Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More

The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More

The Critical Investor delves into Meridian Mining's exploration at its 100% optioned Caba?al VMS Copper-Gold Project in Brazil, and the first set of assays from a large drill program. As copper is closing on to all-time highs, trading at US$4.42/lb Cu at the time of writing (peaking in 2011 at US$4.6285/lb Cu), Meridian Mining UK S (MNO:TSX.V) came out with its first set of assays from its 100% o...Read More

Peter Krauth of Gold Resource Investor provides his take on MMT and explains why he believes its effects will drive precious metals and commodities much higher. Modern Monetary Theory or MMT, as it's better known, is a recurring theme that's not likely to go away. However, there's nothing modern about it, it's not about money (it's about currency), and it's no longer a theory.We've certainly not...Read More

Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe narrowed upward on Wednesday April 28 with production costs continuing to soar, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,070-1,120 ($1,292-1,353) per tonne on April 28, narrowing upward from ?,?1,050-1,120 per tonne on April 21."There is no sense in anything. The...Read More

Domestic prices for flat-rolled steel in the United States are expected to remain high throughout the second quarter, but decrease slightly in the third and fourth quarters, although not significantly, Ternium chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on Wednesday April 28.The executive said demand in the US was strong, and he doesn't expect any material improvement on the supply side this year....Read More

China will reduce the export rebate rates for some steel products from May 1, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday April 28.Steel products with HS codes 7205-7307 will be affected, which includes hot-rolled coil, rebar, wire rod, hot rolled and cold-rolled sheet, plate, H beams and stainless steel, the ministry said.Market chatter about the cancellation of steel export rebate rates have...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 28 that are worth another look.Latin American steelmaker Ternium plans to focus mainly on supplying its own slab needs in Mexico and selling any excess to the domestic market via its slab mill in Brazil, chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on...Read More

Domestic prices for flat-rolled steel in the United States are expected to remain high throughout the second quarter, but decrease slightly in the third and fourth quarters, although not significantly, Ternium chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on Wednesday April 28.The executive said demand in the US was strong, and he doesn't expect any material improvement on the supply side this year....Read More

GOOD NEWS… The rebound in gold prices from their recent low has awakened new fervor among those looking for the elusive moonshot. The ‘obvious’ signs of much higher inflation have emboldened those who are inclined to predict ever higher gold prices.Contrastingly, the chart of GLD prices pictured below doesn’t look all that great… At this point, a further one-...Read More

The markets for high- and low-carbon ferro-chrome in Europe softened in the week ended Tuesday April 27 following weakening in the markets in Asia, particularly China.Fastmarkets' price assessment for ferro-chrome, 0.10% C, average 65-70% Cr, delivered Europe, was $1.87-2.36 per lb Cr on April 27, a fall of 4-26 cents per lb Cr (6.6%) from $2.13-2.40 per lb Cr on March 30.There was a big fall at t...Read More

An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Ewa Manthey and Dalila Ouerghi...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 28 that are worth another look.Latin American steelmaker Ternium plans to focus mainly on supplying its own slab needs in Mexico and selling any excess to the domestic market via its slab mill in Brazil, chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on...Read More

There may be significant swings in the prices and trade flows in the steelmaking raw materials market if the Covid-19 situation in India continues to worsen, sources told Fastmarkets.India has had a record-breaking number of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks - breaching the 300,000 mark several times over the week to April 27 - while vaccinations fail to stem the tide of infections.Higher pellet pric...Read More

The Malaysian Smelting Corp (MSC) will only return to pre-pandemic smelting levels at the end of the year and will restrict its ore intake "both in respect of quantity and quality" in the coming months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company told suppliers this week.In a note to suppliers sent on Monday April 26, MSC said that the pandemic had "severely affected" its smelting capacity and that i...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices in the fob and cfr markets diverged on Wednesday April 28, with tight supply in the cfr market, especially for premium hard coking coal materials.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $112.21 per tonne, down by $1.25 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $225.00 per tonne, up by $2.28 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.62 per tonne, do...Read More

It's time to get to The Truth about silver, and we the people have to power to uncover it... by Craig Hemke via Sprott Money NewsThere are many of us "keyboard warriors" who believe that the current fractional reserve and digital derivative pricing scheme is unfair and rife with fraud. There are also a handful of system apologists who claim that the current scheme is fair and equitable and that s...Read More

Chinese copper smelters with tolling licenses have begun to export copper cathodes due to the emergence of an export arbitrage window between London and Shanghai, sources told Fastmarkets.The arbitrage window started to become viable in the latter part of last week, with the copper price on the London Metal Exchange strongly outperforming its counterpart on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. The LME t...Read More

Get a clear picture on the status and the outlook of the silver market...by Claudio Grass with David Morgan via Claudiograss.chInterview with David Morgan: Part I of IIThe past year has been a remarkably interesting time for precious metals and especially for silver. The metal had spent many years in the shadow of its "big brother", but it made an impressive, roaring comeback that grabbed headlin...Read More

RAPAPORT... eBay has introduced an escrow service for purchases of expensive watches, aiming to enhance consumer trust in high-end digital shopping.The option allows buyers and sellers an "added convenience" via a "trusted" third party, Escrow.com, which holds funds until the transaction is complete, eBay said Monday. The online marketplace will not charge processing fees on transactions, and...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers is considering underground mining at its Jwaneng open-pit deposit in Botswana as a "likely approach" to extending the life of the world's most valuable diamond mine beyond the mid-2030s."The underground mining project is still in the study phase and is yet to be approved," a De Beers spokesperson said Tuesday in an email to Rapaport News. "If approved, it would have the potent...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gemfields clocked its highest auction revenue since March 2016 at a sale of emeralds from its Kagem mine in Zambia amid strong pricing and increased demand.Revenue from a series of five mini-auctions between March 15 and April 17 reached $31.4 million as 59 companies placed bids, Gemfields said last week. The miner sold 271,000 carats of emeralds at an average price of $116 per carat,...Read More