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Now that the first week of September has passed, market watchers are hopeful that business will start to pick up. Looking at manganese over the last week, the European spot market has seen light activity, recovering from some of August’s weaker prices.
Overall, however, manganese prices have mostly maintained their going price over the last week. Manganese flake min 99.7 percent is changing hands for $2,150 to $2,180 per metric ton.
Meanwhile, manganese flake min 99.7-percent FOB from China saw a slight dip, down less than a percent at RMB2,040 to 2,100 per metric ton. Metal-Pages reported that prices for the metal in China had been climbing on tight spot supplies; however. they stumbled during the first week of the fall season.
“We do not see any big price recovery at all in the European steel industry for the time being,” an industry source told the publication, “[s]pecifically not in the stainless steel industry, which is in a mess, even the dealers there do not see any visibility (in market trends) beyond one month.”
On the demand side, Metal-Pages points to steel overcapacity in Europe potentially leading to closures of some mills. While still speculation, it is a move that could possibly lead to substantial, sustained recovery in the industry.
Company news
A new joint venture was formed last week between Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS), OM Holdings (ASX:OMH) and South Africa’s Ntsimbintle Mining to market manganese ore from the Tshipi Borwa project in the Kalahari manganese field in South Africa. Through joint venture, each company will hold a 33.3-percent stake and trade under the name OM Tshipi. The joint venture will be based out of Singapore. The intention, according to Mining Weekly, is for OM Tshipi to be the marketing arm for manganese from South Africa. The joint venture will have the potential to sell over 2 million tonnes of production.
On September 5, Kaboko Mining (ASX:KAB), a Zambia-focused manganese company, announced that it had raised $170,440 from valid subscriptions of its fully underwritten, non-refundable entitlement issues. The company plans to use the funds raised for further exploration and development in Zambia. Working capital is also part of the division of funds.
Securities Disclosure: I, Vivien Diniz, hold not investment interest in any of the companies mentioned.
