Nonferrous

• CME lowers fees for non-US metal traders Dec 17, 2009

  CME Group Inc. will let some international non-members trade metal futures at a discounted fee in an effort to draw more foreign clients into the exchange’s membership ranks.

• Vale’s Sudbury strategy turning more aggressive Dec 17, 2009

  Relations between Vale SA and the United Steelworkers union in Sudbury, Ontario, which have been frosty for months, appear to have deteriorated further in recent days as the Brazilian miner has sharpened its rhetoric, market participants said.

• CME Group cuts fees for non-US metals traders Dec 16, 2009

  CME Group Inc. will soon let some international non-members trade metals future products at a discounted fee rate in an effort to draw more foreign clients into the exchange’s membership ranks.

• Copper, aluminum markets in surplus through October Dec 16, 2009

  The global copper market returned to surplus in the first 10 months of the year after posting a deficit in the first nine months, according to World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) data.

• Some panicked buys lend support to nickel premiums Dec 16, 2009

  U.S. spot nickel premiums remain fairly steady as a number of consumers hit the market to tidy up their 2009 inventory as others are planning for the possibility of a second major strike in Sudbury, Ontario, during the first quarter.

• Xstrata, union begin Sudbury nickel negotiations Dec 16, 2009

  Xstrata Plc and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union started talks Wednesday on a new labor contact at the company’s nickel operations in Sudbury, Ontario.

• Some panicked buys lend support to nickel premiums Dec 16, 2009

  U.S. spot nickel premiums remain fairly steady as a number of consumers hit the market to tidy up their 2009 inventory as others are planning for the possibility of a second major strike in Sudbury, Ontario, during the first quarter.

• World copper, aluminum markets in surplus through October, WBMS says Dec 16, 2009

  The global copper market returned to surplus in the first 10 months of the year after posting a deficit in the first nine months, according to World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) data.

• Xstrata, union begin Sudbury labor contract talks Dec 16, 2009

  Xstrata Plc and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union started talks Wednesday on a new labor contact at the company’s nickel operations in Sudbury, Ontario.

• US brass mill imports, exports fall in October Dec 16, 2009

  U.S. imports and exports of brass mill products continued to fall in October, according to the latest statistics from the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council.

• China rethinks e-bike regulation Dec 16, 2009

  China reportedly has withdrawn a ruling to reclassify some electric bicycles (e-bikes) as motorbikes, a regulatory change that would have dramatically reduced lead consumption in the metals-hungry nation.

• Freeport may sell stake in Grasberg Mine Dec 16, 2009

  Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. is in talks with the Indonesian provincial government of Papua over the possible sale of a 9.36-percent stake in its majority-owned subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia.

• Bonnell Aluminum starts output on Tenn. press Dec 16, 2009

  Extruder Bonnell Aluminum began production on its new 35-million-pound-per-year press in Carthage, Tenn., this week, even as other players in the extrusion market continue to curtail output amid ongoing demand weakness.

• Indium prices rise on Japanese buying, supply fears Dec 16, 2009

  Indium prices are rallying higher even as other metals in the minor metal complex continue to soften, market participants said.

• Newedge appoints Fay as North American head Dec 16, 2009

  Broker and category I LME member Newedge has appointed John Fay as head of its Americas region.

• US brass mill product imports, exports fall in Oct. Dec 16, 2009

  U.S. imports and exports of brass mill products continued to fall in October, according to the latest statistics from the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council.

• Freeport may sell stake in Grasberg Mine to Indonesian province Dec 16, 2009

  Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. is in talks with the Indonesian provincial government of Papua over the possible sale of a 9.36-percent stake in its majority-owned subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia.

• Extruder Bonnell Aluminum kicks off output on Tennessee press Dec 16, 2009

  Aluminum extruder Bonnell Aluminum began production on its new 35-million-pound-per-year press in Carthage, Tenn., this week, even as other players in the extrusion market continue to curtail output amid ongoing demand weakness.

• China rethinks e-bike regulation Dec 16, 2009

  China reportedly has withdrawn a ruling to reclassify some electric bicycles (e-bikes) as motorbikes, a regulatory change that would have dramatically reduced lead consumption in the metals-hungry nation.

• Indium firms on Japanese buyers’ return, supply fears Dec 16, 2009

  Indium prices are rallying higher even as other metals in the minor metal complex continue to soften, market participants said.

• Boeing’s Dreamliner takes maiden voyage Dec 15, 2009

  The Boeing 787 Dreamliner finally took off this week after a more than two-year delay, carrying the future hopes of the U.S. titanium industry and other industry suppliers to the giant program.

• Victory Nickel’s Minago project said viable Dec 15, 2009

  Victory Nickel Inc.’s Minago sulfide nickel project in Manitoba is technically and commercially viable and could produce about 11,000 tonnes of high-grade nickel in concentrate annually over a seven-year operating life, according to a definitive feasibility study.

• RTI’s titanium sponge exit leaves single project in US Dec 15, 2009

  Cancellation of a new Mississippi titanium sponge operation leaves just one project left in what was once an ambitious era of front-end expansions planned for the United States.

• Victory Nickel’s Minago project in Manitoba said viable Dec 15, 2009

  Victory Nickel Inc.’s Minago sulfide nickel project in Manitoba is technically and commercially viable and could produce about 11,000 tonnes of high-grade nickel in concentrate annually over a seven-year operating life, according to a definitive feasibility study.