Fastmarkets is launching seven new aluminium price assessments today, Thursday April 4 - including calcined pet coke, extrusion and flat-rolled products - to expand our coverage of the aluminium market from upstream to downstream.Following a month-long industry consultation, the new prices will be published at 3-4pm UK time on the first Thursday of the month, starting from April 4. They ...Read More

Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for its proposal to revise the frequency and specification of its copper concentrate treatment & refining charges (TC/RC) index until April 19.With regard to the frequency, responses to the original consultation agreed that the market is in need of a weekly index.In terms of the specification, the consultation on the base and range of concentra...Read More

Nickel stocks held in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses dropped by 10.3% week on week as of Thursday April 4, despite domestic demand from the major downstream consumption sector of stainless steel still being sluggish. Deliverable nickel stocks at SHFE-approved warehouses have fallen by 1,128 tonnes since March 29 to 9,794 tonnes as of this Thursday, which marks the third consecu...Read More

Brazilian automakers produced 695,730 light vehicles, trucks and buses during the first quarter of 2019, down by 0.6% compared with 699,754 units in the same period of 2018, national car manufacturers association Anfavea said on Thursday April 4.March had a weaker performance on an annual basis because of late Carnival festivities in 2019, but the data also showed a year-on-year output decrease in...Read More

US import offers for flat-rolled steel have not gained traction, with broadly stable prices abroad colliding with lower pricing in the domestic market - a trend that narrowed spreads between foreign and US product, market participants said.And in some cases - notably hot-rolled coil - US prices have moved below foreign offers, an inversion of normal market dynamics.Hot-rolled coilFastmar...Read More

Prices for steel rebar in the United States were steady for the moment, but market sentiment has become more mixed on reports that seasonal spring demand had yet to be heard or to provide a widespread boost to marketplace activity.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price of US domestic rebar remained at $35.25-36.50 per hundredweight ($705-730 per short ton) fob mill on Wednesday April 3.At the same t...Read More

Brazilian flat and long steel import volumes dropped year on year in March 2019, mainly due to reduced shipments from China, according to figures released this week by Brazil's foreign trade ministry, MDIC.Imports of flat steel products into the country declined by 5.05% year-on-year in March, to 121,515 tonnes, from 127,981 tonnes.China was the largest provider of flat steel to Brazil, with 93,91...Read More

Prices for domestic rebar and wire rod in Turkey were unchanged over the past seven days, with demand remaining weak, sources said on Thursday April 4. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey was TRY3,200-3,250 ($615-625) per tonne ex-works, unchanged week on week. Mayoral elections were held across Turkey on March 31, and buyers waiting...Read More

Polished market slow, with stableUS demand supporting the trade. Dealers under pressure as polished prices continueto soften. 1 ct. RAPI -0.5% in 1Q. Rough-market sentiment weak amid reports DeBeers is reducing 2019 supply. Manufacturers hoping reduced rough sales willease liquidity concerns. Signet 2018 sales -0.1% to $6.3B, loss of $690M vs.profit of $486M. Chow Sang Sang 2018 revenue +13% to $2...Read More

The story of how two prospectors, down to their last nickels, discovered diamonds in Canada's frozen north is the stuff of legend.Back in 1982, Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson laid low in a pup tent by day while their competitor De Beers hauled 45-gallon drums of rock samples to a nearby outpost for transport to South Africa. Using the long hours of summer sunlight north of the 65th parallel, the...Read More

Sentiment subdued amid reducedbank credit and tight rough-to-polished profit margins. Manufacturers loweringproduction in an effort to deplete inflated inventories and in anticipation oflower De Beers rough offerings. Good demand for nice-quality SIs, which are inshort supply. Buyers sensing midstream pressures and pushing for deeperdiscounts. Dealers focused on US, hoping for stronger 2Q restocki...Read More

Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) said Thursday it had concluded drilling on the Frischgewaagt and Hartbeesfontein farms, which form part of its Thorny River diamond project in South Africa.The next step, the miner said, is to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to start the bulk sampling program, which is expected during the second quarter of the year.Botswana Diamonds has also finished refurbis...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers is shutting its diamond-recycling division, as digital advancements in the sector have lessened the need for its services. The International Institute of Diamond Valuation (IIDV) wasset up in 2016 to repurchase and recycle diamond jewelry that consumers no longerwanted. De Beers began the operation after noting the difficulty consumersfaced in trying to sell their jewelry at a...Read More

Australia's Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) said Thursday it had signed funding and refinancing arrangements that will allow it to reduce debt related to developing its recently commissioned Mothae mine in Lesotho, South Africa.The diamond producer has inked deals with New Azilian and Equigold, following the delivery and de-risking of Mothae, which began commercial production in December."These new r...Read More

An Angolan delegation led by President Joao Lourenco has arrived in Moscow for a four-day visit. The Russian publication Kommersant wrote that "although this is the Angolan leader's first visit to Russia in this capacity, he does have first-hand knowledge about the Russian capital, since he studied at the Military-Political Academy here in 1978-1982. While attending the Russia-Angola business foru...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company hassigned a new refinancing agreement that will allow it to reduce its debts and further develop its Mothae mine in Lesotho. New Azilian will give theminer a one-year loan of $7 million, some of which it will put toward repayinga loan to Equigold ahead of schedule. That loan was taken out in 2017. Lucapa will also use thefunds from New Azilian as working ca...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sotheby's failed to find a buyer for three blue diamonds at its Hong Kong auction Tuesday. A cut-cornered, rectangular step-cut, fancy-vivid blue, 3.32-carat diamondring, valued at $5.9 million to $7.6million, was left unsold. The center stone was set between two trilliant-cut diamonds.Two cut-cornered, rectangular, modified brilliant-cut stones also failed to attract a buyer at t...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified mining company Anglo American is implementing new techniques that give the company far more control over its tailings dams, which have been thrown into the spotlight after the tragic loss of life at Brumadinho, in Brazil, where an iron-ore tailings dam collapsed at Vale’s Corrego do Feijao mine earlier this year killing hundreds of people....Read More

In her address to the 6th Forum of the Africa-Belgium Business Week, held in the Belgian town of Genval, Marie-Chantal Kaninda, Executive Director of World Diamond Council (WDC), expressed the WDC's optimism that Central African Republic (CAR) will soon be able to resume the unrestricted export of rough diamonds, supported by the Kimberley Process Certification System, and help turn the CAR...Read More

CEDEX, a blockchain-based trading platform for diamonds, said that ahead of its launch its diamond exchange-traded fund (ETF), it had secured more than 6,000 diamonds, worth some $50 million. The diamonds will provide traders with a variety of investment options prior to the launch of the fund. Quoting a lack of transparency, liquidity and fungibility as the reasons why diamonds have not become a...Read More