Miners and explorers knew that the Democratic Republic of Congo would be raising taxes and royalties, but were blindsided on Wednesday when lawmakers of the country voted in favour of an immediate lifting of a provision exempting licence holders of compliance with the new code for 10 years.That means mines and projects run by companies including Glencore, Randgold Resources, China Molybdenum, Eura...Read More
The German metals sector is being hit with a number of day-long strikes this week while negotiations over pay between employers and trade union IG Metall continue, Metal Bulletin heard on Wednesday January 31.German metals companies could incur a significant loss of revenue, due to production and delivery shortfalls as a result of the strikes, along with additional costs for catching up on outages...Read More
Gerdau has entered into a definitive agreement with Optimus Steel to sell its wire rod mill and two downstream facilities located in Texas, United States, for $92.50 million, the Brazil-based steelmaker announced on Wednesday January 31.The Beaumont steel unit has a maximum melt shop capacity of around 700,000 tonnes per year and produces both wire rod and coiled rebar.American Metal Market's...Read More
Mills and stockholders are taking differing approaches to the domestic European beam markets in light of a fresh price rise for the material, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday January 31.Prices for domestic steel beams narrowed upward in Northern Europe this week, with the market continuing to be supported by the strong demand seen since last year.But some sources felt that stockholders who...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed in positive territory across the board on Wednesday January 31, supported by dollar weakness. The three-month nickel price remained the strongest performer of the complex throughout the day, supported from dip-buying. "A combination of surging China imports, tightening supplies and fund interest are expected to sustain prices of stainless stee...Read More
RAPAPORT... Botswana's rough-diamond exports declined 14% to $3.48 billion in 2017, according to data released by the Bank of Botswana. After rising slightly in the first quarter, exports dropped18% year on year in the second quarter, slid 21% in the third quarter and fell 20% in the fourth. Much of the overall decline reflects a slowdown in De Beers' totalrough sales, which fell 5% to an estimate...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company's sales fell 38% in 2017, after theprevious year's figures received a boost from the sale of a huge rough stone. Proceeds from diamonds the company extracted at its Lulomine in Lesotho declined to $31.6 million last year, the miner reported Monday.While the 2016 total of $51 million included $16 million from a 404-carat rough,last year's sales dropped even discou...Read More
Tharisa plans to build two new plants and upgrade another, part of its aim to lift production to 2 million tonnes per year of chrome concentrate by 2020, the South African miner said on Wednesday January 31.An upgrade of the miner's Genesis Plant is scheduled for commissioning in July this yearTharisa is aiming for an increase of 15% or 180,000 tonnes per year in plant throughput, it said, adding...Read More
(IDEX Online) - ALROSA and the GfK research company have conducted extensive research into diamond consumers in the US and China, and found that in both countries they are interested in buying diamond jewelry, are planning to buy it in the future, and purchase for themselves much more often than as a gift. The USA is the world's largest consumer market of diamond jewelry, and China is...Read More
RAPAPORT... US market research company NPD Group has hired ReginaldBrack (pictured) as its analyst for the watch and luxury industry."We are delighted to have Reg join our team, and excited forthe added depth of insight into the watch and luxury markets that he willprovide to our clients and retail partners," said Lori Monaco, president of US fashionfootwear, accessories, luxury watches and j...Read More
An 8% year-on-year drop in Norilsk Nickel's 2017 full-year nickel output pushed up the nickel full-plate premium cif China in the third quarter of 2017 and encouraged Norilsk to offer a historically high long-contract nickel premium of $300-320 per tonne to Chinese trading firms for 2018. Norilsk's total nickel output in 2017 came to 217,000 tonnes, down from year-ago levels of 236,000 tonnes, mai...Read More
RAPAPORT... Leading groups in the diamond and jewelry sectors have collaboratedto publish a universal standard to use when referring to natural diamonds and synthetics. The Diamond Terminology Guideline is a reference on diamondvocabulary for all sector organizations,traders and retailers to use, nine industry bodies said in a joint statement Tuesday. The document stipulates that the w...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rough-diamond demand was strong at De Beers' January sight, as manufacturers plan to increase their production in anticipation of post-holiday orders from retailers.The mining company reported proceeds of $665 million in its firstsales cycle of the year, which included last week's sight in Gaborone,Botswana, as well as its rough auctions. While that figure was 9% lower thanthe $72...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's office in Shanghai, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Wednesday January 31.Nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker during Asian morning trading on Wednesday, tracking the pullback in prices seen on the London Metal Exchange in the previous session.Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report here.LME snapshot at 02.01 am Lond...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are for the most part firmer this morning, Wednesday January 31, the exceptions being aluminium (-0.3%) and lead that is little changed, while the rest of the complex is up by an average of 0.6% - ranged between tin (0.4%) and nickel (0.7%), with copper prices up by 0.5% at $7,117 per tonne. Volume has been average with 8,535 lots traded as of 07.08...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 12 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures maintained gains following release of the January ADP employment report at 8:15 AM EST. Consensus was an increase of 195,000 versus 242,000 in December. Actual was 234,000.The Canadian Dollar added to overnight gains to US 81.54 cents following released of Canada's November...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 31 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board on Wednesday as SHFE nickel led the loss with over 2% drop. Both lead and aluminium were down some 1%, while zinc and tin slipped.In the ferrous complex, coking coal went back up in the afternoon while coke and iron ore were down some 1%. Hot-rolled coil and rebar edged down slightly.Copper: The SHFE 1803 copper contrac...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 31 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board on Wednesday as SHFE nickel led the loss with over 2% drop. Both lead and aluminium were down some 1%, while zinc and tin slipped.In the ferrous complex, coking coal went back up in the afternoon while coke and iron ore were down some 1%. Hot-rolled coil and rebar edged down slightly.Copper: The SHFE 1803 copper contrac...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 31 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board on Wednesday as SHFE nickel led the loss with over 2% drop. Both lead and aluminium were down some 1%, while zinc and tin slipped.In the ferrous complex, coking coal went back up in the afternoon while coke and iron ore were down some 1%. Hot-rolled coil and rebar edged down slightly.Copper: The SHFE 1803 copper contrac...Read More
J.B. Silvers, Case Western Reserve UniversityAmazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase's announcement that they will create an independent company to offer health care to their employees "free from profit-making incentives and constraints" sent a shock through the healthcare industry, with share prices of some incumbents tumbling on Jan. 30.Of course, this is not a surprise since anything Amaz...Read More