Xinjinlu Group announced in June a planned investment of RMB 496 million to implement integrated mining, dressing, and metallurgical upgrades at its Guangxi Limu Mining subsidiary. The project includes upgrading mining operations to 600,000 tons/year, constructing a 1.5 million tons/year dressing line, building a tantalum-niobium hydrometallurgical workshop, and recovering associated metals like rubidium from tailings. Upon completion, it will form a complete industrial chain for tantalum, niobium, tin, and tungsten, yielding approximately 840 tons of tantalum oxide and 867 tons of niobium oxide annually.

Great Southern Copper has commenced scout drilling at the Artemisa South copper-gold target in Chile. The company believes the area may host a large-scale porphyry copper system and is advancing exploration activities accordingly.

This week, ferrous metals edged higher before extending their pullback, with coking coal posting the largest decline. At the beginning of the week, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other departments issued a notice on launching a three-year campaign for energy conservation and carbon reduction in key industries, and news that the U.S. and Iran were to sign a memorandum of understanding on the 19th improved market sentiment, lifting all ferrous metals. In the latter half of the week, expectations for an eighth round of coke price hikes materialized in the futures market. However, as steel mill profits narrowed further and spot coke had largely priced in the eighth increase, further upside room was limited. Combined with emerging expectations of peak hot metal output, futures began to correct and cost support weakened. Meanwhile, May macro data came in below expectations, dragging the entire ferrous metals complex lower...

[Silicon metal futures fluctuate narrowly, spot market largely stable]: Downstream and trader procurement sentiment is cautious, with some users digesting previous low-price inventories. Clients outside China have purchase price expectations lower than current prices, and sentiment for new orders in the market is sluggish. Some users expect to purchase via futures point pricing at around 8,400-8,500 yuan/mt. On the supply side, the increase in operating rates of silicon enterprises in Sichuan and Yunnan during the rainy season is already within expectations, with few new variables in the market. As variables on both supply and demand sides are highly deterministic in the short term, market sentiment in the buyer-seller tug-of-war appears rational. The silicon metal price center is expected to remain near the low end of the range in the near term.

[SMM Coking Coal and Coke Daily Review] In news, some steel mills in certain regions have accepted the eighth round of coke price increases, with wet-quenched coke up by 50 yuan/mt and coke dry quenching up by 55 yuan/mt, effective June 22. Supply side, affected by the ongoing stringent safety inspections in Shanxi, coking coal supply remains tight, and the coking coal price increase has consistently outpaced the coke price increase; most coke producers are still incurring losses, and to reduce losses, these producers are voluntarily intensifying production restrictions, leading to a short-term decline in coke supply. Demand side, steel mill operating rates currently remain high, and due to the tight coke supply, their coke inventory replenishment has fallen short of expectations, leaving them with continued restocking demand for coke.

[Supply-Demand Pattern Steady, Grain-Oriented Silicon Steel Prices to Stay Stable Next Week] This week, spot prices for cold-rolled grain-oriented silicon steel remained mostly stable, with market trading unfolding at a steady and orderly pace. Ferrous metals futures retreated after a rapid rise this week, posting limited changes that provided weak sentiment support for the silicon steel spot market, and overall market price fluctuations narrowed. Although earlier steel mill price hike policies were implemented, releasing positive signals, the market was still in a phase of digesting these policies. Spot prices did not post significant changes, mainstream quotations remained steady, the price spread between high- and low-priced resources in the market gradually narrowed, and overall quotations became more aligned.