IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 4

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday March 4 that are worth another look.

Brazilian mining company Vale has decided to halt operations indefinitely at its Fazendão iron ore mine in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais, after an expansion permit was revoked in February by the local environmental development council.

Market participants avoided sending aluminium from Southeast Asia to the United States due to weak aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange and premiums in the US Midwest.

Conversations at Fastmarkets’ International Copper Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on February 26-28 revolved around the impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on copper production and procurement chain, as well as logistics disruptions.

Production of nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) lithium-ion batteries at South Korean battery maker LG Chem is not being affected by supply disruptions at L&F, one of its local cathode materials suppliers, a company source told Fastmarkets.

The Chinese ferro-silicon price continued to fall in the week to March 4 due to high stocks and worsening magnesium price performance.

What to read next
The publication of Fastmarkets’ Shanghai copper premiums on Monday December 23 were delayed because of a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
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.