Ferrochrome Pricing - from NOT 43-101 (May, 2008)
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posted on
Aug 24, 2008 10:17AM
NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)
40% Cr2O3 therefore is $1,890 a ton
Ferrochrome issa smelted Chromite ore...............reaching price records cuz o' stainless steel growth demands.
Extract From NOT 43-101
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The smelting process adds considerable value to chromite ores if a deposit is large enough to
justify the capital cost of a smelter. The product of smelting is ferrochrome alloy, whose price
has rapidly increased in recent years due to interruptions of the electricity supply in South Africa
and mounting demand from China. The Q3 contract price for high-carbon 65% ferrochrome is
$US $2.05, up from about $US 0.60 in mid-2005
(http://www.metalprices.com/FreeSite/... The contained metal value in a ton of
ore at 40% Cr2O3 therefore is $1,890 a considerable increase over the May 2008 lump ore value
of about $600 ex ports.
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Just da way I see dat!
HardRock
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Ferrochrome prices could beat the record $2,05/lb level reached for the third quarter of this year in the following six months, JSE-listed Merafe Resources said on Wednesday.
CEO Steve Phiri said that he was confident that the market would remain buoyant; with stainless steel production – the material's main use – expected to pick up during the last four months of 2008, coupled with a supply deficit.
There had been a slowdown in stainless steel production, after traditional Northern Hemisphere plant shutdowns and destocking as buyers waited for raw-material prices to cool, but this was only temporary, he stated.
"We will see some picking up in the fourth quarter," Phiri said in a presentation in Johannesburg.
He commented that it was encouraging that the Chinese government was still committed to growth.
Meanwhile, supply constraints on South African producers were expected to cause a supply deficit in the ferrochrome market for 2008, going into 2009.
The rise in prices and higher production for the second-half of 2008 would lead to even stronger earnings a share for Merafe than the first six months of the year, Phiri stated.
Merafe Resources, which has a ferrochrome joint venture with Xstrata, on Wednesday said that profit for the six months to end June had shot up to R602-million, which was 540% higher than the figure for the same period in 2007.
Headline earnings a share had vaulted up to 25c a share for the first half of 2008, compared with the 4c a share figure it reported for the first six months of 2007, on the back of higher prices for the stainless steel-making ingredient.
About three-quarters of global ferrochrome production comes from South Africa. – Mining Weekly