South Africa moves to adjusted level 4 lockdown; participants see little impact to ore, cobalt markets

South Africa will move to an adjusted alert level 4 lockdown for 14 days from Monday June 28, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation on Sunday June 27.

The move was in response to a massive resurgence of infections and continual mutation of the Covid-19 virus into new variants, according to Ramaphosa.
"The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reports that a third wave of the disease is underway on the continent. To date, African Union Member States have reported over 5.2 million cases and over 138,000 deaths from Covid-19," he said.
A list of lockdown measures will be in place across the country from June 28 to July 11, including a ban on all gatherings whether indoors or outdoors and a curfew from 9pm to 4am.

South Africa is the world's largest producer for chrome and manganese ore, both markets were boosted by concerns over supply disruptions when the country ordered...

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