Greater use of scrap in the steelmaking process will be an important step toward achieving a sharp drop in CO2 emissions, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (Jisf) said."We support and contribute to Japan's ambitious policy of carbon neutrality by 2050 and to that end, the Japanese steel industry will boldly take on the challenge of achieving zero-carbon steel," the federation said on Tuesday Feb...Read More

Seaborne prices were stable on Wednesday February 17 in a muted market, but market participants expect activity to resume when China returns from the New Year break on Thursday. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.88 per tonne, unchanged 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $167.25 per tonne, unchanged 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $152.66 per tonne, unch...Read More

Mining giant BHP has listed high-grade iron ore and ferrous scrap as among the key future trends that will set the tone for the global steelmaking industry in its economic outlook released on Tuesday February 16.High-grade iron ore"High-quality seaborne iron ore fines and direct charge materials such as lump are important abatement sources for the blast furnace (BF)-based steelmaking route," BHP s...Read More

ArcelorMittal Liberia is aiming to produce its first iron ore concentrate at its Yekepa mine in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company said in an earnings report last week. Construction will begin this year for the second phase of the project that will produce 15 million tonnes per year of concentrate sinter fines, ArcelorMittal said without disclosing a specific start date for the building work....Read More

Seaborne hard coking coal prices outside China experienced a strong rebound on Wednesday February 17 due to demand from Indian steelmakers. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.20 per tonne, down $0.56 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.23 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.57 per tonne, up $8.50 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $...Read More

Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange rallied this week, but with many parts of Asia on holiday for the Lunar New Year, the effect of the rally on spot markets is yet to be seen.Red metal's price on LME rise to its highest since May 2012 LME cash/three-month copper spread remains in backwardation with LME on-warrant stock dropping week on week US copper premium strengthens amid weather woes P...Read More

An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Charlotte Radford, Cristina Belda...Read More

The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade,...Read More

The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Read More

Recovery hopes tied into the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and some brighter economic data has driven up bond yields that in turn has lifted the dollar, and that seems to be creating some hesitancy in the metals this morning, Wednesday February 17. The US Dollar Index is firmer US 10-year treasury yields have stepped up a gear as recovery is still being priced inAs a barometer, spot gold prices are...Read More

Nornickel's annual profit fell by 39% in 2020, despite a 15% increase in its revenues compared with 2019, according to financial results issued by the Russian miner on Tuesday February 16.Nornickel posted a net profit of $3.634 billion for 2020, down from $5.966 billion in 2019.Strong commodity prices, especially that for palladium, helped Nornickel end the year with a better bottom line than at m...Read More

Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday February 17. Key drivers Limited supplies of titanium scrap pushed the low tin (Sn 0.5%) content grade price to a high last seen in August 2012, while higher tin content grade (Sn 0.5-2%) reached a high last seen in January 2013.European suppliers are positioning themselves for firmer demand in early March for second-quarter delive...Read More

The European Commission has initiated anti-subsidy proceedings concerning imports of cold-rolled stainless steel from India and Indonesia, it said in a notice in the official journal of the European Union on Wednesday February 17. The proceedings follow a complaint lodged by European steel association Eurofer on January 4 on behalf of the stainless steel industry in the European Union. The EU impo...Read More

Southern Silver Exploration (TSXV: SSV) is sitting on one of the world's largest undeveloped silver projects, Cerro Las Minitas in Durango, Mexico. The flagship property is now under 100% control of the company since it bought out its partner, Electrum Global Holdings, in September 2020 and the company is intent on not only making the project bigger, but better.Southern Silver acquired Electrum's...Read More

An Ontario government task force issued a series of recommendations aimed at making capital raising in the public markets easier for issuers of all sizes, something that experts say could be especially beneficial for Canada's junior miners.In its final report in January, the Ontario Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce called for 74 sweeping reforms to the province's capital markets, including...Read More

Miners have more than their fair share of superstitions. The more you dig into the world of mining lore and myths, the more you realise how hard a job it was. The nasty, smelly bowels of the earth aren't kind to those who choose to grub around down there. Death was everywhere, and most men underground counted themselves lucky to live past 40. If rockfalls or dead air didn't get them, silicosis wou...Read More

Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) has released an updated resource estimate for its Windfall gold deposit in Quebec, which, according to CEO John Burzynski, "places Windfall among the best high-grade development projects globally."Measured and indicated tonnes now total 6 million tonnes at 9.6 grams gold per tonne, for 1.9 million gold oz. and inferred resources add 16.4 million tonnes at 8 grams gold per...Read More

Following on last week's announcement that it would be going ahead with construction of the Bateman gold project in Red Lake, Battle North Gold (TSX: BNAU; US-OTC: BNAUF) has started a $7 million 2021 exploration program, which includes up to 22,000 metres of drilling across its 288-sq.-km property. This is the first major exploration campaign on these holdings in over 10 years.Drilling is underwa...Read More

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) has rewarded investors with the biggest dividend in its 148-year history and laid out plans to tackle the vast carbon footprint of its global customers, in an effort to leave behind what its new chief executive called a "year of extremes."The world's second-largest miner is handing back US$9 billion of cash to shareholders, including a record final divide...Read More

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