IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from January 8

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday January 8 that are worth another look.

Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran have not affected appetite in Southeast Asia for Iranian steel products, sources told Fastmarkets.

Limited buying interest ahead of national holidays has dragged the Shanghai copper premium to its lowest level in almost three years, while copper premiums are stable in Europe and the United States with minimal spot activity for the first week of 2020.

Brazil’s Atlantic Nickel started producing around three months ahead of schedule, and expectations of achieving full capacity have also been brought forward to the second quarter this year, chief executive officer Paulo Castellari told Fastmarkets in an interview on Tuesday January 7.

Jupiter Mines is starting a feasibility study into an expansion project that aims to increase manganese ore output from Tshipi Borwa by 50% to 4.5 million tonnes per year over three years, the company announced on January 7.

North American lithium producer Livent has revised down its financial guidance for fourth-quarter as well as full-year revenues, and is reviewing potential changes to its planned capacity expansion road map, it said on January 7.

What to read next
The most recent financial results published by base metals mining companies highlight just how inflation is affecting profit margins, with increasing wages, financing costs and input prices all hitting profits, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday March 28
Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.