IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 24

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 24 that are worth another look.

OM Manganese will spend as much as Australian $7.3 million ($5.2 million) to establish a manganese ore joint venture in western Australia with copper-gold-manganese explorer Bryah Resources, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday April 24.

Carmaker BMW has locked in supply of cobalt metal produced at the Murrin Murrin mine in western Australia and the CTT mine in Morocco for the production of electric vehicles, market sources confirmed to Fastmarkets.

Primary aluminium production in western Europe dropped by 36,000 tonnes, or 3.9% year on year, in the first quarter of 2019 while demand from the automotive sector has been weakening in all major EU markets.

The slowdown in the Brazilian economy is putting estimates for aluminium product consumption in the country at risk, president of sector association Abal Milton Rego told Fastmarkets on April 23.

Egypt, the largest producer of direct-reduced iron (DRI) in northern Africa, will increase its output further in 2019, Fastmarkets heard at the North Africa Iron & Steel Summit in Cairo on April 16-17. The country, the largest consumer of direct-reduced (DR) grade pellets in North Africa, could face a short-term pellet shortage as a result of Vale’s production cuts, Fastmarkets heard separately at the summit.

What to read next
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of the publication of several US base metal price assessments to a monthly basis, including MB-PB-0006 lead 99.97% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-SN-0036 tin 99.85% premium, in-whs Baltimore; MB-SN-0011 tin 99.85% premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-NI-0240 nickel 4x4 cathode premium, delivered Midwest US and MB-NI-0241 nickel briquette premium, delivered Midwest US.
The news that President-elect Donald Trump is considering additional tariffs on goods from China as well as on all products from US trading partners Canada and Mexico has spurred alarm in the US aluminium market at a time that is usually known to be calm.
Unlike most other commodities, cobalt is primarily a by-product – with 60% derived from copper and 38% from nickel – so how will changes in those markets change the picture for cobalt in the coming months following a year of price weakness and oversupply in 2024?
Copper recycling will become increasingly critical as the world transitions to cleaner energy systems, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a special report published early this week.
Fastmarkets proposes to lower the frequency of its assessments for MB-AL-0389 aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, US Midwest and MB-AL-0390 aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product US Midwest. Fastmarkets also proposes to extend the timing window of these same assessments to include any transaction data concluded within up to 18 months.
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on its non-ferrous and industrial minerals methodologies, via an open consultation process between October 8 and November 6, 2024. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.