The London Metal Exchange three-month lead price continued to rise over the day's trading on Wednesday September 25, closing up by 2.4% on the previous day at $2,107 per tonne.
Market analysts attribute the increase to prevailing supply tailwinds at a time when global demand for material is forecast to grow. Nyrstar's Port Pirie smelter closure in Australia, due to take 30,000 tonnes of material offline, and unspecified capacity loss from an indefinite strike at Japanese miner Sumitomo's Bolivian San Cristobal mine is starting to affect the market. Workers at San Cristobal, which has annual output of 210,000 tonnes of zinc contained in concentrate, have been on an indefinite strike since August 19 due...