack in March and April, a chasm opened between the dollar price of spot gold (XAU) and the front month COMEX futures contract. So-called experts reassured us that this was simply due to "logistics" and "gold being in the wrong place". Was this true, or might it have been just another set of apologies from the usual shills?We first wrote about this issue on April 7, and it...Read More

Back in March, we saw some crazy developments in the paper versus physical gold market, so much so, that New York and London went into scramble mode, and now, we're seeing the same crazy developments in silver! What are we to make of the widening spreads? Craig Hemke joins Silver Doctors Wednesday for a discussion on that, and a whole lot more.Some of the topics in today's discussion include:It lo...Read More

By: Ira EpsteinSilver has spent 5 days above its Bollinger band on the daily chart. I give it at 1% chance..Read More