Canada Nickel said on July 31 it received a positive Decision Statement from Canada's Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Nature for its Crawford nickel project in the Timmins district of northeastern Ontario, the first mining approval issued under the amended Impact Assessment Act since 2019. The project was referred to the federal Major Projects Office and selected for Ontario's One Project, One Process framework. CEO Mark Selby said the federal permit took four years and the project moved from its fifth drill hole to this milestone in under seven. The company will now advance detailed engineering, financing and remaining provincial and federal permits ahead of a construction decision targeted for 2027. Crawford would also be North America's only primary chromium source.

​​​​​​​Falling nickel benchmarks, a fragmented overseas supply base and a Malaysian enforcement crackdown lift India's stainless scrap imports 11.4% while pushing the average import price down 6.6% in the 12 months to February 2026

[SMM Analysis] Off-season Stainless Steel Prices and Costs Fluctuate Limitedly, Steel Mill Profits Basically Stable This week, stainless steel finished product prices remained stable, while production costs edged up slightly but with limited gains, resulting in basically stable overall smelting profits at steel mills. Based on 304 cold-rolling calculations, this week’s profit margins stood at 2.01% when using current raw materials and 2.15% when using inventory raw materials, indicating that stainless steel mills still retained certain smelting profits. On the nickel raw material side, high-grade NPI prices rose and strengthened this week. Shipment disruptions of Indonesian high-grade NPI, combined with month-end restocking purchases by some stainless steel mills and relatively optimistic market expectations for forward NPI prices, drove the price increase. Although mainstream stainless steel mills currently hold sufficient nickel pig iron raw material inventories and spot purchases remained weak, forward order transactions recovered significantly, pushing prices higher. As of this Friday, the delivered duty-paid price of Indonesia-origin high-grade NPI with 10-12% nickel content in China rose by 4 yuan/nickel unit to 1,136.5 yuan/nickel unit. Stainless steel scrap prices remained stable this week, with limited impact from futures consolidation and a slight recovery in NPI. Compared to nickel pig iron, the economic advantage of stainless steel scrap became more apparent, providing solid bottom support for prices; expectations of steel mill production resumptions in August also lent positive support. However, narrow profit margins at steel mills and weak end-use demand made cost pass-through difficult, significantly capping the upside room for prices. Overall, in the short term, stainless steel scrap will maintain a consolidating pattern supported by cost advantages and production resumption expectations, with limited overall upside room. As of this Friday, mainstream 304 off-cuts in the Shanghai area rose by 200 yuan/mt to 10,450 yuan/mt. Chromium-based raw materials…

[SMM Express] Recent developments across Northam Platinum, Sibanye-Stillwater and Southern Palladium indicate that South Africa's platinum group metals (PGM) producers are increasingly positioning chrome as a strategic co-product rather than merely a by-product, reflecting a broader shift across the Bushveld Complex. Northam recently reported record chrome concentrate production of 1.69 million mt in FY2026, up 17.4% year-on-year, while Sibanye-Stillwater plans to expand chrome production to 2.3 million mt/y by 2033 and Southern Palladium's Bengwenyama Project has nearly tripled projected chrome output through improved chromite recovery, underscoring chrome's growing contribution to project economics and revenue diversification. The trend is further reinforced by Merafe Resources' H1 2026 Trading Statement, in which the company expects significantly stronger interim earnings despite a 75% year-on-year decline in ferrochrome production, supported by higher commodity prices and increased sales volumes. SMM believes these developments point to a broader structural shift within South Africa's PGM sector, with producers increasingly leveraging chrome to strengthen earnings resilience, diversify revenue streams and enhance the long-term value of UG2 operations across the country's chromium value chain.

As of now, the FOB price of Indonesian MHP nickel was $15,473/mt Ni, and the FOB price of Indonesian MHP cobalt was $49,311/mt Co. The MHP payables (against the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index) were 84-85, and the MHP cobalt payables (against SMM refined cobalt (Rotterdam warehouse)) were 92. The FOB price of Indonesian high-grade nickel matte was $15,859/mt Ni.

The stainless steel market in Chinese Taiwan is awaiting local mills’ August price announcements later this week. Rising nickel, chromium, molybdenum, copper and electricity costs are prompting mills to consider keeping prices unchanged or raising them slightly. However, weak end-user demand and subdued spot trading have led some sellers to lower offers to secure orders. Market participants said demand remains the key concern, while restocking activity may improve toward the end of the third quarter.