China's domestic hot-rolled coil market edged up further on Thursday March 21 even though trading activity has started to decline, while export prices are expecting to weaken on inactivity.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,870-3,890 yuan ($577-580) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,850 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneDemand for HRC sold at the existing 16% valu...Read More

The Fed doubled down on its dovish stance. What card will gold play now? Fed Remains Patient Yesterday, the FOMC published the monetary policy statement from its latest meeting that took place on March 19-20th. In line with the expectations, the US central bank unanimously kept its interest rates unchanged. The federal funds rate remained at the target range of 2.25 to 2.50 percent: The Committee...Read More

Beauce Gold Fields (TSX: BGF) announced this week that it is testing a new Russian technology at Quebec's Rang St-Gustave Road in St-Simon-les-Mines.In detail, the miner is conducting a high resolution mobile electromagnetic or TDEM survey that measures electrical chargeability and electrical conductivity at a horizontal resolution of 15cm. In a press release, Beauce Gold said the system also allo...Read More

Stocks were mixed on Wednesday following the Fed's Rate Decision release. We saw an increased volatility after the announcement, but overall there wasn't much of a change. The S&P 500 index was the highest since the early October on Tuesday. But will the rally continue despite short-term technical overbought conditions?The U.S. stock market indexes were mixed between -0.5% and +0.1% on Wednesd...Read More

Where do things stand with the CFTC/DOJ "investigations" and "cases" of gold & silver market manipulation? Here's an update on where things stand...Blip.On the radar.Let's keep it like that.Because this plane ain't landed.And people want to see it on the ground.But planes seem to be dropping like flies lately.Back in November, 2018, a JP Morgan trader pleaded guilty.He pleaded guilty to charges of...Read More

"At some point, Americans will become aware of the monetary properties of gold and silver. However, when they finally do, domestic silver..."by Steve St. Angelo of SRSrocco ReportWith the latest release by the USGS, silver production in the U.S. is now the lowest in more than 70 years. We have to go all the way back until the year after World War II ended to see U.S. silver production less tha...Read More

Investing.com - Gold prices rose on Thursday in Asia after the Federal Reserve ruled out the chances of any interest rate hike this year.Gold futures were up 1.3% at $1318.45 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange by 1:00 AM ET (05:00 GMT)The Fed left rates unchanged overnight amid concerns over slowing growth both domestically and abroad and abandoned projections for any intere...Read More

Gold is currently trading at $1,318, the highest level since Feb. 28 and could soon probe the resistance at $1,321 (61.8% Fib R of $1,346.75/$1,281.01).  The Fed kept rates unchanged as expected, but signaled no rate hike for 2019, as opposed to forecasts by major investment banks that the dot plot would show one rate hike each for 2019 and 2020.  The dollar, therefore, was offered acros...Read More

The European molybdenum markets fell this week after suppliers cut their offer prices amid resistance from consumers and muted buyer appetite in the region. Both the alloy and oxide markets fell this week from their multi-month highs reached a week ago, with an abundance of ferro-molybdenum in the spot market pulling prices down, market sources said. Fastmarkets assessed the price of European...Read More

The Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices inched up on Thursday March 21 with news of a fresh deep-sea cargo trade.A steel producer in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $321 per tonne cfr, late on March 20.This compared with the previous Baltic Sea cargo sold on...Read More

The world's largest miner BHP (ASX, NYSE:BHP) took a key step this week towards increasing its presence in Ecuador, the new darling of copper prospectors, by signing an earn-in and joint venture deal with Canada's Luminex Resources (TSX-V:LR).The Vancouver-based miner, which has already enlisted big names such as Anglo American and First Quantum for its other three Ecuadorian assets, has given BH...Read More

Up to 20% of the DRC's cobalt is mined by hand, often by children with picks and shovel. (Image: Screenshot from Congo Cobalt MinesVideo | YouTube.)Human rights advocate Amnesty International has accused the electric vehicle (EV) industry of selling itself as environmentally friendly, while most of the batteries they produce use polluting fossil fuels and unethically sourced minerals.In a report...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday March 21 that are worth another look.Non-ferrous scrap market participants in the United States are bracing for massive trade disruptions as a result of impending Chinese import restrictions - and a rumored quota system - set to take effect on Monday July 1. The use of Fastmarkets MB's iron ore indices in physical contract...Read More

Deliveries of copper concentrate from Mongolia's Erdenet mine were disrupted in early March after several top managers were dismissed in a restructuring program ordered by the country's government, although production continued as normal, Fastmarkets has learned.The Erdenet mine produces 530,000 tonnes per year of ores and is one of Asia's biggest copper and molybdenum mines.Erdenet is known as 't...Read More

The Zambian Revenue Authority (ZRA) is now awaiting further instructions from the government on the implementation of the new sales tax, while industry sources are raising doubts on the likelihood of a April 1 launch date citing lack of infrastructure support for the nationwide measure. The ZRA had targeted a launch date for its sales tax of April 1, 2019, it told Fastmarkets in an emailed stateme...Read More

Sluggish demand from domestic aluminium smelters in China, along with the VAT cut from 16% to 13% on April 1, led to a further drop in alumina prices this week.Fastmarkets' price assessment for Chinese free market Metallurgical grade alumina, delivered duty paid, was 2,680-2,700 yuan ($400-403) per tonne on Thursday March 21, down from 2,690-2,710 yuan per tonne a week ago. The...Read More

Comex copper prices sprang upward in morning trading on Thursday March 21 amid a dovish tone from the Federal Reserve, easing speculation of a near-term rate hike. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.65 cents to $2.9275 per lb. As anticipated by the overall marketplace, the US Fed decided not to lift rates and signaled that they ex...Read More

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has lifted a ban on the export of cobalt and copper concentrates imposed in February but maintained the threat of its future enforcement. In a letter to the National Federation of Enterprises (FEC) seen by Fastmarkets and dated March 20, Minister of Mines Henri Yav Mulang said the government will review every six months whether to reimpose the ban. "I would l...Read More

Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Thursday March 21* Copper -$159.94 (-1,070.61 yuan) Aluminium -$299.04 (-2,001.68 yuan) Zinc -$200.4 (-1,339.65 yuan) Nickel -$273.72 (-1,832.21 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE...Read More

In the United States flat-rolled steel market, prices for imported material remain too close to those for domestic products to make offshore buys attractive, market participants told Fastmarkets AMM.The gap between domestic and foreign prices might appear to make offshore deals compelling at first glance - but not once widespread discounts to mill list prices are taken into account, sources e...Read More