(IDEX Online) - Anglo America, parent company of De Beers Group, has cut its diamond production forecast for 2020 to 32-34 million carats. Previously, output for full year 2020 was anticipated to be 33-35 million carats.The company announced the reduction during an investor update call.De Beers' production forecast for 2021 has also been reduced to an estimated 24-36 million carats, down from...Read More
Diamond miner De Beers has launched its Forevermark jewellery brand in Belgium, through a partnership with jeweller Gautam Diamonds.Forevermark jewellery is now available in Gautam stores in the historic Grand Place/Grote Markt and Galerie de la Reine/Koninginnegalerij, as well as in three Antwerp Diamonds by Gautam stores in Brussels Airport.AdvertisementThe launch brings the total number of coun...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The industry has been rocked by the news of two violent crimes against jewelers in Florida and California. In the first incident, which took place in Costa Mesa, California on December 4, 65-year-old Pierre Maalouf left his store, the Diamond and Jewelry Exchange, around 6:30 p.m., and was walking to his car with some merchandise and jewelry. He was approached and a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Forevermark, the diamond brand from the De Beers Group, is now available in Belgium thanks to a tie-up with Gautam Diamonds. The new partnership means the branded jewelry will be available to purchase from the historic Grand Place/Grote Markt and Galerie de la Reine/Koninginnegalerij stores in the city and in three Antwerp Diamonds by Gautam shops in Brussels Airport.With the...Read More
JSE-listed Harmony Gold has resumed shifts at its nine South African underground gold mines from Tuesday afternoon, after power utility Eskom had returned to lower stages of load-shedding. London-listed Petra Diamonds also resumed its South African mining operations on Tuesday, albeit at a 20% load curtailment.AdvertisementThe power utility on Monday implemented Stage 6 load-shedding for the...Read More
LONDON – The glut that’s depressing the diamond market will last another year, according to industry consultant Bain & Co.The inventory backlog will probably be cleared in the beginning of 2020, but it will take some time for the market to fully recover, Bain said in a report released on Wednesday. Bank financing to the industry’s midstream – the traders that buy rough...Read More
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) announced on Tuesday that the much-anticipated request for information (RFI) for emergency supply- and demand-side solutions to close the gap left by Eskom’s underperforming coal-fired power stations, both old and new, would be published soon. It also indicated that the Section 34 Ministerial determinations needed to facilitate the procur...Read More
Turkish steel producers have gone the day without any deep-sea scrap purchases, but more cargoes from last week for January shipments were heard on Wednesday December 11.A steel mill in northern Turkey was heard booking a Baltic Sea cargo on Friday December 4, comprising 9,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20), 14,000 tonnes of shredded and 5,000 tonnes of a mixture of bonus and busheling at an average pr...Read More
Iron ore seaborne prices were up on Wednesday December 11 as steel mills were heard to have kept production levels steady, prompting appetite for the raw material.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $94.67 per tonne, up $1.10 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.76 per tonne, up $1.10 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $94.19 per to...Read More
Seaborne coking coal continued to trade in a narrow range on Wednesday December 11, with Chinese buying activity driving the market.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $135.99 per tonne, down $0.26 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $148.56 per tonne, down $1.78 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $122.33 per tonne, unchangedHard coking...Read More
Anglo American has cut its annual iron ore production targets at the Kumba operations in South Africa over the 2020-2022 period, but left those for its Minas Rio operations in Brazil unchanged.The miner said it now expects annual iron ore output of 42-43 million tonnes for the coming three years at its Kumba iron...Read More
Japan's Kanto Tetsugen has secured a higher price at its ferrous scrap auction for December, which is likely to boost sentiment in the Asian market for the steelmaking raw material.A total of 23,000 tonnes of H2 scrap were sold to two trading companies on Wednesday December 11 at the auction held by the cooperative of scrap dealers in Japan's most-industrialized region - 3,000 tonnes priced at ?2...Read More
Galena provides a leading lightSPONSOREDgalena miningSpeaking at the New World Metals Conference in Perth, Argonaut's Matthew Keane said he also saw an improved year ahead for cobalt and, further into the decade, nickel.Read More
Chinese hot-rolled coil prices were mixed on Wednesday December 11, with those in the east of the country rising due to tight supply and those in the north flat amid sluggish demand.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,880-3,890 yuan ($551-553) per tonne, up 60 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,660 yuan per tonne, unchangedSpot prices in eastern China surged amid active trading, with...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was little changed during morning trading on Wednesday December 11 despite another sizeable inflow of material into LME-registered warehouses, keeping forward spreads wide. The LME nickel price was recently at $13,440 per tonne, $35 per tonne higher than Tuesday's closing price. Turnover was high at more than 2,600 lots exchanged over the m...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were mixed amid weaker demand on Wednesday December 11, with eastern prices up but those in the north of the country down.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,930-3,960 yuan ($558-563) per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,640-3,670 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneEnd users kept procurement rates limited and stockists were not looking to repl...Read More
When Gay Huey Evans attended her first London Metal Exchange dinner in 1999, she was head of markets at former UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) - some 20 years later she was there as LME chair elect, the first woman appointed to the role. "As a regulator I would send my markets people and occasionally come to learn a little bit more about commodities. I remember sitting in the b...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday December 11.Key drivers Price ranges in the alloy and scrap markets have widened over the past week, with sales reported for ferro-silicon at either end of its new price assessment.Low-tin titanium scrap was also trading at slightly higher price levels, although some sources said the market is fairly stable, with a b...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were slightly higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 2 points in pre-opening trade. Investors are waiting for news on interest rates by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee to be released at 2:00 PM EST. Consensus is that the Fed Fund Rate will remain unchanged. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the November U.S. Consumer Price Ind...Read More