IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from November 28

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday November 28 that are worth another look.

Electric vehicles are “the best thing to happen to the nickel market since the invention of stainless steel,” Nornickel’s marketing director told Fastmarkets in an interview, and his company’s high-quality sulfide ore deposits in Norilsk give the Russian mining company a competitive edge in the burgeoning battery market.

The Indian Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for ArcelorMittal to acquire Essar Steel, bringing an end to years of legal wrangles and giving the world’s largest steelmaker access to a much sought-after market.

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta Minerals has begun to settle annual copper concentrate supply contracts with smelters in Japan and China for 2020 supply, consolidating a benchmark set by US miner Freeport McMoRan and Chinese smelter Jiangxi Copper last week.

Having declared force majeure earlier this week, Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto is to resume shipments of aluminium from Canada after an eight-day rail strike came to an end.

Limited demand for rebar and low finished steel prices in Turkey are starting to have a big influence on deep-sea scrap deliveries, with Turkish mills stepping back from the market as a result.

What to read next
The European Union’s Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), published on Wednesday March 4, was a new step in the bloc’s efforts to decarbonize heavy industry and to support strategic supply chains in sectors such as steel, cement and aluminium.
Fastmarkets will increase the frequency of its two existing CIF China port copper scrap prices and add three new grades on Monday March 16.
Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Port of Sohar in Oman are becoming tactical workarounds for base metal exports blocked by the Strait of Hormuz closure, with cargo transiting via land-bridge to other Gulf states, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – though capacity constraints and elevated logistics costs limit availability, sources with direct visibility of Gulf supply chains told Fastmarkets.
The Mexican aluminium market might be strongly affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with supply constraints and consequently higher premiums, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.
Lundin Mining and BHP published a preliminary economic assessment on February 16 for their Vicuña joint venture, projecting average annual copper production of 395,000 tonnes over the first 25 years of operation as Argentina’s copper concentrate pipeline continues to build. PSJ Cobre Mendocino separately confirmed on February 14 that its feasibility study was under way.
Chinese lead smelters turned more bearish on the procurement of raw materials in the week to Friday February 13, amid heightened price volatility in silver, which is often contained in lead ores as an important by-product and contributor to smelter profits, sources told Fastmarkets.