IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from July 22

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday July 22 that are worth another look.

The wide differential between ferro-vanadium prices in China and Europe has prompted some European vanadium suppliers to deliver their cargoes to China to take advantage of the more favorable price in the Asian country, market sources told Fastmarkets.

ERG has appointed Telf AG the exclusive offtaker for cobalt hydroxide produced at its Metalkol Roan Tailings & Reclamation (RTR) project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Fastmarkets understands.

Peruvian metals warehouse Logisminsa is in the process of building a lead concentrate storage and blending facility, a move that would break a Glencore-Trafigura duopoly in one of the world's top exporters of the commodity.

The premium for aluminium billet in Italy has fallen to its lowest in over two years due to aggressively low offers from suppliers and continued poor demand.

The global steel slab market has been squeezed by increased competition, higher production costs and modest demand in the principal sales outlets at the start of the third quarter of 2019. Suppliers in Russia, Ukraine and Brazil were facing low sales to the United States market because of the protectionist measures in place there. As a result, these suppliers have begun to look for alternative destinations for their slab shipments, such as Europe, Turkey and Asia.

Gold stocks weaker but outperform slump in other sectors

West Africa-focussed Robex and PDI to merge

Gold stocks outperform equity market gains

Most major producers rise but TSXV gold mixed

Platinum, palladium, copper gain on green China, supply constraints