The Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) project will be a top 20 copper producer and a future third phase expansion would put it in the top five, the chief executive officer of Teck Resources Ltd said. The current Quebrada Blanca mine, located in the Tarapac?? Region of northern Chile, is expected to see cathode production end this year at reduced rates. QB2 will develop the deeper sulphide resource und...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 9 that are worth another look.Among the key talking points across the battery raw materials markets ahead of Fastmarkets' second annual Battery Materials Conference this week in Shanghai include the outlook for China's cobalt metal imports, cobalt hedging appetites, whether a shift to nickel-rich cathode chemistr...Read More
Chile's copper and lithium reserves will be in high demand for development by both domestic and international companies as a result of the ongoing push toward electro-mobilty, according to the country's Minister for Mining.Baldo Prokurica noted that Chile is the world's largest producer of copper and the world's second-largest producer of lithium, both key raw materials for electric vehicle (EV) b...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan is moving ahead at "full throttle" with plans to develop a new smelter in Indonesia in partnership with state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (PT Inalum), the chief executive officer of the US copper producer said.The smelter is part of a package agreed by the company and the government, ending several years of negotiations over the fate of Freeport's activities in Indonesia,...Read More
Sustainability is an essential factor in mining or corporations run the risk of serious economic and reputational damage, Codelco chief executive officer Nelson Pizarro said. The world looks at the mining industry very negatively when there are disasters such as landslides, wall collapses and tailings dam breaches, he said at CRU's 18th World Copper Conference in Santiago, Chil...Read More
The price of copper could go as high as $3 per lb ($6,610 per tonne) by June 2019, and stay above that threshold for the rest of the year and into 2020, although the upside was limited, Diego Hernandez, president of Chilean mining society Sonami, said on Monday April 8."We should reach $3 per lb around June-July and stay there, or a bit higher, during the second half of the year," he told Fastmark...Read More
The world will need the same amount of copper over the next 25 years that it has produced in the past 500 years if it is to meet global demand, according to the head of copper at global miner Rio Tinto.Arnaud Soirat, chief executive officer of the mining company's copper and diamonds division, said that consumption of copper arising from what he termed the "electrification of everything" made the...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices continued to rise on Tuesday April 9, although the upswing drove away buyers. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,990-4,000 yuan ($594-595) per tonne, up 30-40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,940-3,950 yuan per tonne, up 40 yuan per tonneSellers raised prices following an uptick in the futures market. Buyers, however, cut procurement rate...Read More
Rebar prices in eastern China surged further on Tuesday April 9 on an optimistic outlook among sellers for demand to strengthen over the rest of this month.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,070-4,100 yuan ($606-610) per tonne, up 70-90 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,960-3,990 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneEnd-user demand for rebar has been strong since mid-March and is expected...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. Latest transaction: rebarRebar East China, domestic, grade...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for steel billet, slab and bloom.Latest transaction: billetBillet China,...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transactions: hot-rolled coilHot-rolled coilEast China, domestic,...Read More
Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia dipped slightly over the past week amid softening demand in the region.Fastmarkets MB's weekly import price assessment for slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia was $490-495 per tonne cfr on Monday April 8, narrowing downward by $5 per tonne from $490-500 per tonne a week earlier.Mills in...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices corrected down slightly on Tuesday April 9 after surging past $95 per tonne cfr China on Monday.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $94.85 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.45 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $93.97 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.45 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $96.99 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.61 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Inde...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreVale, Beijing Iron...Read More
An absence of firm offers and bids kept participants in the seaborne coking coal market on the sidelines on Tuesday April 9, with buyers in particular waiting for prices to bottom out."Current seaborne coking coal prices are already 100-200 yuan ($14.90-$29.80) per tonne lower than those for domestic materials [in China]. We are just hesitating about whether the price advantage makes up for the de...Read More
The seaborne iron ore concentrate and pellet markets remained muted in the week ended on Friday April 5 despite the surges in iron-ore fines prices.ConcentrateFastmarkets' weekly MB 66% Fe Iron Ore Concentrate Index stood at $104.12 per tonne cfr China on Friday April 5, up by $7.39 per tonne from March 29.Fastmarkets' daily MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index averaged $103.64 per tonne cfr China last week,...Read More
The impending bankruptcy which Vietnam's Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Company is facing will have limited impact on the Vietnam ferrous scrap import market, market sources told Fastmarkets MB this week.This is because the state-owned company has not been buying imported ferrous scrap since the last quarter of 2018."The company lost its scrap import licence last year, and is only purchasi...Read More
Fastmarkets wishes to clarify a discrepancy in the publication of its 65% Fe Value-In-Use Index on March 11.The weekly Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Value-In-Use Index, indicating the value of a 1% iron content differential in the 63-66% Fe range, was published incorrectly as $1.73 per tonne in the MBIOI email alert and PDF attachment on March 11 and subsequent dates due to an administrative erro...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend during morning trading on Tuesday April 9, trading firmly above $6,500 per tonne amid easing trade tensions and a marked slowdown in the dollar index surge. Volumes traded in the red metal top the complex so far this morning, with 5,440 lots changing hands as of 9:20am London time. Zinc's trading volume was just behind...Read More