Trading activity for seaborne hard coking coal picked up this week, with Chinese market participants flagging interest for low-ash, low-sulfur materials. Tier-two cargoes were heard to have changed hands at around $182-185 per tonne fob Australia this week, market participants told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday January 17. "The pick-up in the trading of second-tier materials is along expected lines...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices retreated on Wednesday January 17, as end-users took a cautious approach to procurement amid narrowing marginsMetal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore IndexToday: $74.51 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: Down by $1.20 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $76.79 per tonneMetal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium IndexToday: $61.47 per tonne...Read More
Prices for physical iron ore retreated further on Wednesday January 17 amid concerns of a weakening Chinese steel market, and along with them, margins.Key driversPrices for both seaborne iron ore and port materials declined, tracking the general downtrend in the paper market for most of the day, though the benchmark contract for iron ore picked up just before the close of the trading session.China...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were little changed during morning trading on Wednesday January 17, with prices looking to consolidate after Tuesday's sell off. The three-month aluminium price came under pressure yesterday, closing down 2%. But they have edged $2 higher this morning. "Aluminium came under additional selling pressure after reports that the production hub of Xinjiang...Read More
Key data from Metal Bulletin's Wednesday January 17 pricing session in Europe.Gallium Metal MB free market $/kg Key drivers:- Escalating Chinese prices have driven European prices higher.- There is a lack of supply in the market.Key quotes:"Domestic Chinese prices...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Chinese cobalt sulfate consumers have reduced their procurement of material following the new year holiday and while waiting for clearance on the government's 2018 subsidy policy on electric vehicles (EVs).The final subsidy policy on EV sales for 2018 is expected at the end of January, which is when it has been announced in recent years. Speculation over the new policy, however, has meant buyers h...Read More
Stainless steel prices are expected to weaken in Asia on lower demand during the first quarter of this year, while prices in Europe and North America are likely to continue to be supported by strong demand.Asia to see price dropAsian stainless steel prices are expected to drop in the January-March quarter amid soft demand.In the first quarter, China and some other major Asian stainless steel marke...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday January 17:Aluminium scrap Group 1 pure 99% & litho: ?1,420-1,470 per tonne from...Read More
Taiwan's ferrous scrap imports tumbled 29% year on year in November, according to the territory's customs agency.The island imported 172,320 tonnes of ferrous scrap that month, 70,354 tonnes lower than the 242,674 tonnes it took in a year earlier, data...Read More
North Arrow Minerals Inc. (TSXV: NAR) is pushing toward a preliminary economic assessment at its 100% owned Naujaat diamond project in the Melville Peninsula, Nunavut, while carefully balancing five other diamond projects across Canada.The Naujaat project hosts the Q1-4 kimberlite which contains 48.8 million tonnes measuring 53.6 carats per hundred tonnes for 26.1 million carats. The kimberlite is...Read More
Nicaragua-focused Condor Gold (LON:CNR) (TSX:COG) expects to begin construction at its 100%-owned La India Project in the first half of the year, following the reception of final permits currently being processed by the country's government.The company, which just this week started trading in the Toronto Stock Exchange, knows that acquiring the pending licences would not only represent a signifi...Read More
Namibia's top diamond producer, Namdeb, a 50/50 joint venture company between the country's government and De Beers, has begun offering early and voluntary retirement to at least 130 of its 1,700 workers, Xinhua reports.According to the agency, the move seeks to ensure the sustainability of Namdeb land-based operations, which is facing potential sales, Mineworkers Union of Namibia Oranjemund branc...Read More
Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world's largest iron ore producer, confirmed Wednesday it is in talks with BHP Billiton over the future of their Samarco joint venture, including the possibility of the Brazilian miner taking full ownership.During a meeting with investors and analysts in Sao Paulo, Vale's investor relations director, Andr?(C) Figueiredo, said it seemed "natural" for the company to become the...Read More
Presidential candidate for the conservative National Integration Party (PIN in Spanish), Diego Castro, caused controversy in Costa Rica after he called environmentalist groups "eco-terrorists."Castro, who has been compared by local media to Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, as well as accused of right-wing populism, said that if he wins the election, he would not yield to ecologists' "petty demand...Read More
Australia's Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) has discovered more large diamonds at its prolific Lulo project in Angola, including a 43-carat yellow stone, the largest coloured gem-quality rock ever recovered at the mine.The company also found a 116-carat low-quality diamond, the tenth +100 carat stone recovered from Lulo since mining operations began two years ago. It's also the second +100 carat rock re...Read More
Even though it sees only minor gains for gold in 2018, with average prices rounding $1358 an ounce, bullion trader Sharps Pixley says it is important to add the yellow metal to one's assets. "Why so?," the company's CEO Ross Norman writes in a press release. "2016 and 2017 saw gold higher on strong spec buying in Q1, taking the market above the level of most physical buyers, before retracing in Q4...Read More
MGX Minerals (CSE: XMG) and Highbury Energy have partnered to prepare a detailed process to extract metals such as nickel, vanadium, and cobalt from petroleum coke.According to a press release, Highbury's experts in thermochemical gasification are assisting MGX in designing a process to generate hydrogen gas and concentrate metals in the form of ash byproduct. Since petcoke is itself a carbon bypr...Read More
Shares in Eldorado Gold (TSX:ELD)(NYSE:EGO) were slightly up on Tuesday after the company announced full-year production that came in line with production guidance, but suspended its semi-annual dividend payment "pending the results of the technical reports and potential subsequent capital requirements."In a press release, the Vancouver-based miner revealed that, including pre-commercial productio...Read More
https://www.reuters.com/LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Palladium, the hottest property in the precious metals deck last year, is tipped for a record performance in 2018 even among bearish forecasters, but the metal could become a victim of its own success.The prospect of sharply higher prices could well prompt substitution of the metal for cheaper platinum in autocatalysts and higher recycling v...Read More