[SMM Daily Commentary: Silver Price Breaks Out Strongly Amid US Debt Buyback and Dollar Weakness] SMM, August 20: The expansion of US debt buyback operations drove yields lower, with the dollar posting its biggest drop in three weeks. Combined with heightened geopolitical risks, silver prices broke out to the upside. The spot market saw weak demand, with transactions concentrated at discounts, causing spot silver to struggle to catch up.

[SMM Cast Aluminum Alloy Morning Comment: Overnight Futures Narrowly Recover, Spot Cargo Lacks Uward Momentum in Off-Season] Overnight, the aluminum alloy 2610 contract opened at 22,905 yuan/mt. After a quick dip at the night session's open, buying gradually stepped in, driving prices to consolidate and rebound, hitting an intraday high of 23,055 yuan/mt before closing at 23,035 yuan/mt, up 0.41%.

Minerals and Metals Group (MMG) announced on August 19 that a fatal accident occurred at its Las Bambas copper mine in Peru on August 18 local time. The incident took place at a clarification tank approximately 9 kilometers from the beneficiation plant, where workers were replacing a water pump. Two people were killed — one Las Bambas employee and one employee of contractor SINAR Perú — and three other workers were injured and are currently receiving medical treatment. MMG’s CEO stated that the company has immediately launched an investigation into the accident and will provide relevant support and psychological counseling to the families of the deceased, the injured personnel, and mine site employees. As a precautionary measure, MMG has suspended activities in the area related to the accident and has temporarily halted operations at the Las Bambas mine, with production expected to resume in stages starting August 21. In H1 2026, the Las Bambas mine produced 210,200 mt of copper contained in copper concentrates, with Q2 production of 109,200 mt. MMG previously maintained the mine’s 2026 production guidance for copper in copper concentrates at 380,000–400,000 mt and anticipated that production would reach the upper end of the guidance range. The accident announcement did not disclose the specific production loss caused by the shutdown, nor did it adjust the full-year production guidance.

[SMM Tin Morning Update: Night Session Rebounds to Reclaim 424,000, July FOMC Minutes Set the Tone for September Path]

[Aluminum Social Inventory Destocking Underpins Futures, Short-Term Prices to Consolidate Within Range] Overall, domestic aluminum prices are expected to mainly consolidate in the short term, with upside room likely to be suppressed by production resumption expectations.

On August 18, CNNC announced the shortlisted candidates for its 2026-2027 Level 1 concentrated procurement project of PV modules, with a total centralised procurement scale expected to be 4.3 GW. The shortlisted enterprises include Chint New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., JA Solar Technology Co., Ltd., Yingli Energy Development Co., Ltd., Tongwei Co., Ltd., Changzhou Huayao Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., and LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.