IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from September 6

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday September 6 that are worth another look.

There was an air of optimism among copper participants attending a conference in the Chinese city of Qiqihar on Thursday September 5, with many there telling Fastmarkets they had heard deals and offers for copper cathode at higher levels than in recent weeks due to improving market fundamentals.

Albania-based chrome ore miner and high carbon ferro-chrome smelter Albchrome has extended the maintenance period of two of its furnaces for an additional three months, the company said on September 6.

China’s Hebei Steel, the country’s second largest steel mill, has released its purchase price for silico-manganese at 7,700 yuan ($1,078) per tonne for September delivery, down by 150 yuan per tonne from its August tender price, market sources told Fastmarkets.

Latin America’s apparent steel consumption fell by 3% year on year in the first half of 2019, to 33.67 million tonnes, mainly due to lower performance in Mexico and Argentina.

China’s domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate price narrowed downward in the week ended September 6 with most deals concluded at lower end of Fastmarkets’ published range, while those few deals struck at higher rates were done so on credit terms.

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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.
Roughly 40,000 tonnes per month of copper cathode that once flowed smoothly into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through Jebel Ali had few options to reroute after the Strait of Hormuz officially closed on Monday March 2, with the only alternative entry points — Khor Fakkan and Fujairah — already straining under the weight of diverted cargo, market sources told Fastmarkets.
Navigating market volatility with data-driven strategies for resilient mining operations
The publication of several of Fastmarkets' copper concentrates indices was delayed on Friday February 27 because of a technical error. Fastmarkets' pricing database has been updated.