Key data from the June 3 pricing session in London and Shanghai. Key drivers:  Fastmarkets' daily fob Australia alumina index stabilized just above $360 per tonne amid recent steady buying interest from China, where buyers have been covering units required as...Read More

The lead import arbitrage in China re-opened in May causing lead concentrate imports to rise and lead concentrate treatment charges (TCs) to tumble, while spot terms for zinc concentrates stabilized. Fastmarkets' TCs index for low-silver lead concentrates dropped to a 19-month low of $5-15 per tonne on a cif China basis on Friday May 31, from $15-35 per tonne at the end of April. Several deal...Read More

Aurubis has entered into a long-term supply contract with Teck Resources to source copper concentrates over a 10-year period from the second phase of Teck's Quebrada Blanca (QB2) open-pit project in the Tarapac?? Region of Chile, Fastmarkets learned.German copper producer Aurubis will garner a 'significant amount' of copper concentrates over the period, while the QB2 mine is set to initiate mining...Read More

Employees at the Chuquicamata division of Codelco have continued to work while trying to secure a deal with the company, despite having voted for industrial action, the three workers' trade unions involved said on Saturday June 1.The unions began negotiating with Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco's representatives on May 31, with Chilean labor authorities mediating the talks. The strike...Read More

Denison Mines of Toronto is ready to begin the rigorous environmental impact assessment of its 90% owned Wheeler River in situ uranium project in the Athabasca Basin.Both the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment have accepted the Wheeler River provincial technical proposal and federal project description.Denison has also said that it has executed a number...Read More

Copper stocks in Shanghai-bonded warehouses fell in May from the prior month after it became profitable to import the red metal into China amid a brief opening of the London-Shanghai import arbitrage window. Aluminium and nickel stocks in the bonded zone fell last month while zinc inventories recorded their seventh consecutive monthly increase owing to a closed arbitrage window and lackluster dema...Read More

Chile's state-owned copper producer Codelco has halted part of its operation at the El Teniente mine following an accident on Sunday June 2.An operator was fatally wounded when working in the Pilar Norte sector of the mine, the company's statement said. "As soon as the event occurred, the work in...Read More

In situ recovery needs only a small surface deposit to mine the uranium resources of the Phoenix deposit. (Image: Denison Mines)SASKATCHEWAN - Denison Mines of Toronto is ready to begin the rigorous environmental impact assessment of its 90% owned Wheeler River in situ uranium project in the Athabasca Basin.Both the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment ha...Read More

Merchant bar quality (MBQ) steel prices in the United States have receded after late-April's mill cuts, while market sentiment overall remains weak for much of the country. Fastmarkets AMM assessed domestic 2- x 2- x 1/4-in angle merchant bar at a 12-month low of $35.80 per hundredweight ($716 per short ton) fob mill on Friday May 31, down by 3.4% from $37.05 per cwt previously and off by 5.9...Read More

The optimism in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) export billet market has faded after the news of the reduction in import duty for Turkish steel into the United States in May initially supported it, which dragged prices down.The removal of the extra import duty failed to revive demand for Turkish rebar in the US, leading to a decrease in prices for both long steel products and steel sc...Read More

RAPAPORT... Benn Harvey-Walker makes a living as co-founder and directorof business development of Ethical Jewellery Australia, but he's made a namefor himself as a blogger who espouses the benefits of making the industry morethoughtful and less harmful to all involved. The bespoke retail jeweler,advocate, and watchdog in Brisbane, Australia, has earned a reputation as avoice of authority and reas...Read More

A 50:50 joint venture between Luxembourg-based trader/steel producer Duferco and United States steelmaker Nucor Corp has announced plans to build a ?,?150 million steel beam rolling mill in Brescia, Northern Italy.The Duferdofin-Nucor mill is expected to be fully operational by mid-2022 and will have an annual production of more than 1 million tonnes of...Read More

RAPAPORT... Retail sales of jewelry and other luxury items fell in HongKong in April due to cautious consumer sentiment and a slowdown in tourism. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts dropped 11% year on year to HKD 5.86 billion ($747.8 million), themunicipality's Census and Statistics Department reported last week. Sales inall retail categories slipped 4.5% to HKD 37...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company garnered $10 million at its secondrough sale of 2019, achieving an average price of $1,800 per carat. The miner sold 5,573 carats at the tender, it said Monday.The diamonds are from the company's Lulo alluvial mine in Angola. Tender sales came to $22.1 million for thefirst half of 2019, at an average of $3,668 per carat. The miner held back some special sto...Read More

Demand for flat steel in Turkey improved in May especially in the export market, after the United States halved its import tariffs for Turkish steel to 25%, market participants told Fastmarkets. And local producers have now filled their order books until August, they said on Friday May 31. Turkish steel prices also began to increase from May 17, when the US duties wer...Read More

RAPAPORT... The RapNet community has voted overwhelmingly againstintroducing services for the lab-grown-diamond sector. Members voted by 79% to 21% against the trading platformlisting synthetics on the site. They also rejected a lab-grown pricelist, with 74% voting "no." The poll took place on RapNet last week. The audienceapplauded when Martin Rapaport, Chairman of the Rapaport Group, revealed t...Read More

RAPAPORT... GGTL Laboratories has developed technology that can match a stolen diamond to its identification report, even after it is recut to hide its origin. Technicians use a range of analytical identification data found in the stone, similar to a fingerprint. The information, which is derived through spectral and imagingdata, maps the internal features of a diamond. Those parameters are t...Read More

German turnaround investor Mutares has completed the acquisition of TrefilUnion, the French wire products subsidiary of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, it said on Monday June 3.The value of the acquisition was not disclosed.TrefilUnion is comprised of two plants in Commercy and Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine, both in Eastern France. It was a part of ArcelorMittal's WireSolutions business, which has three othe...Read More

The success of public-private joint venture Debmarine Namibia illustrates the possibilities of marine extraction activities attaining environmental sustainability, local empowerment of communities and economic progression.The marine diamond recovery partnership between the government of Namibia and De Beers Group contributes about 70% to the country’s total diamond production, while being hi...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will offer provenance reports for colored diamonds, expanding its existing service matching polished to the original rough. The organization analyzes the physical measurements andother scientific data from natural rough stones and assigns each a uniqueidentification number. When a polished diamond bearing that same rough ID is submitted f...Read More