Steady demand and firm prices.Chinese orders slow down as focus turns to consumers for Chinese New Year (Feb.16). Rising expectations for Year of the Dog, after China's gold, silver andjewelry sales +6% to $47.2B in 2017. Strong rough market during $665M De Beerssight, with dealers selling boxes at estimated 6% average premium. De Beers sellingthird-party rough on auction platform. Alrosa 2017 sal...Read More

(IDEX Online) - ALROSA recovered two gem-quality stones, weighing 97.92 carats and 85.62 carats, from the Yubileynaya pipe at Aikhal Mining and Processing Division last month.   The 97.92 carat rough diamond (pictured above), is a transparent octahedron yellow-hue crystal with small sulfide and olivine inclusions near the surface. It measures 26 х 17 х 21 mm.   The second r...Read More

Angola’s Sociedade Mineira de Catoca (Catoca Mining Company) is expecting to produce seven-million carats of diamonds this year. This was stated by company GM Sergei Amelin, the Macauhub news agency reported. He was speaking in the city of Saurimo, which is the capital of Lunda Sul province, where the Catoca diamond mine is located. Catoca is Angola’s biggest diamond mine, accounting f...Read More

Lead prices on the London Metal Exchange were 1.7% higher at the close on Thursday February 1, with the metal continuing its fine performance since the turn of 2018. The three-month lead price hit a high of $2,668 per tonne earlier today, the highest since July 29, 2011, and closed just $3 shy of this high level. "The fundamental outlook for lead is strong with low exchange stocks while consumptio...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The membership of the World Jewelry & Diamond Hub, Panama, Latin America's first and only diamond exchange, has elected Edi Faltz as its new President.   He replaces Mahesh Khemlani, who had served in the position since September 2015.   The vote took place on January 10, following an earlier decision by the diamond exchange's management which appointed an...Read More

Finished long steel prices in Europe are expected to remain largely stable in February after rising steadily through January, market participants told Metal Bulletin this week.Domestic offer prices from European steel mills are still supported by high production costs and strong demand from end-users.Market participants expect domestic rebar prices in Northern Europe to remain strong in February,...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Aim-listed Stellar Diamonds is in advanced negotiations regarding a possible share offer for the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of the company by Australian exploration company Newfield Resources (NWF).Under the terms of the offer, Stellar's shareholders and the holders of rights over Stellar ordinary shares will receive in aggregate 95.5-million...Read More

(IDEX Online News) - There was a small decline in the IDEX polished diamond price index during January following a slight rise in December.   The Index began the month at 120.88 and ended at 119.21.                                         Outlook   Sentiment in the diamond centers was ge...Read More

RAPAPORT... WD Lab Grown Diamonds has created and sold a round, 6-caratsynthetic diamond that it claims is the first of its size and shape made usingthe chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. "We're excited about our new world record for roundlab-grown diamonds," said Clive Hill, founder and chairman at WD Lab GrownDiamonds. "This 6-carat white diamond would price similarly to a 3.5-caratmined...Read More

(IDEX Online News) - For the first time in many months, there was a clear upward trend in prices of round diamonds in January with most categories showing rises. This was particularly the case with the 0.30-0.39 to 0.70-0.79 carat categories.   There were relatively few decliners, although 0.45-0.49 carat diamonds in the L-M, IF-VVS1 category saw decreases of 2-3 percent, with similar declin...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Pangolin Diamonds has started a drill programme at its wholly-owned Malatswae and Moenyenana diamond projects, in Botswana.Drill results are expected to be announced by the end of the second quarter once analysed and confirmed by a qualified laboratory.Advertisement"We are encouraged by the team's hard work in identifying these targets an...Read More

The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday February 1.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were largely range bound Thursday morning in London.Here is how the LME base metals complex looked at 11:48am in London time. For a snapshot of our exchange news...Read More

RAPAPORT... Swiss watch and jewelry retailer Bucherer has acquiredTourneau, seeking a presence in the NorthAmerican luxury-timepiece market.  "With over a century of expertise as the preeminent purveyorof fine watches in the US, Tourneau provides an exciting opportunity for theBucherer Group to establish a footprint and extend our offering of fine watchesand jewelry to the US," said Guid...Read More

Good morning from Metal Bulletin's office in Shanghai, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday February 1.Nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with underwhelming data releases from China as well as soft demand from the country's stainless steel sector weighing on the metal's prices.Check Metal Bulletin's live f...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 1 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures edged down with SHFE aluminium leading the loss with a 1% drop. The ferrous complex saw mixed trading with hot-rolled coil up over 1% and rebar up slightly. Iron ore was down nearly 1%.Copper: Investors have reduced their long bets today, dragging SHFE copper lower. We expect copper prices to stay rangebound in the short term as the US w...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 1 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures edged down with SHFE aluminium leading the loss with a 1% drop. The ferrous complex saw mixed trading with hot-rolled coil up over 1% and rebar up slightly. Iron ore was down nearly 1%.Copper: Investors have reduced their long bets today, dragging SHFE copper lower. We expect copper prices to stay rangebound in the short term as the US w...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 1 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures edged down with SHFE aluminium leading the loss with a 1% drop. The ferrous complex saw mixed trading with hot-rolled coil up over 1% and rebar up slightly. Iron ore was down nearly 1%.Copper: Investors have reduced their long bets today, dragging SHFE copper lower. We expect copper prices to stay rangebound in the short term as the US w...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 4 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the Weekly Jobless Claims report. Consensus was an increase to 235,000 from 231,000 last week. Actual was 230,000. Fourth quarter reports continue to pour in. Companies that reported since yesterday's close included Alibaba, Alt...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 1 (SMM) – The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for nickel’s downstream industries in February is expected at 33.92, according to SMM survey. This is lower than 40.34 points for January as stainless steel mills will be in maintenance or see lower output due to Chinese New Year. For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn For more infor...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 1 (SMM) – China’s production of 10 nonferrous metals amounted to 53.78 million mt in 2017, up 3% from a year ago, according to data released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday January 31. The annual growth was up 0.5 percentage point from the previous year.According to the data, copper output was up 7.7% to 8.89 million mt, aluminium was...Read More