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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019

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Pentagon in talks with Australia on rare earths plant -official The U.S. Department of Defense is in talks with Australia to host a facility that would process rare earth minerals, part of an effort to reduce reliance on China for the specialized materials used in military equipment, a senior American official said. The push comes as China threatens to curb exports to the United States of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals found in fighter jets, tanks and high-tech consumer electronics.

EXCLUSIVE-Fake-branded bars slip dirty gold into world markets A forgery crisis is quietly roiling the world's gold industry. Gold bars fraudulently stamped with the logos of major refineries are being inserted into the global market to launder smuggled or illegal gold, refining and banking executives tell Reuters. The fakes are hard to detect, making them an ideal fund-runner for narcotics dealers or warlords.

GRAPHIC-New projects for battery material nickel need a price spur Rapidly rising use of nickel in the batteries that power electric vehicles over coming years means higher prices are needed to incentivise the development of new projects to boost supplies of the metal. Demand for nickel is expected to soar as governments, companies and individual consumers aim to cut the noxious fumes emitted by fossil-fuelled vehicles.

U.S. appeals court revives aluminum antitrust cases vs Goldman, JPMorgan, Glencore A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived lawsuits by aluminum purchasers that accused Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, mining company Glencore and other companies of conspiring to drive up prices for the metal by reducing supply. In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a federal judge erred in dismissing antitrust claims by "direct" purchasers of aluminum such as Novelis, and by other purchasers including Eastman Kodak, Fujifilm and Reynolds Consumer Products.

Russia's Polymetal may consider special dividend payout -CFO Russian gold and silver producer Polymetal may consider a special dividend payout as rising gold prices bring the company closer to achieving its target debt burden, chief financial officer Maxim Nazimok said on Tuesday. Polymetal, one of Russia's largest producers of precious metals, is also considering acquiring minority stakes in domestic rare earth metals projects, tapping into growing demand for commodities used in the production of electric cars.

Zambian court suspends KCM wind-up hearing pending appeal ruling Zambia’s High Court on Tuesday suspended hearings on the winding up of Vedanta Resources’ local mining business until the Court of Appeal rules on the lower court’s refusal to let the matter go to arbitration, the provisional liquidator said. Vedanta has been locked in a dispute with the Zambian government since May, when Lusaka appointed a liquidator to run Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), which is 20% owned by Zambian state mining company ZCCM and the rest by Vedanta.

Steel city ranks China's top polluter in July despite output curbs The major steel-producing city of Tangshan ranked as China's most polluted in July, even after ordering its mills to cut output in the last 10 days of the month, data from the environment ministry showed. Average concentrations of hazardous airborne particles known as PM2.5 reached 42 micrograms per cubic metre in Tangshan, slightly lower than the same period last year but still the highest in the country.

Anglo American Platinum completes buyout of prospecting rights from Atlatsa Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Tuesday its subsidiary Rustenburg Platinum Mines (RPM) had completed the acquisition of the Kwanda North and Central Block prospecting rights for 300 million rand from Atlatsa Resources Corp. "Anglo American Platinum and Atlatsa completed the acquisition and inclusion of the resources specified in the Central Block and Kwanda North prospecting rights into RPM's Mogalakwena mining right," the company said in a statement.

Strike action pushes miner Sibanye into the red in first half Precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater said on Tuesday it fell into the red in the first half of the year due to a five- month strike at its South African gold operations. Gold production was hit by the strike over pay and job cuts that ended in April and cost Sibanye more than $100 million in lost revenue.

Chalco H1 profit falls on higher costs, lower aluminium prices Aluminum Corp of China Ltd, known as Chalco, said on Tuesday its net profit fell by 14.1% year-on-year in the first half of 2019 as higher costs offset an increase in revenue. Beijing-based Chalco, a unit of state-owned aluminium producer Chinalco, said net income came in at 705.8 million yuan ($99.51 million) in January-June, down from a restated figure of 821.6 million a year earlier, it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Chinese venture to start mining battery metal antimony in Tajikistan A Chinese joint venture will start mining antimony, a flame-proof metal used in batteries, in Tajikistan next year with the state mining company, aiming eventually to produce a tenth of global output. TALCO Gold, jointly owned by Tajik state aluminium firm TALCO and China's Tibet Huayu Mining Co, is developing the Konchoch deposits in the Western part of the mountainous ex-Soviet republic. It will also produce gold.

MARKET NEWS Gold eased, after rising over 1% in the previous session on fears of a possible recession, but held close to a more than six-year high on hopes of a rate cut by the U.S. central bank and uncertainties around the Sino-U.S. trade talks. London copper prices dipped, as the lack of any clear moves to resolve the protracted U.S.-China trade conflict weighed on the demand outlook for the red metal. The yen stood tall against its peers, with an inversion of the U.S. yield curve stoking recession worries and keeping the safe-haven Japanese currency in demand.

(Inside Metals is compiled by Kishan Nair in Bengaluru) Refinitiv 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036 For questions or comments about this report, contact: [email protected] Please visit: Refinitiv for more information. To subscribe to Metals newsletter, click here. Privacy statement