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

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

Non-ferrous scrap market participants in the United States are bracing for massive trade disruptions as a result of impending Chinese import restrictions – and a rumored quota system – set to take effect on Monday July 1.

The use of Fastmarkets MB’s iron ore indices in physical contracts continues to widen, with several market participants confirming in recent weeks that they settled 2019 term contracts using the Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe iron ore index as the base.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has lifted a ban on cobalt and copper concentrate exports imposed in February but maintained the threat of its future enforcement.

Copper concentrate deliveries from Mongolia’s Erdenet mine were disrupted in early March following the dismissal of several top managers in a restructuring program ordered by the country’s government, although production continued as normal, Fastmarkets has learned. The mine produces 530,000 tonnes per year of ores and is one of Asia’s biggest copper and molybdenum mines.

Vale has issued a warning over another potential iron ore production impact of as much as 10 million tonnes per year due to the suspension of operations at its Alegria mine in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.

What to read next
Fastmarkets will amend the specifications of its existing price assessments for Europe/US lithium spot battery-grade and technical-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate to remove the US footprint, and will launch weekly price assessments for spot battery-grade and technical-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate for the United States and Canada on Thursday April 4.
This initiative marks a significant step towards reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions and championing the US in the global decarbonization effort
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
Fastmarkets launched its first price assessment for MB-FEC-0024 Ferro-chrome 50% Cr, delivered Europe, $/lb Cr on Tuesday March 26.
Fastmarkets has amended the publication date of the latest European charge and high-carbon ferro-chrome benchmark to reflect the date from which the benchmark applies after the price was erroneously published on the date it was announced (March 25).