South Africa

Tata Group Eyes South African Coking Coal Assets

by TC Malhotra on April 3, 2012

Style:    Category: Commodities, Ferrous Metals, Supply & Demand

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In an effort to ensure fuel supplies for its steel and power plants, India’s Tata Group initiated talks for a joint venture with South African company Increase Coal (Pty) Ltd., reports Business Line. The article notes that the proposed venture can produce about 9 million metric tons of metallurgical coal, which is used largely by [...]

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Ferrochrome Slides in Spite of Strong Global Stainless Demand and Rising Power Prices

by Stuart Burns on February 7, 2012

Style:    Category: Commodities, Ferro Alloys, Supply & Demand

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In a recent interview by Reuters, I said I did not see other non-ferrous metals facing significant closures by Western producers as we have in aluminum. (Reuters was exploring the idea that smelters closures by Alcoa in particular, but also Rio Tinto and Norsk Hydro, were likely to be just the start of a much [...]

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Platinum Looking Weak For Now, But Prices May Be Set to Rise Next Year

by Stuart Burns on December 7, 2011

Style:    Category: Commodities, Precious Metals, Supply & Demand

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Although precious metals have suffered recent heavy falls, there is at least some evidence of price support for platinum and palladium next year, if not gold. (See our recent coverage of the palladium outlook.) Recent price falls have been accompanied by a growing net short position on Nymex, characterized by 62,700 ounces being added to [...]

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Automated Mining Moving Away From Human Workers to Grab More Gold?

by Taras Berezowsky on August 3, 2011

Style:    Category: Ferrous Metals, Non-ferrous Metals, Precious Metals

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Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/robots.html I came across a press release the other day for a mining automation conference in South Africa. Now, now — I know what you’re thinking. Yawn. Snore. Boring. Well, I thought that too, but as I drilled down and did a bit of follow-up reading, some major issues presented themselves and led to [...]

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Ferrochrome – Up or Down?

by Stuart Burns on August 1, 2011

Style:    Category: Commodities, Ferro Alloys, Supply & Demand

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We often look to nickel to judge the direction of the stainless market. Likewise, when looking at nickel, almost always refer to the stainless market to discern direction. The two are inextricably linked within our view of the high end of the steel market, but in practice, more stainless is produced with purely chrome alloying [...]

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Illegal Gold Mining Activities in Peru and Colombia Spur Mercury Contamination

by Stuart Burns on March 8, 2011

Style:    Category: Environment, Green, Precious Metals

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Rising metals prices are having many ramifications for miners, manufacturers and consumers, but one unwelcome result of rising metal values is also an increase in illegal mining. Just as higher metal prices encourage greater legal scrap generation and recycling, at the same time, it encourages the illegal stripping of lead from church roofs and copper [...]

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Ferro Chrome – Where to Next?

by Stuart Burns on February 10, 2011

Style:    Category: Ferro Alloys, Supply & Demand

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As with many of the ferro alloys, ferro chrome (FeCr) is at least in part a power play. Electricity makes up a significant percentage of the final product cost but so do coal prices, or to be precise, coking coal prices. Coking coal and electricity are required to reduce a chrome ore, generally chromite (an [...]

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Miners’ Investments Much Smarter Today Than in 70s & 80s

by Stuart Burns on November 22, 2010

Style:    Category: Commodities, Global Trade

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There was a time back in the 70s and 80s when oil and mining companies were both vertically integrating into processing, refining and distribution, and horizontally investing into many unrelated industries oil companies into mining and so on that made little long term sense. Predictably, enough of these deals unwound in the years that followed [...]

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