IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from June 11

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 11 that are worth another look.

Operations at the Nchanga copper smelter, the largest in Zambia by capacity, have been completely suspended during a dispute between the country’s government and Indian company Vedanta, the majority owner of smelter operator Konkola Copper Mines, local media reported on Tuesday June 11.

Government incentives for electric vehicle production, which up until now have mostly been subsidies, are slowly starting to shift into supportive legislation for the sector, market participants said at Fastmarkets’ 11th Lithium Supply and Markets Conference on June 10.

Floods across the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are hampering operations at laterite ore loading facilities as well as a number of nickel pig iron projects in the region, market participants told Fastmarkets MB on June 11.

Lithium-ion batteries with higher nickel content will be predominant in the coming years as the industry searches for improved electric capacity, market participants said during Fastmarkets’ 11th Lithium Supply and Markets Conference on Monday.

The European Commission has prohibited the creation of a regional flat-rolled steel joint venture by ThyssenKrupp and Tata Steel under European Union merger regulations, the commission said on Tuesday.

What to read next
The influential annual treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) benchmark that sets the price that smelters charge miners to process their copper concentrate could be at risk, according to multiple market sources, although most believe the system, or elements of it, will remain
Fastmarkets' initial low-carbon premium for nickel briquettes captured existing regional price differences, with growing awareness and legislative incentives indicating there is potential for a strong market to emerge
The Chilean government is pushing ahead with plans for a new copper smelter despite the global smelting crisis, Chile’s minister of mining, Aurora Williams told Fastmarkets, adding that the state will also play a key role in developing the country’s premium lithium assets
Just under two weeks ago, the chair of BHP made a phone call to his counterpart at mining peer Anglo American and set in motion a flurry of activity designed to create the largest copper producer in the world
Brazilian aluminium supply coming from Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA) is said to have tightened, helping to boost the P1020A ingot premium, market participants told Fastmarkets in the two weeks to Wednesday April 24
In anticipation of a tight market, copper concentrate traders have locked in 2025 volumes at notably low treatment charges, with deals being placed well below the long-term industry benchmarks