IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from December 13

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday December 13 that are worth another look.

The digitization of the iron ore market took another step forward this week with trader Cargill completing its first e-contract transaction for iron ore with a Chinese steelmaker, Ningbo Iron & Steel.

Chinese copper smelter Jiangxi Copper and Zambian blister copper producer Chambishi (CCS) have signed a 2020 supply contract at a refining charge of $128 per tonne cif China, Fastmarkets learned.

China’s domestic lithium carbonate price weakened in the week to Thursday December 12, while the rest of the world’s battery-grade lithium prices held steady due to thin buying activities on the spot market.

South Africa’s largest ferro-chrome producer Samancor Chrome will cut back both mine and smelter operations in response to “persistent depressed prices” and electricity supply constraints, it announced on Friday December 6.

Cobalt buyers returned to the market this week, but prices fell further towards $15 per lb while sellers sought to offload stock ahead of the end of the year.

What to read next
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
This move aligns with global demands for sustainability in the mining sector and sets Nexa on a path toward achieving net zero emissions by 2050
Fastmarkets has corrected the pricing rationale for MB-AL-0302 aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, ddp North Germany (Ruhr region), $/tonne, which was published incorrectly on Friday April 19. No prices were corrected.
The low-carbon aluminium differential in the US made its first move on Friday April 5 since Fastmarkets launched it five months ago.