IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from November 28

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday November 28 that are worth another look.

Electric vehicles are “the best thing to happen to the nickel market since the invention of stainless steel,” Nornickel’s marketing director told Fastmarkets in an interview, and his company’s high-quality sulfide ore deposits in Norilsk give the Russian mining company a competitive edge in the burgeoning battery market.

The Indian Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for ArcelorMittal to acquire Essar Steel, bringing an end to years of legal wrangles and giving the world’s largest steelmaker access to a much sought-after market.

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta Minerals has begun to settle annual copper concentrate supply contracts with smelters in Japan and China for 2020 supply, consolidating a benchmark set by US miner Freeport McMoRan and Chinese smelter Jiangxi Copper last week.

Having declared force majeure earlier this week, Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto is to resume shipments of aluminium from Canada after an eight-day rail strike came to an end.

Limited demand for rebar and low finished steel prices in Turkey are starting to have a big influence on deep-sea scrap deliveries, with Turkish mills stepping back from the market as a result.

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The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is expanding its footprint beyond its historic hydro-powered Canadian base, targeting Europe, Asia and Latin America as part of a deliberate diversification strategy, according to the unit’s chief executive officer.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on March 20 2026 due to a technical error.