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.

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