IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 17

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 17 that are worth another look.

Precious metals prices would support zinc and lead mining even if the global markets crashed, including those for base metals, panelists said at Fastmarkets’ International Lead & Zinc Conference in London on Tuesday April 16. 

Copper’s three-month price on the London Metal Exchange climbed above $6,600 per tonne at the close of trading on April 17, buoyed by strong gross domestic product figures out of China while a softer dollar index below the psychological level of 97 supported afternoon buying.

Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama declined by 7.7% month on month in September, data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp on Wednesday showed.

An appeals court in Argentina has reversed a decision that allowed the inclusion of Paolo Rocca, the chief executive officer of Italian-Argentine steel conglomerate Techint, in a probe on the alleged bribery of government officials in 2008.

Fastmarkets’ battery raw materials team summarizes eight key takeaways from last week’s Battery Materials Conference in Shanghai.

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Participants in the market for copper scrap and blister in China, the world’s largest importer of copper raw materials, expect there to be fiercer competition for material in 2025, industry sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday January 9.
Africa’s first transcontinental rail network, known as the Lobito Corridor, which aims to eventually connect almost the entire regional copper-cobalt belt with additional links across sub-Saharan Africa, is on track to break ground early in 2026, a senior official at the US Department of State told Fastmarkets.
The availability of relatively untapped resources, a huge influx of Chinese investment and a rapid licensing system have helped the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to become one of the world’s three key producers of copper.
The European steel and aluminium scrap industries urged the European Commission on Wednesday January 15 against taking action to curb scrap exports after domestic industry metals producers backed measures to do just that.
Renewed US-China trade tensions with Donald Trump’s second presidential term could bolster Southeast Asia’s aluminium scrap industry in 2025, particularly amid still-growing Chinese demand, sources told Fastmarkets by Tuesday, January 14.
European steel and aluminium producers have urged the European Commission to take immediate and effective action to tackle "scrap leakage" so that the European Union can meet its sustainable development aims and secure industrial competitiveness.