Key data from the June 20 pricing session in London and Shanghai.Fastmarkets' benchmark daily fob Australia alumina index declined to $332.38 per tonne - a fresh low since August 24, 2017 - on Thursday June 20 from $338.71 per tonne on the previous day. Key drivers:The market remains under pressure due to the presence of several unplaced cargoes in the market for July and September. Buyers ar...Read More

The hit of 622m grading 0.6% copper and 0.2 grams per tonne gold from 204m depth (including 188m at 0.9% copper and 0.Read More

Metals trader Trafigura has refuted claims from Iceberg Research, the analytics outfit that launched an explosive campaign against Noble Group, that it has overvalued "hundreds of millions [of dollars] in debt securities issued by an associate."Iceberg's claims - made in a report published on Wednesday June 19 - center on Trafigura's valuation of debt securities linked to its Porto Sudeste asset,...Read More

-Gary TanashianIt's not a chart of nominal HUI with upside technical targets. We'll do that in NFTRH this weekend, along with the usual individual miners. Rather, it's a companion to other charts we've been reviewing over the last several months showing the under valuation of the gold stock sector relative to gold's performance vs. cyclical assets/markets. For example, gold has risen strongl...Read More

- Steve St. Angelo, SRSrocco Report After five long years, the gold price has finally broken through a key resistance level and is now heading towards $1,400. When the Fed announced possible rate cuts starting in July, after the market closed, the gold price shot up and continued higher during Asian trading. If gold closes above $1,400 by the end of the month, it could be setting the stag...Read More

- Gary SavagePost FOMC update:Read More

Gold prices shot to their highest settlement since 2013 on Thursday, as investors flocked to the metal after the U.S. Federal Reserve left key interest rates unchanged but shifted away from its "patient" stance on monetary policy. "Central banks everywhere are preparing to cut rates and re-start [quantitative easing], opening up a new front in the global trade war," said Adrian Ash, director of re...Read More

The need for flexible sourcing of direct-reduced iron (DRI) production feedstock will continue over the next three to five years, market participants said at Fastmarkets' 7th World DRI and Pellet Congress in Dubai this week.Steel mills in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are using alternative DRI feedstock such as [lower iron content] blast furnace-grade (BF) pellet and lump iron ore...Read More

Gold prices settled lower Wednesday, easing back from the previous day's settlement at their highest in 14 months, then climbed after the U.S. Federal Reserve left key interest rates unchanged, but shifted away from its "patient" stands on rates. In a statement that followed the gold futures' settlement, the Fed held benchmark interest rates steady between 2.25%-2.50%. However, officials also sai...Read More

Steel producers in Turkey passed the day without any deep-sea bookings while they digested falling prices, sources said on Thursday June 20.After booking a US cargo at lower prices on Wednesday June 19, the mills went quiet in the deep-sea markets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region had booked the US cargo comprising 18,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $278.50 per tonne and 7,000 tonnes...Read More

Gold prices climbed on Tuesday to settle at their highest in 14 months, as comments made by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi were seen as setting the stage for lower interest rates. Draghi's comments came ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement due Wednesday. While Fawad Razaqzada, technical anlalyst at Forex.com, does not expect the central bank to announce a cu...Read More

More dovish central bank talk, this time from the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), has pumped fuel into the price rebounds in equities, bonds and the metals this morning, Thursday June 20.Markets had started to rebound at the start of the week on the back of optimism that a US-China trade talks may start making progress again, but prices then consolidated on Wednesday.FOMC leaves door open...Read More

Cobalt trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per lb on an in-warehouse basis. Delivered prices are netted back. Fastmarkets prices Click here for Fastmarkets' price assessment for standard-grade cobalt, in-warehouse, $ per lb Click here for Fastmarkets' price assessment for alloy-grade cobalt, in-warehouse, $ per lb Click her...Read More

Pilbara Minerals will restrict its lithium production in June and July due to reduced demand in the second quarter of 2019 caused by delays in the commissioning of chemical conversion capacity by the company's key offtake partners in China. Delays to the construction of chemical conversion capacity at Ganfeng Lithium and General Lithium resulted in lower-than-expected sales of lithium spodumene th...Read More

Driving through central Florida this week, I was pretty bummed out.I remember, many years ago, driving through this part of the state as a kid.My folks would always stop at the same roadside stands where families of Vietnamese farmers sold fresh oranges and grapefruits. They were so delicious and gave us something to eat during those hour-long treks through little more than flat grasslands and ora...Read More

Fastmarkets has identified seven main takeaways on the lithium market from Fastmarkets' 11th Lithium Supply and Markets Conference in Santiago last week.1. New investments are keyA scarcity of capital in the lithium sector is a concern for many market participants given the expected growth of downstream demand.Although consumption of lithium carbonate equivalent consumption is on track to reach 1...Read More

China's hot-rolled coil prices were stable on Thursday June 20 amid a pick-up in sentiment following futures gains and more expensive iron ore,even though downstream demand has not shown any significant improvement.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,770-3,780 yuan ($546-547) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,760-3,780 yuan per tonne, widening upward 10 yuan per tonnePrices...Read More

Brazilian apparent steel consumption soared by 28.2% year on year in May, national steel association A??o Brasil said on Wednesday June 19.The country's steel use came to 1.74 million tonnes last month compared with 1.36 million tonnes in May 2018, according to the association. In May 2018, the Brazilian steel market was affected by a truckers' strike, which resulted in production constraints...Read More

Declining ferrous scrap costs combined with continued slow demand have worked to bring US steel reinforcing bar prices to their lowest levels in nearly 15 months. Fastmarkets AMM's biweekly price assessment for US domestic rebar fell to $32.50-33.50 per hundredweight ($650-670 per short ton) fob mill on Wednesday June 19, down by 2.2% from $33.50-34 per cwt two weeks ago. The assessment last...Read More

Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod prices have weakened in line with the falling imported scrap values and limited demand over the past week, sources said on Thursday June 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey was TRY3,160-3,190 ($542-547) per tonne ex-works, down from last week's TRY3,200-3,220 per tonne,...Read More