IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 18

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday April 18 that are worth another look.

The decision by the European Commission to suspend carbon emissions allowances issued by the UK government under the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme is expected to remain valid until the UK is able to reach a deal with the EU on the country’s exit from the union, Richard Warren, head of policy at industry body UK Steel, told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 18.

Alcoa’s revenue for the first quarter of 2019 totaled $2.7 billion, down by 19% from the fourth quarter of 2018, due to lower alumina and aluminium prices.

A forecast downtrend in the mid- to long-term London Metal Exchange cash zinc price could bring about a shortage of zinc mining projects, BMO Capital Markets analyst Kash Kamal said in a presentation at Fastmarkets’ International Lead & Zinc conference on Monday April 15.

The Chinese domestic indium price dropped by 4% week on week on April 17 in response to news that the Fanya Metal Exchange will again auction 34.64 tonnes of the indium stock it holds in its warehouse, after the first auction in January failed to attract any bidders.

Copper fund Red Kite has settled its $850-million market manipulation lawsuit with Barclays out of court, the latter said in a statement on April 18.

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The Mexican aluminium market might be strongly affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with supply constraints and consequently higher premiums, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.
Lundin Mining and BHP published a preliminary economic assessment on February 16 for their Vicuña joint venture, projecting average annual copper production of 395,000 tonnes over the first 25 years of operation as Argentina’s copper concentrate pipeline continues to build. PSJ Cobre Mendocino separately confirmed on February 14 that its feasibility study was under way.
Chinese lead smelters turned more bearish on the procurement of raw materials in the week to Friday February 13, amid heightened price volatility in silver, which is often contained in lead ores as an important by-product and contributor to smelter profits, sources told Fastmarkets.
Roughly 40,000 tonnes per month of copper cathode that once flowed smoothly into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through Jebel Ali had few options to reroute after the Strait of Hormuz officially closed on Monday March 2, with the only alternative entry points — Khor Fakkan and Fujairah — already straining under the weight of diverted cargo, market sources told Fastmarkets.
Navigating market volatility with data-driven strategies for resilient mining operations
The publication of several of Fastmarkets' copper concentrates indices was delayed on Friday February 27 because of a technical error. Fastmarkets' pricing database has been updated.