ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 07/02: Nickel leads dive in LME base metals prices; Comex copper hit by equity sell-off, dollar’s rise; DRC miners united against planned mining code

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed the day lower across the board on Tuesday February 6, with nickel’s 2.4% decline leading the charge. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how LME prices looked at Tuesday’s close:

Meanwhile, Comex copper prices were pulled lower on Tuesday by a combination of the recent equity sell-off and a dollar increase. 

Mining investors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are united in their desire to fight the country’s new mining code and could take legal action if they fail to reach a mutually agreeable solution, Randgold Resources chief executive officer Mark Bristow told Metal Bulletin. This is the first time that all parties – both from the Western world and China – have been united in their opposition to the new law, he noted.

The South African mining sector must strive to build a competitive, transformed and sustainable industry, Council for Geoscience chairman Humphrey Mathe said this week at Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa. He insisted that the health of the country’s mining sector depends on the ability to resist pursuit of one or another of these factors in isolation and focus on working to balance all three.

Arconic Inc plans to spend 2018 evaluating its global portfolio, according to the company’s top executive, framing it as a “learning exercise” but leaving the possibility open for big changes.

The benchmark Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium touched a fresh one-year high of $100-107 per tonne on February 5, fueled by a surging US Midwest premium.

Glencore’s fourth-quarter 2017 copper output was up nearly 20% from the previous quarter due to a strong performance from its African assets and Collahuasi site in Chile, although full year production was down 8% year on year following sales and maintenance.