Key data from the Wednesday March 21 pricing session in Shanghai. Indium China domestic market, min 99.99% in warehouse, RMB/kgKey drivers - Indium prices jumped to 2,500 yuan ($395) per kg on the Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange on March 20 amid increased investment interest for the metal. The higher prices on the bourse boosted sentiment in the physical...Read More

Stainless steel prices in East Asia remained in a downward trend over the past week amid soft demand and a softening of the nickel market. Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless 2mm trimmed CRC was $2,170-2,250 per tonne cif East Asian ports for the week ended Wednesday March 21, narrowing downward by $10 per tonne from $2,170-2,260 per tonne cif a week earlier. Metal Bu...Read More

Tokyo Steel increased the purchasing price for overland arrivals of H2 grade scrap at its Utsunomiya plant this week.The price for scrap at the Utsunomiya plant increased to ?37,500 ($353) per tonne from Thursday March 22, up by ?500 from previouslyPrices at Tokyo Steel's four other plants in Tahara, Okayama,...Read More

Join our Toronto editorial team as we survey the latest news in the junior mining scene in Canada and beyond.Brady FletcherEditor-in-chief John Cumming looks at declining metal prices, junior gold M&A and recent market stats; senior staff writer Trish Saywell reports on banking and newsletter panels at the PDAC; and staff writer Richard Quarisa digs up intriguing mining company stories.In add...Read More

Physicists from MIT, Harvard University, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have produced what the call "a kagome metal" - an electrically conducting crystal, made from layers of iron and tin atoms, with each atomic layer arranged in the repeating pattern of a kagome lattice.In a paper published in Nature, the scientists explain that their creation was inspired by Japanese kagome baskets, w...Read More

Luxury vehicle maker BMW won't be signing any supply contracts for lithium and cobalt at least until 2020, when mass-producing electric vehicles (EVs) proves to be profitable, chief executive Harald Krueger said.The German company, which unveiled its first battery electric car in 2013, and is said to be ready to unveil a new wave of EVs later this year, told analysts in Munich it will wait until t...Read More

Apollo Minerals (ASX:AON) announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy Aurenere, a project located in the northern Spanish province of Lleida, right next door to the company's Couflens tungsten and gold project, which is in France.Within the terms of the agreement, Apollo will acquire 75% of the share capital of NeoMetal Spania S.L, which holds the rights to the 100% interest in the Aure...Read More

Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) has agreed to sell its 75% stake in a Queensland project to Australia's Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) in a deal worth $200 million.The sale would be the second one this week, and in line with Rio's strategic decision to exit coal to focus on iron ore, copper and aluminum.The Winchester South project, 30km outside of the Moranbah township, was the second to last of...Read More

Canada's RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX) said Thursday it might sell all or part of its Beta Hunt gold and nickel mine in Western Australia to focus instead on its Dumont cobalt and nickel project in Quebec, the world's largest undeveloped reserve of both metals.The Toronto-based miner, which acquire Beta Hunt in 2016, said while it has grew the scale of the operation ever since, such asset is now cons...Read More

Exclusive information obtained by Reuters reveals that Brazilian pension funds led by Previ are planning to sell 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent of their stakes in iron ore miner Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) through a public offering.According to the news agency, four people with inside knowledge of long-rumored plans to migrate Vale to a dispersed ownership structure confirmed this information. The share sal...Read More

Just a month after selling its South Wawa gold property, Toronto-based Argo Gold (CSE: ARQ) announced that it is selling its Rockstar Gold Property to Manitou Gold (TSXV: MTU).Rockstar is located in Ontario's Sault Ste. Marie Mining Division, 50 kilometres north-northeast of Wawa, and contains six known gold bearing occurrences. The most significant prospects are the Rockstar Prospect and the Trac...Read More

A mixture of cyanide and copper, when irradiated with UV light, could have produced simple sugars that formed the building blocks of life on early Earth. This is according to Harvard graduate student Zoe Todd and Dimitar Sasselov, the Phillips Professor of Astronomy and director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative.In a paper published this week in the journal Chemical Communications, the res...Read More

Shares in Canada's First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) rebounded slightly on Wednesday, dodging what was about to become their worst two-day drop in almost two years after its chief executive said he was ready to dispute a $7.9 billion bill for alleged unpaid import duties in Zambia.Talking to investors and media during a call conference, Philip Pascall said his company refuted the charge and would wo...Read More

Canada-listed Fura Gems (TSX-V:FUR), a new gemstone mining and marketing company headed by the former COO of Gemfields (LON:GEM), has kicked off initial production at its Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia.The early output of 1,720 carats of emeralds, including 826 carats of top quality ones, was achieved through a bulk-sampling program carried out within eight weeks of the completing the acquisiti...Read More

British Columbia's ministries of environment and energy have issued an environmental assessment certificate to BURNCO Rock Products' 70-hectare sand, gravel and rock mine, located on the northwest shore of Howe Sound.Known as the BURNCO project, the mine sits approximately 22 kilometres southwest of Squamish and on the traditional territories of the Squamish Nation, Tsleil Waututh Nation, and Musq...Read More

Russian miner Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), the world's top diamond producer by output, has unveiled its synthetics detector, aimed at cracking down on dishonest suppliers that mix lab-made stones with mined diamonds.The portable machine, named ALROSA Diamond Inspector, screens polished diamonds and jewellery, identifying synthetics as well as treated stones or simulants.Alrosa expects the detector's rela...Read More

Zara Boldt and Glenn Kondo take each other's placesRead full newsRead More

Mid-tier Canadian miner B2Gold (TSX, NYSE: BTO) said Tuesday its Fekola mine won't be affected by a new mining code the country's government is planning to draft as the asset is governed by a finalized and enforceable mining convention valid for the lifespan of the mine.The Vancouver-based company, which poured first gold at Fekola late last year, said media reports claiming Mali will move to imp...Read More

Miner and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) has bought Rio Tinto's (ASX, LON:RIO) Hail Creek coal mine in Australia for $1.7 billion, which increases the Swiss firm's presence in the coal sector just as is rivals move away from the fuel.The deal, announced by both companies Tuesday, includes Rio's 82% stake in the Queensland mine, as well as its 71.2% interest in the Valeria coal project, Gle...Read More

President Trump will fire the first shots (retaliatory or not) in the new global trade war today as he announces plans to crack down on China with what is expected to be $50 billion in tariffs, controls on investment, and possible visa restrictions.Read full newsRead More