IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 26

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 26 that are worth another look.

The London Metal Exchange has announced a six-month suspension of listing fees for new cobalt brands on the exchange in a note to members on Tuesday March 26 amid emerging liquidity concerns from producers.

There are no concerns surrounding the availability of bauxite to meet ongoing aluminium supply chain growth, industry executives said at Fastmarkets’ 25th Bauxite & Alumina conference in Miami on March 26, noting that the key to ensuring access to it is improving community and government relationships. Additionally, new regulation to decommission upstream tailings dams in Brazil is necessary to ensure the safety of the community but should not reduce bauxite production, Milton Rego, deputy president of Brazilian Aluminium Association Abal, said at the same conference. 

MMG will declare force majeure on copper concentrate sales contracts from the Las Bambas mine in Peru, the mining company said on Tuesday in a notice to the Hong Kong Exchange. 

Most of Norsk Hydro’s operations are now running at normal capacity one week after the company was hit by a cyber attack, the Norwegian aluminium producer said on March 26.

Physical iron ore prices stayed rangebound for a second day on March 26, with market participants waiting on news of the full impact of Cyclone Veronica on Australian iron ore operations.

What to read next
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of the publication of several US base metal price assessments to a monthly basis, including MB-PB-0006 lead 99.97% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-SN-0036 tin 99.85% premium, in-whs Baltimore; MB-SN-0011 tin 99.85% premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-NI-0240 nickel 4x4 cathode premium, delivered Midwest US and MB-NI-0241 nickel briquette premium, delivered Midwest US.
The news that President-elect Donald Trump is considering additional tariffs on goods from China as well as on all products from US trading partners Canada and Mexico has spurred alarm in the US aluminium market at a time that is usually known to be calm.
Unlike most other commodities, cobalt is primarily a by-product – with 60% derived from copper and 38% from nickel – so how will changes in those markets change the picture for cobalt in the coming months following a year of price weakness and oversupply in 2024?
Copper recycling will become increasingly critical as the world transitions to cleaner energy systems, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a special report published early this week.
Fastmarkets proposes to lower the frequency of its assessments for MB-AL-0389 aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, US Midwest and MB-AL-0390 aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product US Midwest. Fastmarkets also proposes to extend the timing window of these same assessments to include any transaction data concluded within up to 18 months.
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on its non-ferrous and industrial minerals methodologies, via an open consultation process between October 8 and November 6, 2024. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.