IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from July 17

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 17 that are worth another look.

China’s top copper concentrate buyers are in a fix. On Thursday July 18, the historically powerful China Smelter Purchase Team will gather for a quarterly meeting that traditionally is an arena for members to share information on trade flows and maintenance schedules, and to set a quarterly purchasing price floor for copper concentrate treatment and refining charges. This time, however, things could be different.

Insurer AON and software developer Gen10 have joined Dutch bank Rabobank, international trading firm Concord Resources and warehousing firm PGS in the development of the blockchain trading platform for the metal repo financing business.

The United States Senate’s passage of a tax treaty protocol with Spain will unlock large investments in North American Stainless’ (NAS) facility in Ghent, Kentucky, the company said on Tuesday July 16.

A multi-year low in the cobalt metal price in China triggered the speculative buying witnessed over the week to July 12, which is likely to be followed by restocking activity in the spot market, Fastmarkets learned.

The price for antimony has softened due to stalled demand, with lower offers for cadmium failing to find resistance.

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