By Frank HolmesLast Friday marked the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, China's most important holiday. The fire rooster struts off-stage, clearing the way for the loyal earth dog. According to CLSA's tongue-in-cheek Feng Shui Index, health care, consumer and paper products are favored to outperform early this year, followed by internet, utilities and te...Read More
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2018) - Zinc One Resources Inc. (TSXV: Z) (OTC Pink: ZZOF) (FSE: RH33) ("Zinc One" or the "Company") has received results from the final batch of surface and pit samples at its Bongar? Zinc Mine Project in north-central Peru. The program included a total of 446 samples from historic pits and surface channel samples from the Bongarita, M...Read More
- Bitcoin has 'pretty much failed' as a currency says Bank of England Carney- Bitcoin is neither a store of value nor a useful way to buy things - BOE's Carney- Project fear against crypto-currencies or an out of control investing bubble?- Bitcoin will likely recover in value but is speculative and not for widows and orphans- British pound has been a terrible store of value - unlike gold- Pound...Read More
Peter KrauthSilver prices this week are rallying after a dramatic market correction in February. In fact, the precious metal has outperformed the S&P 500 over the last week, and the gains are likely to continue…While the U.S. dollar weakens in the face of strengthening global currencies, it's possible that silver could climb dramatically higher in the short term. Increased volatility fro...Read More
Southern European tube mills have increased their prices for commodity-grade hollow steel sections again this week in an attempt to offset the pressures of higher prices and low availability in steel coil, sources told Metal Bulletin.Metal Bulletin's price assessment for Southern Europe-origin hollow sections was ?,?625-660 ($772-816) per tonne on Wednesday February 21, compared with ?,?625-655 pe...Read More
Southern Copper Corp was declared the winner on Tuesday of the Peruvian government's first auction of the Michiquillay copper project, the first tender in nearly a decade.According to a statement by Southern Copper, controlled by conglomerate Grupo Mexico won the tender with a proposal to transfer $400 million to the government and pay 3% royalties.Southern Copper affirmed Peruvian investmen...Read More
BHP expects to see the price spreads across different grades of steelmaking raw materials to persist in the coming months amid supply-side reforms in China, among other factors. "[...] We are optimistic that the 62% Fe index price [for iron ore] can be relatively resilient to slowing end-use demand and growing seaborne supply in the coming half year," the miner said in its economic and commodity o...Read More
RAPAPORT... Indian authorities have reportedly arrested five senior executivesat Nirav Modi Group and Gitanjali Gems as investigations continue into amassive fraud case involving the two companies.Punjab National Bank (PNB) has alleged the jewelersfraudulently obtained loans worth $1.8 billion (INR 113.94 billion), accordingto a complaint filed by the state bank last week. It describes how executi...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Women's Jewelry Association (WJA) has announced thehonorees for its Visionary Awards, the newest category in its Awards forExcellence. The awards, which will take place in New York in July,recognize those aimed at advancing women's equality within the industry. The eventwill mark the WJA's 35th anniversary. "The WJA board voted to introduce its Visionary Awards as away to mark ou...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The 61st Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair (BGJF) under the theme "Heritage & Craftsmanship" has opened. The fair is being held under the auspices of the Ministry of Commerce's Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP). The fair aims to highlight Thailand's cultural heritage and the craftsmanship of Thai artisans while setting the stage for local and international c...Read More
Merger and acquisition activity in lithium, copper and cobalt is expected to feature high on the agenda of management teams across the industry given the buzz around new world critical minerals, according to a report by consultancy group EY. Environmental regulations and the electric vehicle (EV) revolution ignited various players to consider investment into the future supply of commodities used i...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's Gem & Jewellery Export Council (GJEPC) said the "recent alleged incident of a scam by a diamantaire is of concern to the entire gem and jewelry industry", referring to the Nirav Modi affair. "The industry strongly condemns any sort of unlawful and illegal actions by any individual, trade or otherwise. It should be noted that when thousands of exporters under...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports grew in January, driven by higher Asian demand, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported. Exports increased 13% year on year to $1.73 billion (CHF 1.62billion) in January. Shipments to Hong Kong climbed 21% to $258.5 million (CHF242.2 million), its highest monthly rise in five years. Supply to China jumped43% to $188.7 million (CHF 176.8 million), surpas...Read More
Southern European tube mills have increased their prices for commodity-grade hollow steel sections again this week in an attempt to offset the pressures of higher prices and low availability in steel coil, sources told Metal Bulletin.Metal Bulletin's price assessment for Southern Europe-origin hollow sections was ?,?625-660 ($772-816) per tonne on Wednesday February 21, compared with ?,?625-655 pe...Read More
RAPAPORT... Construction is under way to develop a diamond bourse in Surat that will house more than 4,400 diamond merchants. The complex is scheduled to be completed in 2020, and to be fullyoperational by the following year, spokespeople for the project told Rapaport News.Located near the international airport, the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) willconsist of nine towers covering 1.54 million square...Read More
(IDEX Online) - ALROSA plans to hold two auctions for the sale of rough and polished diamonds at the Hong Kong International Diamond, Gem & Pearl Show, which is organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) in Hong Kong from February 27 to March 3. The United Selling Organization (USO) of ALROSA auctions special size rough diamonds over 10.8 carats. The USO will put up 12...Read More
Domestic prices for steel wire rod were unchanged across Europe over the past week, with market participants expecting strong demand in the coming months, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday February 21.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic mesh-quality wire rod in Northern Europe was ?,?545-560 ($673-692) per tonne delivered on...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp's revenue and profit fell in 2017, assales of exceptional diamonds and overall production at its Karowe mine slumpedduring the year. Revenue for 2017 dropped 25% to $220.8 million, with thevolume of goods sold down 27% to 260,526 carats, the company reported Tuesday.The average selling price rose 3% to $847 per carat, which was boosted by thesale of the Lesedi...Read More
Domestic prices for rebar in Southern Europe widened downward by ?,?10 per tonne from last week on continued low demand, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday February 21.Metal Bulletin's weekly domestic price assessment for rebar in Southern Europe on Wednesday was ?,?510-535 ($630-661) per tonne delivered, compared with ?,?520-535 per tonne delivered on February 14."There is currently a very...Read More
RAPAPORT... Effective inventory management is vital in the challengingbusiness environment the jewelry industry is experiencing lately. Insufficientinventory can lead to lost sales; excess inventory ties up capital and incursfinance charges when merchandise is acquired with loans. For merchants, memos can improve inventory control andreduce expenses. Memo financing is a consignment arrangement: A...Read More