IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 29

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday March 29 that are worth another look.

A cargo of 30,000 tonnes of Chinese-origin alumina has been sold at 2,810 yuan ($417.10) per tonne fob Yantai port to Glencore in recent days, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29. The cargo has been loaded and was approaching Yantai port in northeast of China this week with its destination unknown, several sources confirmed.

The London Metal Exchange has announced new warehouse reform proposals – the friendliest to warehousers in seven years – that aim to make LME warehousing attractive again and encourage more metal onto the exchange. In a discussion paper sent to members on Friday March 29, the exchange proposed relaxing queue-based rent capping (QBRC) to 80 days, lower rent and Free On Truck (FOT) fees, as well as measures to allow the market to break evergreen rent deals simply by cancelling metal rather than needing to deliver metal out.

Brazilian miner Vale reported reduced nickel production of 244,600 tonnes in 2018, down 15.1% from 2017’s 288,200 tonnes. The depressed year-on-year figures come despite the company increasing its fourth-quarter nickel production by 14.9% to 64,000 tonnes, up from 55,700 tonnes in the third quarter of 2018.

Miner MMG has declared force majeure on copper concentrate supply contracts from the Las Bambas mine in Peru. Two customers due to receive tonnages said they had been told by offtake partners they would not be receiving material as contracted.

China exported 596 tonnes of ferro-vanadium (basis 75% vanadium) in February, an increase of 2.6% month on month and 148% year on year respectively, according to official but unconfirmed data seen by Fastmarkets. The volume of ferro-vanadium exports in the first two months of 2019 totaled 1,177 tonnes, recording a year-on-year rise of 83.9%, the date showed.

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Own-sourced copper output from Glencore’s African copper assets — KCC and Mutanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo — surged by 68% year on year to 67,900 tonnes over the same period, while Glencore’s cobalt production fell by 39% year on year amid the DRC’s export quota system.
Copper’s long-term outlook is constrained by the industry’s limited ability to bring new supply online fast enough to meet rising demand, with permitting delays, higher capital costs and policy risks slowing project development, industry executives said at the FT Commodities Global Summit on Wednesday April 22.
Capital is flowing back into junior mining, but selectively. Investment is increasingly favouring development‑stage assets with clearer paths to production, supported by government funding and strategic partnerships. While demand for critical minerals underpins the cycle, early‑stage explorers continue to struggle for capital as investors prioritise discipline, ESG alignment and near‑term cash flow.
Copper in concentrate production from Ivanhoe Mines' Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fell to 61,906 tonnes in the first quarter, down by 54% from 133,120 tonnes a year earlier, with the company now evaluating local third-party concentrate purchases to advance the ramp-up of its on-site smelter, according to an April 13 production release as the market focused its attention on the impact of global sulfuric acid shortages during CESCO Week in Chile from April 13-17.
China's planned sulfuric acid export ban from May 1, historic lows for copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and a fragmenting 2026 benchmark system dominated CESCO Week 2026 in Santiago from April 13-17.
The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]