IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from December 13

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday December 13 that are worth another look.

The digitization of the iron ore market took another step forward this week with trader Cargill completing its first e-contract transaction for iron ore with a Chinese steelmaker, Ningbo Iron & Steel.

Chinese copper smelter Jiangxi Copper and Zambian blister copper producer Chambishi (CCS) have signed a 2020 supply contract at a refining charge of $128 per tonne cif China, Fastmarkets learned.

China’s domestic lithium carbonate price weakened in the week to Thursday December 12, while the rest of the world’s battery-grade lithium prices held steady due to thin buying activities on the spot market.

South Africa’s largest ferro-chrome producer Samancor Chrome will cut back both mine and smelter operations in response to “persistent depressed prices” and electricity supply constraints, it announced on Friday December 6.

Cobalt buyers returned to the market this week, but prices fell further towards $15 per lb while sellers sought to offload stock ahead of the end of the year.

What to read next
Asian spot copper premiums rose in the week ended Tuesday July 23, with premiums imported into China increasing on improved arbitrage terms. In the US market, supply failed to keep up with strong demand while in Europe participants were mostly off for the summer holidays
In the fourth episode of Fastmarkets critical minerals podcast Fast Forward, Freeport-McMoRan CEO and president Kathleen Quirk tells host Andrea Hotter why there's a preference to build and not build new supplies of copper right now
Demand for primary aluminium from the green transition remains a “brighter spot” for consumption amid an otherwise challenging downstream demand outlook, Eivind Kallevik, Norsk Hydro’s chief executive officer and president, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Tuesday July 23
Acquisition Company Limited (ACG) has agreed to buy the Gediktepe mine in Turkey — the company’s first deal as it works to build a sizeable mid-tier copper producer, its chairman and chief executive officer told Fastmarkets.
Copper market price speculation is driving the base metals narrative, head of research at UK-based services provider Sucden Financial Daria Efanova said during the company’s third-quarter metals webinar on Wednesday July 17.
Chinese mining giant CMOC reported a 178% year-on-year increase in cobalt metal production for the first six months of 2024, according to an announcement by the company on Friday July 12