IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 15

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 15 that are worth another look.

No market has been left untouched by the escalating coronavirus pandemic, but iron ore prices have proved relatively buoyant for the past two months compared with the price plunges we have seen in other commodities.

Industry association European Aluminium has launched a strategic plan to maximize Europe’s aluminium recycling rates and keep the material in active use.

Global mining company BHP has stopped tendering spot market copper concentrates from its Escondida mine, informed sources have told Fastmarkets.

Sentiment in Chinese domestic portside manganese ore prices for both low and high grades has strengthened following news that the lockdown in South Africa will be extended by another 14 days.

The output and sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China tumbled by over 50% year on year in the first quarter of 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 virus on operations and end demand.

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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