Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Monday July 9.Base metals, with the exception of lead, were all up on the Shanghai Futures Exchange during Asian morning trading on Monday, with copper leading a corrective rally after weeks of selling.Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report here.The depreciation of the yuan against the dol...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jul 9 (SMM) – Jiangsu Baozhong & Baoda Pharmaceutical's installation of environmentally-friendly facilities at its lithium hydroxide project was approved and accepted by the Nantong city municipal government on Monday July 9, SMM learned from the website of the city's administration. The project is located in Rugao city of Jiangsu...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jul 9 (SMM) – The price gap between battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate is likely to widen further in the second half of the year as the former has seen higher demand, SMM believes.While lithium carbonate prices lost around 50,000 yuan/mt since October last year amid oversupply, prices of battery-grade 56.5% lithium hydroxide remained firm at 135,000-150,000 yuan/mt, SMM...Read More
Katanga Mining has named Samuel Rasmussen its chief operating officer - he replaces Deon Garbers, who resigned last month.Rasmussen has significant copper processing and mining experience in large-scale open pit and underground operations, having served in various management roles for companies including Freeport-McMoRan in the Democratic...Read More
Joe Raia has joined Chicago-based futures brokerage and clearing firm RJ O'Brien & Associates (RJO), as managing director of global commodity futures. Raia is responsible for building out RJO's energy and metals clearing and execution business globally in futures, options and cleared over-the-counter (OTC) products. This includes expanding the firm's breadth and expertise in a wide...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange made a notable recovery from recent lulls at the close of trading on Monday July 9, led by a 1.9% price surge in nickel and aluminium prices. Edging back over $14,000 per tonne throughout the day, nickel prices reached a daily high of $14,240 per tonne after closing at their lowest point since May 10 on Friday.The metal experienced a sharp sell-off last wee...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced back from a one-year low in US morning trading on Monday July 9, with a softer dollar and equity recovery supporting the base metals complex. Copper for September settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange recovered 2.15 cents or 0.8% to $2.8455 per lb. Last week, the red metal traded at the lowest point since July 2017. "The outlook across the...Read More
Physical iron ore prices for mainstream 62% Fe Australian fines saw modest gains on Monday July 9 following paper market increases.Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $63.92 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.08 per tonneMetal Bulletin 62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines Index: $62.61 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.39 per tonneMetal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $51.43 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.09 per tonn...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jul 9 (SMM) – Ferrous and nonferrous metals rallied on Monday July 9 as China’s foreign exchange reserves rebounded in June, and as the US-China trade conflict slightly receded from the spotlight.SHFE nonferrous metals closed with a mixed performance, with lead and nickel lower. Copper performed strongly and jumped 1.46%. Zinc rose over 1%, and tin and aluminium inc...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jul 9 (SMM) – Copper: LME copper consolidated around the daily moving average at $6,300/mt during the European trading session, after rising to a high of $6,334/mt on weaker US dollar. It closed at $6,308.5/mt, down $15.5/mt from the previous trading day. The SHFE 1809 contract was pushed up by longs to a high of 49,380 yuan/mt last Friday night, and closed at that level. As d...Read More
Chinese ferro-chrome prices plunged late last week after ferro-chrome smelters in the major production hub of Inner Mongolia restarted operations, while muted buyer interest and uncertainty weighed on cif China UG2 chrome ore and charge chrome indices. Spot domestic ferro-chrome prices drop in China Chrome ore and charge chrome cif China dip Alloys in South Korea and Japan unmoved&nbs...Read More
Chinese domestic ferro-silicon prices dropped in the past week, paring gains made the week before amid low key trading activity from a fall in demand; meanwhile, the European market has seen a widening of the spot price trading range amid an illiquid market. China pares recent gains amid lower demand Dealers eye end to environmental inspections Europe price range widens lower amid slack...Read More
RAPAPORT... Trans Atlantic Gem Sales (TAGS) garnered $35 million from atender of rough diamonds in Dubai in June, it said Monday.The company sold 27,161 carats of high-qualitystones sourced from mines in South Africa and Angola. The diamonds fetched anaverage price of $1,288 per carat during the event at the Almas Tower. Some 126 companies attended the sale, the seventh thecompany has held this ye...Read More
RAPAPORT... Economic growth from Namibia's diamond-mining sector willslow this year due to depletion of resources from inland deposits, its nationalbank said. While the industry's contribution to gross domestic product(GDP) will increase 11% in 2018, that rise is less than last year's 12% jump, accordingto data the Bank of Namibia released in a July report. "Growth for diamond mining is expected t...Read More
Copper prices could sink to $6,000 per tonne if the trade war between the United States and China sparks a selloff in the equity markets, INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir wrote in his July market overview.On Friday July 6, after the onset of US tariffs on $34 billion of imports from China at midnight that day, copper plunged to $2.7825 per lb, its lowest level since hitting $2.7695 on July 19...Read More
RAPAPORT... Botswana once again finds itself at a crossroads. The sparsely populated,landlocked country is in a constant battle to ensure the longevity of itsdiamond industry.Recognizing that diamond mining will not last forever, thegovernment's beneficiation program has sought to establish cutting andpolishing, trading, and auxiliary services in an effort to diversify itsindustry - and economy -...Read More
The Federation of Copper Workers in Chile has rejected copper producer Codelco's response to a threatened strike at its Chuquicamata copper mine, and will form a new group to meet next week and discuss its next steps, the federation's board of directors said on Monday July 9.The move follows a meeting of the federation on Friday at which it discussed a potential stoppage by trade unions 1, 2 and 3...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Scientists at Princeton University called on GIA's (Gemological Institute of America) expertise in gemological research and the analysis of optical centers to evaluate how to use the unique properties of diamonds to create a highly secure communications network. The research, published in the July 6, 2018 issue of Science magazine, examined how color centers created by r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers' synthetic diamond screening device, SYNTHdetect, has been nominated for Industry Innovation of the Year in the JNA Awards SYNTHdetect, launched last year, is the first synthetic diamond screening device to simultaneously test multiple stones in set jewellery and has the industry's lowest referral rate at around 0.05 per cent. The device thereby significantly i...Read More