HOTLINE: 10 things Metal Bulletin found during an office clear-out

Metal Bulletin has been clearing out its cupboards ahead of a move down the road and, in true mining style, we’ve dug up some real treats.

Here are a few of our favourite finds.

1. ENRC’s admission prospectus to trading on the London Stock Exchange, dated November 2007.

2. From iron ore pellets to lumps of silicon, the Metal Bulletin team has kept numerous lumps of metals and ores collected during its site trips.

3. Documents dating back to the Hamanaka scandal, and letters to the CFTC about the copper market. 

4. Items from a visit to the Rio Tinto mine site in Andalucia, organised by Emed Mining.

5. Record of 1 tonne of Falconbridge cobalt being sold nearby in Japan at $52.50 per lb in March 2008 over the same two days as 30 tonnes of low-grade business was concluded at an average price of $48 per lb.

6. A note from Merrill Lynch asking: “How does financing work?” Prompted by a 24% fall in LME aluminium stocks, the bank asked: “Who owns the metal and how do they make a profit out of holding it? There are a number of large merchant firms and banks who are particularly active and expert in this field.” That was back in August 1998. Plus ca change!

7. A cartoon summing up an earlier year’s TC/RC negotiations.

8. A wall-hanging from China too large for any of the walls in our current or new office.

9. 1 Swedish Krona, 25 Norwegian Kroner, 10 Australian Dollars, 23 Euros, 47 South African Rand, 1 Renminbi, 11 Kazakh Tenge, 160 Liberian dollars, 115,000 Guinean Francs ($67.87 in total).

10. A dozen pairs of shoes and a policewoman’s hat owned by former Metal Bulletin deputy editor Josephine Mason

editorial@metalbulletin.com