Nonferrous

• Correction: Ormet power costs up by $4.81 MWh May 21, 2013

  Due to a reporting error, an article in the May 21 edition incorrectly stated the increase in Ormet Corp.’s power costs following a second-quarter rate adjustment on March 1.

• DRC to ‘fully enforce’ ban on cobalt conc, copper exports May 21, 2013

  The Democratic Republic of the Congo will "fully enforce" its ban on exports of unprocessed copper and cobalt concentrates starting this summer, Martin Kabwelulu, the nation’s minister of mines, reiterated.

• China’s ferrochrome imports fall as steel mills slash prices May 21, 2013

  China’s ferrochrome imports fell to their lowest level in nearly seven months in April amid price cuts from domestic stainless steel mills, with the downward trend expected to continue as the monsoon season sets in.

• On the radar at Bingham Canyon: anticipating mine wall slides May 21, 2013

  Radar, prisms and robots would seem more appropriate in the latest Hollywood blockbuster than in a mine in Utah, but exactly this kind of technology helped Rio Tinto Plc’s Kennecott Utah Copper avert what could have been a major human catastrophe last month.

• Bingham Canyon wall slide won’t disrupt long-term plans May 21, 2013

  Rio Tinto Plc’s Kennecott Utah Copper is confident that the recent wall slide at its Bingham Canyon Mine will not significantly disturb its so-called "giant leap" project.

• Bingham Canyon Mine output to remain curbed at least 6 months May 21, 2013

  Kennecott Utah Copper’s Bingham Canyon Mine will operate at a reduced capacity for at least six months, and probably longer, as a result of one of the biggest mine wall slides in history.

• Time frame of Kennecott force majeure unclear May 21, 2013

  Kennecott Utah Copper said it does not yet have a clear idea as to how long the force majeure situation at its Bingham Canyon Mine will last.

• Constellium IPO expected within days May 20, 2013

  Constellium N.V. expects to price company shares May 22 in an estimated $400-million initial public offering (IPO), according to a company presentation.

• VIDEO: Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon update May 20, 2013

  AMM's special correspondent Andrea Hotter ventures to the site of Kennecott Utah Copper’s Bingham Canyon Mine in the aftermath of last month's massive wall slide.

• PXP shareholders OK Freeport deal May 20, 2013

  Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s previously announced acquisition of Plains Exploration & Production Co.’s (PXP’s) oil and gas assets is expected to close May 31 after PXP shareholders approved the deal at a special meeting May 20.

• GBC’s initial public offering may price this week May 20, 2013

  Global Brass & Copper Holdings Inc.’s (GBC’s) initial public offering (IPO) is likely to take place this week, according to a company presentation.

• Felman plans to idle furnace, cut staff May 20, 2013

  Felman Production LLC will idle one of its three electric-arc furnaces May 31 and has already begun reducing its work force, citing a recent decline in silicomanganese prices as a primary factor for the cost-cutting.

• Aluminum fence standard OK’d May 20, 2013

  ASTM International has approved a new specification for ornamental aluminum fence systems.

• Woulfe Mining reviews costs, Sangdong project May 20, 2013

  Woulfe Mining Corp. is aiming to reduce costs after a companywide review revealed liquidity issues and the ability of the company and its subsidiaries to meet various payables beyond the next few months.

• Sale or liquidation said Ormet’s options May 20, 2013

  Bankrupt aluminum producer Ormet Corp. says it could be forced to liquidate if its sale to an entity owned by private investment firm Wayzata (Minn.) Investment Partners LLC is not approved.

• Davis to raise funds, invest in resources May 17, 2013

  Former Xstrata Plc chief executive officer Mick Davis has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as part of a plan to raise a major mining fund—potentially worth billions of dollars—and could make a play for the Las Bambas copper project in Peru, AMM sister publication Metal Bulletin understands.

• Ferbasa’s first-quarter profits decline as shipments slide May 17, 2013

  Brazilian ferroalloys producer Cia. de Ferro Ligas da Bahia (Ferbasa) saw first-quarter earnings fall year on year on reduced exports and increased costs.

• SAG mill at Copper Mountain Mine down May 17, 2013

  Operations at Copper Mountain Mining Corp.’s semi-autogenous grinding mill at its Copper Mountain Mine in British Columbia have been temporarily suspended.

• Midwest aluminum premiums narrow May 17, 2013

  Midwest aluminum premiums rose slightly this past week after discounts subsided in the wake of lower metals prices on the London Metal Exchange.

• Secondary aluminum alloy prices hold steady May 17, 2013

  Slowing demand and lower scrap prices could bring secondary aluminum alloy prices down in the coming weeks, according to market sources.

• LCH.Clearnet increases LME trade fees, shocking brokers May 17, 2013

  LCH.Clearnet has increased the registration fee for London Metal Exchange trades to 15 pence per lot (23 cents) from 5 pence (8 cents), it announced May 15.

• ITA concludes China silicon metal review May 17, 2013

  The U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) has determined that Shanghai Jinneng International Trade Co. Ltd., the sole company under review in an anti-dumping duty administrative review of silicon metal imports from China from June 1, 2011, to May 31, 2012, didn’t have any reviewable transactions. The China-wide cash deposit rate is 139.49 percent.

• Glencore Xstrata taps Hayward interim chairman May 17, 2013

  Tony Hayward, former chief executive officer of oil company BP Plc, has stepped in as interim chairman of Glencore Xstrata Plc following the departure of Sir John Bond.

• Aluminum distributors divided over MSCI data May 16, 2013

  Service center sources are divided over whether recent data that showed declines in U.S. aluminum shipments and inventories last month indicate tough times ahead.