Monthly Archives: August 2012

FastMarkets Free to view content in app form

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Bridget Kendrick

Fastmarkets are delighted to announce that the free to read news and blog content from this site is now available within the Google Currents app in magazine format for you to enjoy on your Android and Apple devices. Google Currents …

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Rival contracts and exchanges for LME? Calm down, dear!

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Martin Hayes

The jungle drums have been beating recently about challenges to the LME’s dominance as a market and its aluminium contract, where the long queue to get metal out of warehouses is a running sore for some. So, with the LME …

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Warehouse companies diversify into other metals to extend queues

Posted on August 31, 2012 by YWong

Warehousing companies are diversifying into metals other than aluminium by offering incentives to attract material into their sheds, keeping queues to get metal out at more than a year in some locations. Traders report other metals such as lead, zinc …

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Central bank buyers may be supporting gold at levels below $1,600/oz

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Tom Moore

Central bank buyers may be providing support for gold and inserting a price floor at levels below $1,600 per ounce, sources told FastMarkets. Since the start of the year, the yellow metal has drifted below this level on six occasions, most …

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Allen joins Marex from SocGen as senior precious metals trader

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Eddie van der Walt

Jack Allen has joined Marex Spectron as senior precious metals sales trader in London, part of the firm’s strategy to build its precious metals product offering, it said. Allen’s appointment is effective immediately – he reports directly to David Govett, …

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Barrick Gold in talks to sell African spin-off to China

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Eddie van der Walt

Barrick Gold is in talks to sell a majority stake in its African mining business African Barrick Gold (ABG) to China National Gold Group Corporation, China’s largest gold producer, it said. Talks between the two parties are at an early …

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Global gold demand down 5 pct in H1 vs last year – WGC

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Eddie van der Walt

Global gold demand fell five percent to 2,090.8 tonnes in the first half of 2012 on the equivalent six months of 2011, the World Gold Council (WGC) said. But demand in the first half was still 14 percent above the …

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Notes from the Windy City

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Dominic Hall

  A whirlwind week here in Chicago putting everything in place for our new office – and we managed to get it all done!  As a result, we now have a great new office in the Loop, right next to …

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Singapore evolving as a metals trading hub

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Greg Holt

As the centre of gravity in global trade shifts from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Singapore is gaining momentum as a hub for some of the world’s top metal trading outfits. One of the largest, Trafigura, announced in May that …

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LME cobalt, molybdenum contracts hit $1 billion notional turnover

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Kathleen Retourne

The London Metal Exchange’s (LME) minor metals contracts have reached $1 billion in notional turnover, it said. Cobalt and molybdenum have traded 7,748 lots so far in 2012, equivalent of $291 million, with a total of 22,161 lots traded since …

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China zinc output cuts not enough to spur substantial recovery in prices – BarCap

Posted on August 22, 2012 by YWong

Cuts to Chinese zinc production are not enough to spur a substantial recovery in prices by themselves because a demand-driven response is equally important, Barclays Capital said. In response to lower LME prices – three-month zinc is currently around $1,795 …

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Concorde Metal Recycling and FastMarkets

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Tim Dennis

Profits maximised by having instant access to price of copper. Part of the international Metallum Group, and based in the West Midlands U.K, the Concorde Metal Recycling Group bases its financial success of knowing the exact minute-by-minute changes of metal …

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Rival LME physical aluminium contract touted – but would it work?

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Kathleen Retourne

  London - A separate aluminium physical contract could be set up to rival that of the London Metal Exchange (LME) said sources close to the matter.At present, it is consumers, who have the short straw in aluminium trades, who are …

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London Olympics to boost aluminium drink cans consumption to around 1 billion units

Posted on August 10, 2012 by YWong

London - The London Olympics, the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet, are expected to boost aluminium drink cans consumption in host-country the UK to around one billion units, market participants told Fastmarkets. “Sports events always provide an uplift in demand for …

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Thompson Creek gets lifeline from Royal Gold to complete Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Tom Jennemann

New York – Thompson Creek Metals Co has amended its gold stream agreement with Royal Gold, so that the royalty company will now purchase an additional 12.25 percent of the refined gold production from the Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine for …

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Reminiscences from the Ring – Part One

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Martin Hayes

For nearly all my working career in the City I have been closely involved with the LME and reporting from its open-outcry trading floor, the world-famous ‘Ring’ – I first went down there in 1975, and although the LME has …

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My journey to Fastmarkets USA

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Kevin Powers

Once on an unscripted drive through Italy, my wife and I, after many planned and unplanned turns on the country roads, ended up at a small little known restaurant (which later became quite well known). At that restaurant, we had …

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Nickel premiums at near-decade lows on weak consumer demand, market oversupply

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Tom Jennemann

The US nickel market has entered the summer doldrums, with some trading houses and producers moving nickel into LME-bonded warehouses rather than sell tiny volumes to consumers with regional premiums at near-decade lows. Spot premiums for truckloads of melting-grade nickel …

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Former Codelco CEO Diego Hernandez takes the helm at Antofagasta

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Perrine Faye

Chilean copper producer Antofagasta Minerals SA has appointed former Codelco boss Diego Hernández as its new CEO with effect from August 1. The widely anticipated move sees 63-year old take the helm of Antofagasta in the midst of a management …

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