There were no queues at London Metal Exchange-approved warehouses in December for any metal, according to data released by the exchange this week. In November, just one queue remained at LME warehouses. ISTIM Metal LLC in New Orleans had an eight-day queue for copper, lead, aluminium and zinc. This follows the end of the infamous Access World Vlissingen queue in September 2017 after six years...Read More

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - For details of the U.S. Treasury's auction of 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities next week, see: Keywords: USA DEBT/TIPS 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. no...Read More

Iron ore prices rose just above $79 per tonne cfr China on Thursday January 11 following news of a cyclone developing off the coast of Western Australia resulting in the closure of the Port of Port Hedland.Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $79.08 per tonne cfr Qingdao Daily change: up by $0.77 per tonne Month-to-date average: $77.08 per tonne Metal Bulletin's...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sterling Jewelers has sued Alex and Ani for more than $2million over a supply deal that resulted in a dispute over inventory returns,court filings show.The two companies entered into an agreement in August 2015under which Sterling would buy merchandise from Alex and Ani to sell in some ofSterling's Jared stores, according to the lawsuit filed in Ohio last month.That deal stipulated tha...Read More

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - For details of the U.S. Treasury's auctions of 4-week, 13-week and 26-week bills next week, see:4-week bills 13-week bills 26-week bills (Washington economics newsroom) 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; how...Read More

RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co.'s senior vice president of strategy and businessdevelopment Jean-Marc Bellaiche is set to leave the company at the end ofMarch, according to a Tuesday SEC filing. Bellaiche has been responsible for non-jewelry products,such as watches, leather goods, eyewear and fragrances, since he joined thecompany in 2014.Tiffany will not replace Bellaiche, but is planning to absor...Read More

China's winter capacity closures are finally upon us. Although some started early the official heating season began on November 15. Our impression thus far is that the market has been disappointed by the scale of the cuts, or at least their affect. That has also been borne out in prices,...Read More

Mid-tier Canadian miner B2Gold (TSX, NYSE:BTO) said Thursday it had achieved record fourth quarter and full-year output in 2017, thanks mainly to the start of commercial production at its Fekola mine, in south-western Mali.The Vancouver-based company, which poured its first gold at Fekola in November, produced 630,565 ounces of the yellow metal last year, a figure that includes the 79,243 ounces...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sales at Richemont's jewelry maisons grew 5% yearon year to $2.18 billion (EUR 1.83 billion) in the fiscal third quarter of 2017, which included the  holiday season. The jewelry maisons, which include Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, were the company's strongest performers for the three months that ended December 31. Overall group sales advanced 1% to $3.72 billion (EUR 3....Read More

Global miner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) is said to have ditched plans to own a stake in Chile's Chemical and Mining Society (SQM), the world's largest lithium producer, due to a mix of tricky politics and the fact that such miner is currently the target of several claims.Chilean authorities accuse SQM of underpaying royalties, environmental violations and illicit political financing, which have ma...Read More

Copper prices have generally been consolidating in a down-trending channel since reaching their latest multi-year high of $7,177 per tonne in mid-October. Trading up here has attracted a combination of profit-taking and forward selling, which is capping the upside. We expect activity to remain choppy as moves down towards $6,700 per tonne have...Read More

Confusion and uncertainty reign in financial markets, helping gold prices rally in the face of higher bond yields, as traders continue to assess whether or not China will continue to buy U.S. Treasuries. Early Thursday, Chinese officials denied reports that the central bank is looking at slowing its U.S. bond purchases. According to reports, while the central bank is diversifying its foreign-exc...Read More

Newest of major royalty companies has rapid growth.Revenue to double in next six years.Investments in juniors to pay off.It is now the turn of the new boy on the block to catch up. A little more than two years ago, I wrote an article, published here, on the major gold royalty companies. One, Franco-Nevada, I called the blue-chip of the group; today, its stock price is virtually doubled where it wa...Read More

Lead prices have been consolidating above $2,400 per tonne and below $2,550 per tonne after the high of $2,621 per tonne in early October. We have recently revised our supply-demand model to deepen the annual deficit this year and the deficit expected in 2018; we now see a cumulative 200,000-tonne shortfall...Read More

RAPAPORT... RapNet launched a new site on Tuesday, promising asafer, simpler and smarter way of trading diamonds online.  The aspects of RapNet that users enjoy will stay, but theredesigned platform will be easier to navigate, getting those users to theirdesired diamonds with fewer clicks. There are also handy tools such as a pricecalculator, the ability to compare up to 10 diamonds at once,...Read More

USD weakens in the NA session post-PPI data. Wall Street recovers recent losses on Thursday. Gold sticks to modest daily gains. Despite the broad-based USD weakness, the XAU/USD pair is having a difficult time extending its gains on Thursday. As of writing, the pair was trading at $1321.25, adding 0.35% on the day. Earlier today, the data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show...Read More

The overly bullish hype around nickel and its future potential in batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), which reached fever pitch at LME Week and drove prices to two-year highs of $13,030 per tonne, is subsiding. It is about time too, because this is a story that will not truly affect the nickel market fundamentals until deep into the 2020s. As a result, nickel...Read More

Editor's Note: View Kitco News' full 2018 outlook coverage (Kitco News) - After what has been described as a frustrating 2017, sentiment in the precious metals mining space is improving and is expected to build throughout 2018, according to Kitco News’ top mining CEO of 2017.In an interview with Kitco News, before the results of survey were calculated, Rob McEwen, CEO of McEwen Mining (NYSE:...Read More

United States mills have managed to stem the period of falling flat steel prices, as their October price hikes proved to be a success. Mills' announcements targeted $625 per short ton ($689 per tonne) for hot-rolled coil, and by the middle of November spot prices came close to that level, as Metal Bulletin's US domestic HRC index reached $621 per short ton. An increase of $35 per short ton in less...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are generally higher this morning, Thursday January 11, with aluminium leading the way with a 0.8% gain to $2,203 per tonne, while tin is the one bucking the trend with a 0.3% decline. Nickel prices are unchanged, while the rest are up by between 0.2% and 0.4%, with copper prices up by 0.3% at $7,169 per tonne.Volume has been average, with 6,933 lots...Read More