China's ferrous futures mostly started the week with slight gains during the morning trading session on Monday February 12.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange May rebar: 3,910 yuan ($621) per tonne, up 15 yuan per tonne May hot-rolled coil: 3,966 yuan per tonne, down 1 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodity Exchange May iron ore: 522 yuan per tonne, down 0.50 yuan per tonne...Read More

The price differential between high and low-grade cobalt narrowed last week, reflecting strong demand for units with chemical applications and a pronounced tightness for broken cathodes and briquettes.Prices for both grades continued to firm while consumer demand and tight supply persisted in the week before the Lunar New Year. Metal Bulletin's benchmark low-grade cobalt price assessment ended the...Read More

Chromium prices held at a five-year high on Friday February 9 due to a severe shortage of material and strong downstream demand. Metal Bulletin assessed in-warehouse chromium prices at $9,000-9,700 per tonne on Friday, stable with the previous week's assessment, and up 14% from January 26, when the market stood at $8,050-8,350 per tonne. Prices are at their highest level since March 2013. The...Read More

Chinese silicon export prices jumped up by 1.3% on Friday February 9 due to currency uncertainty and tightening spot availability, while US silicon prices rose again on higher logistics costs and supply concerns ahead of the final determinations on the anti-dumping and countervailing duty probes. Chinese silicon metal export price breached $2,000 per tonne in the latest pricing assessment amid a b...Read More

Tightening supply continued to push European antimony prices higher last week while the Chinese market had begun to close down ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays.Metal Bulletin assessed MMTA standard grade II antimony in-warehouse Rotterdam prices at $8,400-8,600 per tonne on Friday February 9, up from the midweek assessment of $8,300-8,500 per tonne.Trioxide grade antimony prices in-wa...Read More

Key data from the Friday February 9 pricing session in London:Key data from the Friday February 9 pricing session in Europe:Cadmium min 99.95% MB free market Cts per lb cif global main port Key drivers: - Seasonal...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange seem to have found buying interest this morning, Monday February 12, with all of the base metals, except lead (-0.3%), showing gains averaging 1%. The three-month copper price leads the way with a 1.8% rally to $6,870 per tonne - this after a low last Friday of $6,733 per tonne.Volume has been high with 12,015 lots traded as of 07:09 am London time -...Read More

Europe's anti-dumping duty on imports of stainless steel wire originating from India will expire on November 9, 2018, unless a review is initiated, the European Commission said on February 9.The European Commission (EC) set definitive anti-dumping duties of 0.7-12.5% for the products from India on November 8, 2013. The EC lowered the rate for material produced by India's Venus Group to 6.9%,...Read More

Attorneys from Antofagasta's First Environmental Tribunal, together with company executives, researchers and conservation experts, visited, flew over and sailed around the site where Andes Iron's Dominga mine and port project would be located, in the central Coquimbo region. The trip was part of an evaluation process the court was prompted to undertake following Andes Iron's appeal of an August 20...Read More

Vancouver-based MGX Minerals (CSE: XMG) is known for its unconventional mining methods aimed at recovering lithium, nickel, vanadium, and cobalt mostly from waste material from different extractive industries.Without changing the way it operates, the Canadian miner now wants to set foot in the world's second lithium producing country: Chile. Thus, management announced the opening of a field office...Read More

The Association of Mineral Exploration in British Columbia recently awarded Seabridge Gold (TSX: SEA)(NYSE:SA) the 2017 Robert R. Hedley Award for excellence in social and environmental responsibility at its KSM project, which the company says is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world measured by reserves.Inspired by the work at KSM, Brent Murphy, Seabridge Vice President of Env...Read More

Samsung SDI, South Korea's leading battery maker, has unveiled plans to recycle cobalt from used mobile phones and develop lithium-ion batteries with minimum content of the metal, or no cobalt at all, as a way to offset soaring prices for the silver-grey commodity.Carmakers are scrambling to secure supply of cobalt, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, which pric...Read More

Russia's Ambassador to Iran, Levan Dzhagaryan, announced Sunday that his government offered some support so that the Middle Eastern country revamps the Fordow nuclear facility, located near the northern city of Qom.In an interview with Russia's news agency TASS, Dzhagaryan said a delegation from the state-run nuclear agency Rosatom visited the Iran and discussed "certain practical aspects of the p...Read More

Acacia Mining (LON:ACA), Tanzania's No.1 bullion producer, has scrapped its 2017 dividend after a long-running dispute with the government of the East African nation cost the company $700 million in annual loss.The company, majority owned by Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), also said its gold output would drop in 2018 as a result of the ongoing ban on exports of metal concentrate, which represent...Read More

Australia's Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) announced that, for the first time, workers at its 70% owned Mothae mine in Lesotho have recovered diamondssourcedfromresidualmaterialandkimberlitestockpiles.In a press release, the company explained that the gems were recovered through theexisting bulk sampling plant and infrastructure at Mothae, which has been refurbished ahead of schedule as part of a previo...Read More

Suncor Energy (TSX:SU), Canada's second-largest oil and gas producer, is buying Mocal Energy's 5% stake in the Syncrude joint venture for $730 million (roughly Cdn$920 million), and said it's also acquiring an interest in an offshore project in the Norwegian Sea.As a result of the first deal, expected to close in the first quarter, Suncor's share in Syncrude rises to 58.74% from 53.74%. The other...Read More

Toronto-based Bold Ventures announced today that it has acquired two separate claim groups located within the Georgia Lake Area Pegmatite field in Ontario. The two properties are the Jean Claim Group and the Barbara Claim Group. The first one consists of eight claims comprising 94 units covering an area of approximately 1,504 hectares, while the second one consists of two claims comprising 32 unit...Read More

Mining bitcoins requires a great deal of computing power which in turn needs a lot of electricity to solve the mathematical puzzles that reward miners with cryptocurrency.China and South Korea have already banned bitcoin mining due to problems with a lack of control over fraud and money laundering, and in China's case, concern over the amount of power that the activity sucks from the electricity g...Read More

Eighteen people have been killed in Venezuela at an illegal gold mine following clashes with security forces.On Sunday Associated Press reported that there was a confrontation in Bolivar state between an armed gang that was threatening wildcat miners. The army then travelled to the Cicapra mine to try and control the area. No soldiers were among the dead.AP stated:It was the most violent incident...Read More

A uranium deposit in Western Australia under development by Cameco (TSX:CCO, NYSE:CCJ) will not be held up by conservationists who oppose it.Last week the Conservation Council of WA lost an appeal against the Yeelirrie project's approval by the WA Supreme Court. In his judgment, Chief Justice Wayne Martin dismissed the CCWA's contention that environmental approval by the former WA Environment Min...Read More