IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from August 30

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed from Friday August 30 that are worth another look.

China’s domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate prices temporarily held in the week to August 29 with buyers cautious of further decreases, while the lithium hydroxide market kept flat and no matter how low the offers, deals were rarely concluded due to continuing poor downstream demand.

China Gold has finished building China’s largest and only inland copper concentrates blending facility, with operations set to commence subject to Customs Agency approval, Fastmarkets has learned.

A nickel plant at the Ramu nickel-cobalt project in northeast Papua New Guinea, is still in full operation following the discovery of waste spilling into the nearby Basamuk Bay, according to media reports.

Jiuquan Iron & Steel Group (Jisco) plans to temporarily close its Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart) refinery for over a year in the next two to three months, sources told Fastmarkets on August 30.

Ferrous scrap prices around the world fell over the week ended August 30
on thin buying interest from end-users, which expected more price falls so were not eager to purchase materials.

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