IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from January 21

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday January 21 that are worth another look.

China’s hot-rolled coil market was quiet on January 21, with producers suspending their operations before the Chinese New Year, while concerns have emerged over post-holiday demand due to the spread of a mysterious respiratory virus that has claimed several lives.

SolGold chief executive officer Nick Mather says the company is prepared to go solo in developing its Alpala project into one of the world’s major new copper mines. but is happy to have larger players BHP and Newcrest along for the ride.

The European high-carbon ferro-chrome market ticked down last week, on a lack of interest from the stainless steel market.

Minor metals producer Vital Materials purchased the minor metals stocks of indium, bismuth, germanium and selenium that had been held on the now defunct Fanya Metal Exchange, the company has confirmed to Fastmarkets.

A thaw in trade relations between the United States and China is lending broad support to commodity prices, with the yuan strengthening against the dollar.