IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from December 11

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday December 11 that are worth another look.

Japan’s Kanto Tetsugen has secured a higher price at its ferrous scrap auction for December, which is likely to boost sentiment in the Asian market for the steelmaking raw material.

The emergence of a contango in London Metal Exchange aluminium spreads for early next year helped push premiums in the Dutch port of Rotterdam upward in the week ended Tuesday December 10, while rates elsewhere were either unchanged or down amid prevailing weak market conditions.

Chinese copper producer Jiangxi Copper will become the largest shareholder of Canada-listed First Quantum Minerals (FQM) after its $1.12-billion purchase of PIM Cupric Holdings (PCH), which holds around 18.015% of FQM’s issued shares.

A closed arbitrage window between the Shanghai and London exchanges forced nickel premiums in China lower, while a push for market participants to clear stock by year-end in the United States moved premiums lower there as well.

The sharp fall in London Metal Exchange three-month lead price has put upward pressure on the US lead premium. Stock liquidation and weak buying saw the Italian delivered zinc premium decline, while the Shanghai zinc market held firm.

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Mitsui & Co has locked in long-term copper concentrate supply by acquiring 40% offtake rights to Argentina's Josemaria deposit, while Fortescue has completed its acquisition of Peru's Cañariaco project for approximately C$139 million ($101 million), marking the latest in a wave of offtake deals and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) while majors race to secure supply amid an increasingly constrained market and record-low treatment charges (TCs).
The European Union’s Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), published on Wednesday March 4, was a new step in the bloc’s efforts to decarbonize heavy industry and to support strategic supply chains in sectors such as steel, cement and aluminium.
Fastmarkets will increase the frequency of its two existing CIF China port copper scrap prices and add three new grades on Monday March 16.
Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Port of Sohar in Oman are becoming tactical workarounds for base metal exports blocked by the Strait of Hormuz closure, with cargo transiting via land-bridge to other Gulf states, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – though capacity constraints and elevated logistics costs limit availability, sources with direct visibility of Gulf supply chains told Fastmarkets.
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.