Cobalt metal prices have continued to rally so far this week, with the latest round of Chinese buying tightening supply and emboldening sellers to hold out for higher prices. "Metal continues to move upward day by day, and you can't get the same low offers you got the day before," a distributor source told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam moved...Read More

Stausholm replaces J-S Jacques, who was forced to resign over the Juukan Gorge blast.Stausholm joined Rio in 2018 as CFO and executive director from Maersk.A University of Copenhagen graduate, Stausholm spent 19 years with Royal Dutch Shell before joining ISS in 2008 and then Maersk in 2012. Rio chairman Simon Thompson said Stausholm had made a significant contribution to the company since jo...Read More

Mills in Bangladesh purchased three bulk cargoes in the last week, with prices easing gently, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.Low scrap inventory, together with continuing difficulties in obtaining containers and ballooning shipping rates, led several steelmakers in the South Asian country to inquire for tonnages in bulk.A Bangladeshi mill booked a 38,000-tonne composite cargo at a...Read More

British steel scrap suppliers have achieved hefty price increases for steel scrap grades delivered monthly to domestic consumers for January amid a surge in demand for exports, industry sources told Fastmarkets this week. The UK steel scrap consumer market has extended monthly prices increases for the third month in a row, citing reduced scrap generation for the past several months that is showing...Read More

Turkish steel producers continued to hold back from deep-sea scrap purchases with sentiment turning negative, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.Since a number of steel scrap cargoes were booked at the end of last week, mills have been quiet.The number of offers from suppliers in the United States and Russia, however, has increased, according to sources."Suppl...Read More

Russian mining company Nornickel is to join the Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network (RSBN), an industry collaboration across the minerals supply chain that uses blockchain to support responsible sourcing and production practises from mine to market.The move will see Nornickel's supply chains - including each stage of the company's vertically-integrated operations, from Russian mines to refiner...Read More

The base metals on the London Metal Exchange and on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed this morning, Thursday January 14, with prices generally holding up in high ground but some weakness is showing up on the charts in the likes of zinc. But reports that US President-elect Joe Biden is considering a fiscal relief package that could be as large as $2 trillion may well underpin further gains i...Read More

In an era of historically low interest rates, investors are desperately looking for value. If current activity is anything to go by, they believe it lies in commodities.That is because prices of key commodities are steadily gaining; copper has hit eight-year highs above $8,000 per tonne, nickel is at six-and-half year highs near $18,000 per tonne, and iron ore prices are at levels last seen in 201...Read More

Cobalt metal prices have continued to rally so far this week, with the latest round of Chinese buying tightening supply and emboldening sellers to hold out for higher prices. "Metal continues to move upward day by day, and you can't get the same low offers you got the day before," a distributor source told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam moved...Read More

A summary of Australia-based spodumene concentrate miner Galaxy Resources' preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2020, released on Wednesday January 13.In brief Galaxy produced 33,344 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene concentrate at a grade of 5.92% Li2O at its Mount Cattlin mine in Western Australia during the...Read More

I know it's been a very tense start to 2021.Between the continued spread of COVID-19 and a nation that seems to get more and more divided by the day, it's hard to stay positive.At times like these, I find that weed, plenty of exercise, and an increased focus on work help keep me from falling into a vortex of anger and depression.The silver lining is that in my line of work, the more I focus on wor...Read More

ANGOLD Resources Ltd. (TSXV:AAU, FRA:13L1) is an exploration and development company that recently commenced trading on the TSX Venture Exchange, following the successful completion of its acquisition of Federal Gold Corp. and concurrent subscription receipt financing of $8,000,000. We learned from Adrian Rothwell, who is President, CEO and Director of ANGOLD, that they see the opportunity to brin...Read More

The cobalt intermediates spot payable has surged to 90% on the high end - a fresh historical high - this week against the backdrop of tight supply and healthy demand. Fastmarkets' assessment for the cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China rose to 88-90% against the standard-grade cobalt metal price (low end) on Wednesday January 13, up by 2% from 86-88.5% on January 8. The l...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 14 that are worth another look.In 2020, the global pig iron market faced the threat of a demand slump due to the reduction in steel production from all major outlets under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic.Rio Tinto is...Read More

We recently implemented some security upgrades and this may be impacting the downloading of some INK PDF reports including today's morning report. While we review the situation please try the following possible work arounds:1. In the morning report email, instead of clicking on it to view, try to download the PDF Report and then view it from your download file location on your computer2. Try to do...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have reached their highest level in at least 60 years, Fastmarkets has learned. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $58 per hundredweight ($1,160 per short ton) on Thursday January 14, up by 6.7% from $54.38 per cwt on Wednesday January 13 and an increase of 7.1% from $54.17 per cwt one week earlier on...Read More

Italian re-rollers have been targeting higher prices for heavy steel plate because of rising costs for steel slab feedstock, while German mills have kept their offers largely unchanged, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.Official offers of heavy plate from Italian producers have been heard at ?,?620-650 ($755-792) per tonne ex-works. But no deals have been concluded in this range beca...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 14 that are worth another look.In 2020, the global pig iron market faced the threat of a demand slump due to the reduction in steel production from all major outlets under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic.Rio Tinto is...Read More

Last week's price increases by domestic producers have propelled US rebar prices to their highest point in over nine years.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US at $39.50 per hundredweight ($790 per short ton) on Wednesday January 13, up 4.6% from $37.75 per cwt the week before and increase of 25.4% from $31.50 per cwt one year ago. US marketDomestic reb...Read More

Flat and long steel imports into Brazil increased in December, amid strong price increases in both markets, according to the latest figures from the country's economy ministry.Brazilian total flat steel imports came to 91,522 tonnes in December, up by 54.99% from 59,051 tonnes in the same month in 2019.Imports of hot-rolled coil from Russia reached 4,037 tonnes in December 2020. In comparison, Bra...Read More