IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 1

Copper-starved London Metal Exchange warehouses could receive a long-awaited influx of metal from an unexpected source, Fastmarkets has learned.

The LME has released its pricing procedures and methodologies for the scheduled release of its cash-settled futures contracts on March 11, highlighting methods in which the bourse will determine daily settlement prices.

Mining operations at Rusal’s 2.3-million-tonne-per-year Bauxite Co of Guyana Inc have been suspended for 14 days due to strike action, with no timeline for the return of workers.

Miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are starting to look at blockchain as a way to provide supply chain traceability in compliance with customer and regulatory requirements, Lance Hooper, chief operating officer of Canadian resource company Cobalt Blockchain, said.

Ahead of Fastmarkets’ Battery Materials 2019 conference in Shanghai, Fastmarkets looks at the use of lithium in next-generation vehicles and other battery uses as well as soaring prices, which have spurred interest in lithium and boosted its importance in recent years as a battery material.