APEX Q3 2019: Bank Muscat tops base metals prediction leaderboard

AS Mauskar and N Bhavsar of Bank Muscat led the base metals leaderboard again in the Apex third-quarter 2019 contest, with an accuracy rating of 96.9%, while UBS’ Glyn Lawcock was top of the precious metals table with a rating of 97.6%.

For steel raw materials, Fastmarkets was at the top of the leaderboard at 90.6% accuracy.

Click on the image below to download the full report.

Second on the base metals leaderboard was SP Angel with 96.1% accuracy, followed by UBS’ Glyn Lawcock in third at 96.1%.

Jefferies Chris LaFemina was in fourth place with a score of 95.9% while Emirates’ Edward Bell was in fifth place at 95.7%.

There was reduced uncertainty in forecasts for base metals prices other than tin and nickel from the previous quarter’s record-high spreads. There was a sharp increase especially in nickel – there is currently a 12% spread among collected one-year forecasts. Conversely, consensus was greatest in zinc and lead compared to previous quarters and with the other base metals.

Individual base metals winners
The winner of the third-quarter Fastmarkets’ Apex contest for aluminium was Chris LaFemina of Jefferies with an accuracy rating of 99.89%. CLSA’s Andrew Driscoll took first place for copper with an impressive 100.00% accuracy.

Precious metals winners
In the precious metals table, Commerzbank was second with an accuracy of 97.0% after UBS Glyn Lawcock. TD Securities’ Bart Melek was third at 96.7%.

SP Angel’s J Meyer, S Raevskiy and S Beardsmore placed fourth in Fastmarkets’ third-quarter Apex precious metals contest with an accuracy rating of 96.3%, while INTL FCStone’s Edward Meir came fifth with a rating of 95.3%.

Uncertainty remains high for silver and especially for palladium but there was greater consensus in gold and platinum.

Individual precious metals winners
The winner of the gold price prediction contest was Commerzbank with 98.4% accuracy.

Morningstar was first with its silver prediction for the third quarter at 96.9% accuracy, while SP Angel analysts J Mayer, S Raevskiy and S Beardsmore topped the palladium contest with 99.4% accuracy.

Steel raw materials winners

Fastmarkets was first in the overall steel raw materials leaderboard for the third quarter with 90.6% accuracy, followed by SP Angel’s J Meyer, S Raevskiy and S Beardsmore with 88.1% accuracy.

In third place was ABN Amro’s Casper Burgering at 87.3%, followed by Morningstar in fourth place with 87.2%. Tracy Liao at Citi placed fifth with an accuracy rating of 87.1%.

Commerzbank came in first place in the iron ore leaderboard for the third quarter with 99.9% accuracy. Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari of ANZ placed first in the coking coal predictions with 88.5%.

What to read next
Capital is flowing back into junior mining, but selectively. Investment is increasingly favouring development‑stage assets with clearer paths to production, supported by government funding and strategic partnerships. While demand for critical minerals underpins the cycle, early‑stage explorers continue to struggle for capital as investors prioritise discipline, ESG alignment and near‑term cash flow.
Copper in concentrate production from Ivanhoe Mines' Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fell to 61,906 tonnes in the first quarter, down by 54% from 133,120 tonnes a year earlier, with the company now evaluating local third-party concentrate purchases to advance the ramp-up of its on-site smelter, according to an April 13 production release as the market focused its attention on the impact of global sulfuric acid shortages during CESCO Week in Chile from April 13-17.
China's planned sulfuric acid export ban from May 1, historic lows for copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and a fragmenting 2026 benchmark system dominated CESCO Week 2026 in Santiago from April 13-17.
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.