LONDON – A small, embattled diamond miner just hit the jackpot. The 910-carat stone found by Gem Diamonds Ltd. high in the mountains of Lesotho in southern Africa is the fifth-largest in history. Here are the bigger ones:THE CULLINAN DIAMONDAdvertisementBy far the largest at 3,106 carats, it was found at the Premier mine in South Africa in 1905 and named after the mine owner, Sir Thomas Cull...Read More

The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Tuesday January 16.Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange are edging lower this morning, Tuesday January 16, posting an average loss of 0.7% on subdued trading volumes. Nickel prices, down 1.6%, are the weakest, while copper and tin prices, both down 0.2%, are showing the most resilience.This bout of profit-t...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sotheby's has hired Sam Hines as worldwide head of its watchdivision - the auction house's second senior appointment for its jewelry andtimepiece department in less than two months.  Based in Hong Kong, Hines (pictured) will oversee the unit and workwith the existing team on its major sales in Geneva, New York, Hong Kong andLondon, Sotheby's said Monday. He has 20 years of experie...Read More

Good morning from Metal Bulletin's office in Shanghai, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday January 16.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly lower during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with only tin prices in positive territory. Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report here.LME snapshot at 03.28am London timeLatest three-month LME Price...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Women's Jewellery Network (WJN) has released the#NoGlassCeiling social media campaign, in support of ambitious, career-orientedwomen in the UK jewelry industry.  The campaign, which the WJN shared over Instagram, Facebook andTwitter, aims to shatter the perception that there is a glass ceiling on the level of achievement UK women in the jewelry industry can reach, the org...Read More

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – A two-pronged purchase offer by Ascot Diamonds to acquire the three bankrupt South African subsidiaries, and later, a Cayman-based entity of Canadian miner Rockwell Diamonds is still a viable solution to achieve a sale transaction and therefore, a higher recovery value for creditors, Rockwell said in a statement on Monday.A formal liquidation application for su...Read More

Extracting a bulk sample at the Dumont nickel-cobalt project near Amos, northern Quebec. Source: RNC Minerals.RNC Minerals [RNX-TSX; RNKLF-OTCQX], also known as Royal Nickel Corp., says it is working to secure $1 billion to develop the world's largest undeveloped reserves of both nickel and cobalt at the company's flagship Dumont Project near Amos, northern Quebec. It hopes to start the constructi...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Nonferrous metals futures were weak on Tuesday afternoon, with aluminium dropping nearly 3% and nickel down 1.8%. Lead was down 1% and copper down 0.7%. Tin also dropped slightly.The ferrous complex also dropped in the afternoon. Coking coal dropped almost 4% and iron ore dropped 1.6%. Coke slipped 1.5% and hot-rolled coil dropped slightly. Rebar edged up slightly at c...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Nonferrous metals futures were weak on Tuesday afternoon, with aluminium dropping nearly 3% and nickel down 1.8%. Lead was down 1% and copper down 0.7%. Tin also dropped slightly.The ferrous complex also dropped in the afternoon. Coking coal dropped almost 4% and iron ore dropped 1.6%. Coke slipped 1.5% and hot-rolled coil dropped slightly. Rebar edged up slightly at c...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Nonferrous metals futures were weak on Tuesday afternoon, with aluminium dropping nearly 3% and nickel down 1.8%. Lead was down 1% and copper down 0.7%. Tin also dropped slightly.The ferrous complex also dropped in the afternoon. Coking coal dropped almost 4% and iron ore dropped 1.6%. Coke slipped 1.5% and hot-rolled coil dropped slightly. Rebar edged up slightly at c...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 10 points in pre-opening trade. UnitedHealth Group gained $4.16 to $232.80 after reporting higher than consensus fourth quarter revenues and earnings. General Electric dropped $0.85 to $17.91 after revealing a $6.2 billion charge to be released with fourth quarter results.Merck added $3.24 to $61.90 after announcing po...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper is expected to trade at $7,150-7,250/mt today while the SHFE 1803 copper is to trade at 54,430-55,200 yuan/mt. We see spot discounts at 220-140 yuan/mt today as buying interest weakened following higher futures prices.Nickel: LME nickel is expected to stay rangebound today and its Chinese counterpart is to trade at 99,200-100,600 yuan/mt. Spot prices...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper is expected to trade at $7,150-7,250/mt today while the SHFE 1803 copper is to trade at 54,430-55,200 yuan/mt. We see spot discounts at 220-140 yuan/mt today as buying interest weakened following higher futures prices.Nickel: LME nickel is expected to stay rangebound today and its Chinese counterpart is to trade at 99,200-100,600 yuan/mt. Spot prices...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Following a robust growth in 2017, zinc prices face downward pressures in light of accumulated inventories.Inventories are expected to increase due to weak consumption even though domestic supply remained tight due to environmental concerns. Few trades were heard in the spot market last week during the off season, SMM learned.Zinc became the leader among base metals in...Read More

Oil shot higher in recent weeks due to inventory draws and threats to Iranian production. In 2016, Trump campaigned against the historic Iranian Nuclear Agreement, but extended approval last week, vowing to end the deal in May unless Europe agrees to tougher terms for Iranian compliance. With Iran producing almost 4 million barrels a day courtesy of this nuclear agreement, there is a consider...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper is expected to trade at $7,150-7,250/mt today while the SHFE 1803 copper is to trade at 54,430-55,200 yuan/mt. We see spot discounts at 220-140 yuan/mt today as buying interest weakened following higher futures prices.Nickel: LME nickel is expected to stay rangebound today and its Chinese counterpart is to trade at 99,200-100,600 yuan/mt. Spot prices...Read More

The Three Horsemen of InflationTrucking inflationCell phone inflationWage inflationTrucking Inflation Is Just Getting StartedU.S. cargo shipments contracted throughout 2015 and 2016.This was evident in both rail and trucking. But trucking is special: 70% of goods in the U.S. get shipped by truck. So, naturally, inflation in the trucking industry has a major impact throughout the economy (a ri...Read More

Published on: Jan 16, 2018 | by finfeedCastillo Copper (ASX:CCZ), an ASX-listed base-metals junior focusing on copper, cobalt, zinc and nickel, has reported that its initial drilling and sampling has intersected high-grade sulphide mineralisation at the Cangai Copper Mine in New South Wales.According to a market update, CCZ says it has collected samples from stockpiles near the main lode, and obta...Read More

Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange are edging lower this morning, Tuesday January 16, posting an average loss of 0.7% on subdued trading volumes. Nickel prices, down by 1.6%, are the weakest, while copper and tin prices, both down by 0.2%, are showing the most resilience.This bout of profit-taking seems to be driven by a rebound in the dollar, pushing most commodity prices lower, in s...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close on Tuesday January 16, however tin prices shocked the complex by rallying $170 per tonne. The complex's rallies took a pause while the dollar pulled up from Monday's three-year low. "The strong performance seen yesterday on the LME was wiped out today as [Asian] traders hit the sell button from the Asia open. Even with...Read More