Keith WeinerPosted Feb 2, 2021The hot story this week is the incredible run up in the stock price of GameStop. A week ago, this was a $40 stock, with the company losing well over $4 a share. That’s not surprising for a retail store operator in the world of lockdowns. What is surprising is what happened this week.The share price ran up to almost $500.To understand why, let’s take a step...Read More

South African manganese miner Assmang has declared force majeure on some shipments after state transport provider Transnet issued the same notice last week. Assmang's notice refers to immediate vessels that will be slightly delayed due to rail closures caused by severe rain and flooding, Fastmarkets understands. Transnet declared force majeure on Friday January 29 after rains washed away parts of...Read More

Lassonde said he recently purchased 2 million Prime shares through the TSX Venture Exchange, taking his direct and indirect holdings to 11.85%.Prime is focused on its Los Reyes project in Mexico's Sinaloa state, where it last year updated the resource to a measured and indicated 633,000 ounces of gold and 16.6 million ounces of silver, or 833,082oz gold-equivalent, using a 0.22g/t cut-off.The comp...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More

A return of buying activity in the selenium market and larger traded volumes since the start of 2021 have renewed price optimism among some market participants. Fastmarkets assessed the price of selenium, 99.5% Se min, in-whs Rotterdam at $6-7 per lb on Friday January 29, stable from the midweek assessment but up by 8.3% from $5.50-6.50 per lb a month ago amid improved liquidity. The majority...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico started to decline from all-time highs in the week ended on Friday January 29, with several mills reducing their buying price for the steelmaking raw material and announcing further price cuts.In both Baj?-o and Monterrey, price cuts of 100-300 pesos ($5-15) were reported last week. The movement is expected to be followed by weekly price reductions, which could...Read More

Turkish steelmakers continued to hold back from deep-sea scrap purchases amid falling prices, sources said on Tuesday February 2.The most recent deals were heard nearly a week ago, late on Wednesday January 27, when two US cargoes were booked.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a cargo from the United States, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $416 per tonne, shredded at $421 per tonne and bon...Read More

A scheme in India to retire and tax older vehicles will increase the supply of scrap to its domestic market, if its implementation goes ahead after years of false starts, market sources told Fastmarkets.On January 25, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, approved a proposal for a green tax on older vehicles and the scrapping of some vehicles, a government document sho...Read More

The frenzy of buying activity in silver, attributed to a group of retail investors using the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets and other social media sites, is waning.The silver surge - which began on January 27 and saw the price of the industrial metal soar to an eight-year high of more than $30 per oz before slipping to just below $27 per oz by Tuesday January 2 - followed a phenomenal upswell in th...Read More

Base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed, albeit with a downside bias, during morning trading on Tuesday February 2, while silver was consolidating below highs but above its recent trading range.Silver prices spiked up to around the $30-per-oz level on Monday, before ending the day around $28.50 per oz - the metal is now looking for direction. S...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday February 2 that are worth another look.Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is planning to restart blast furnace (BF) B at its Ghent plant in Belgium by the middle of February this year, the company told Fastmarkets on February 2.Aluminium...Read More

Demand for flat steel imports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia was still weak in the week to Tuesday February 2 because buyers expect prices to decrease more and are holding back on placing orders, sources said. Most market participants said they believe prices will keep falling until after the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11-17), and prices from China after the break will...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday February 2 that are worth another look.Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is planning to restart blast furnace (BF) B at its Ghent plant in Belgium by the middle of February this year, the company told Fastmarkets on February 2.Aluminium...Read More

Chamath Palihapitiya just tweeted: "People want you to think that everything is always about left versus right. It's not. It's about insiders versus outsiders."He's right, of course. And with the democratization of information, we are all more aware of how we are getting screwed.A few weeks ago, I wrote about the destruction of our institutions. I wrote:Basic institutions that have built trust o...Read More

Gran Colombia Gold Corp. (TSX: GCM; OTCQX: TPRFF) is currently the largest underground gold and silver producer in Colombia, with several mines in operation at its high-grade Segovia Operations. Segovia is one of the top five, highest-grade, underground global gold operations, with still a significant exploration future in front of it. Last year they spun off a Company called Caldas Gold Corp. (TS...Read More

Buyers of steel rebar and billet market in the United Arab Emirates expected prices to decrease this week, with trading activity being very low, although producers kept their prices unchanged, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 2.Importers of billet and rebar also preferred to wait, because import prices usually follow price changes in domestic rebar, sources added.Domestic rebarThe coun...Read More

China's rebar market was inactive on Tuesday February 2 due to demand being low amid construction suspensions, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,280-4,300 yuan ($662-666) per tonne, narrowing downward by 10 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said the spot market has been inactive with most construction sites suspending work after many workers have gone back to hometow...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico started to decline from all-time highs in the week ended on Friday January 29, with several mills reducing their buying price for the steelmaking raw material and announcing further price cuts.In both Baj?-o and Monterrey, price cuts of 100-300 pesos ($5-15) were reported last week. The movement is expected to be followed by weekly price reductions, which could...Read More

Turkish steelmakers continued to hold back from deep-sea scrap purchases amid falling prices, sources said on Tuesday February 2.The most recent deals were heard nearly a week ago, late on Wednesday January 27, when two US cargoes were booked.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a cargo from the United States, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $416 per tonne, shredded at $421 per tonne and bon...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices tumbled on Tuesday February 2 amid poor steel demand which weighed further on market sentiment, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $149.80 per tonne, down $7.27 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $150.37 per tonne, down $7.40 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $139.28 per tonne, down $4.67 per t...Read More