Pennsylvania Zinc Plant Ends Operations; More than 500 Jobs Affected

Horsehead Holding Corp. has announced closure of its Zinc facility in Monaca, Pennsylvania. The shutdown of Monaca plant is part of Horsehead's strategic transition to its newly built Mooresboro, North Carolina facility.

According to reports, the company's decision will affect over 500 full time and contract employees at the site. Around 40 staff is being retained to carry out the final closure procedures. The number of employees would be further down sized by end-May when the demolition activities are expected to begin.

The zinc oxide and high purity zinc metal refinery operation at the Monaca facility had ceased operation on December 23, 2013. Horsehead also had entered into an agreement with Shell Chemical LP towards demolition and other related activities at Shell's expense. As per newspaper reports, Shell plans to convert the site into a hydrocarbon cracking plant.

Horsehead Holding Corp. is the parent company of Horsehead Corporation, a leading U.S. producer of specialty zinc and zinc-based products and a leading recycler of electric arc furnace dust. Horsehead's products include zinc oxide (used in the agricultural, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries), zinc dust (used in corrosion-resistant coatings), and nickel-based metals (used as a feedstock to produce stainless and specialty steels).

China Sends Oil Rig To Disputed Waters

Over the weekend of May 3 and 4, China sent an oil rig into disputed waters of the South China Sea to begin oil exploration. The rig is near the Paracel Islands, inside the 200-mile exclusive economic zone of Vietnam, which angrily protested the decision. The Vietnamese government insists that the waters, as well as the oil and gas reserves held beneath, belong to Vietnam.

• VIETNAM CANNOT ACCEPT AND STRONGLY OPPOSES CHINA RIG PLACEMENT

Where boundaries are drawn in the South China Sea has long been a source of regional tension, but China has escalated the conflict by moving to drill the first well inside disputed territory. China said the oil rig would be operating from now until August 15.

Some observers see the move as a careful calculation by Beijing, which believes Vietnam won’t be willing to risk war over Chinese drilling. “It's going to be one more of these small, incremental steps that individually won't lead to conflict, but collectively, over time, gradually will change the status quo,” said Admiral Mike McDevitt U.S. Navy (Ret.), according to Foreign Policy.

For its part, Vietnam is demanding that China cease drilling operations. “All foreign activities in Vietnam's seas without Vietnam's permission are illegal and invalid,” Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Vietnam resolutely protests them.”

The move may also be a response to U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Southeast Asia, which included a deal with the Philippines to allow for a greater American troop presence in the region. The U.S. and the Philippines kicked off a two-week long military exercise on May 5.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the South China Sea holds 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, most of which is located in disputed territory. China believes the oil and gas reserves could be much larger.

The question now becomes, after his recent Asia trip, is this another red line being crossed for President Obama?

Submitted by James Burgess via OilPrice.com

China Credit Trust Terminates $23-mln Product for Nonggeshan Pb & Zn Project

China Credit Trust Co. in March terminated its product for Nonggeshan Pb&Zn project, valued at 140 million yuan ($23 million), ahead of the due date at the end of May, DZHnews.com reported today.

The termination, which would be considered as China’s first trust product default, was due to inflated evaluation, production halts at the mines and risky usurious loans involved, the report said. China Credit Trust issued the product in August 2011 to acquire a 99% stake in Sichuan Nonggeshan Polymetallic Mining Co. and to develop the Nonggeshan Pb & Zn project, it said. 

In an annual report on the nation's financial stability in late April, the People's Bank of China said some high-risk investment products should be allowed to fail ``natually'' and investors cannot assume a cast-iron guarantee.

Another Example :-

Technical Trading: Gold Bulls Power Through Trendline Resistance

Gold bulls are powering the market higher early Monday, following Friday's large range bullish outside day. The yellow metal has smashed through declining bear trendline resistance and has climbed back above the 20-day moving average. The short-term technical bias is improving.

Taking a look at the daily chart, seen in Figure 1 below, Monday's early gains demonstrate follow-through and confirmation to Friday's bullish outside day (that forms when a market exceeds the previous day's high and low and closes higher on the day). The action marks the $1,272 level as strong nearby support.

On the upside, gold bulls pierced the April 28 minor swing high at $1,306.60—seen at Point A. That zone now becomes short-term support and must hold to keep the near term technical bias positive.

Another bullish technical factor is the market's push above the declining bear trendline drawn off the March 17 and April 14 daily highs, seen in red on Figure 1 below. Sustained gains above that declining trendline will target a quick test of the April 14 daily high at $1,331.40 —seen at Point B. Beyond there, an additional bullish objective lies at $1,360.20, the March 19 daily high and the bottom of an old gap on the chart.

Daily momentum is improving as well, with the relative strength index pointing higher.

Bottom line? The technical picture is turning positive. A myriad of short-term signals are turning bullish. But, the burden remains on the bulls to defend initial support at $1,306.60. If that holds looks for a test of $1,331.40 as soon as this week.

Orignal Post :- Kitco By Kira Brecht

Nickel price rise: too much too soon says new report.

Indonesia surprised the mining world in January putting into effect an outright ban on nickel ore exports.

After a relatively subdued initial reaction on nickel markets – no-one thought the Asian nation would go through with the ban and when it did, the expectation was that the rules would be water down substantially – the price of the steelmaking raw material is now up 32% in 2014.

Indonesia accounted for around a fifth of global supply at an estimated 400,000 tonnes of contained metal so the potential was there for a big impact on the price.

But record inventories around the globe (hitting 285,000 tonnes in March), massive stockpiling by China's nickel pig iron producers ahead of the ban, and years of growing mine supply (11% per year since 2009 to 2 million tonnes), kept the price near financial crisis levels by the end of January.

Traders only really entered panic mode when supply from the world's largest producer Norilsk was also put in danger

Traders only really entered panic mode when supply from the world's largest producer Norilsk was also put in danger due to the possibility of sanctions against the Russian company over the crisis in Ukraine.

Three-month nickel on the LME was trading at $18,300 a tonne on Monday after gaining 15% in April making it the best-performing commodity. The nickel price is up from around $14,000 at the start of the year.

The Financial Times (paywall) quotes Jim Lennon, commodities consultant at investment bank Macquarie as saying "every hedge fund manager and his dog is long on nickel," adding that he expects prices to rise as high as $30,000 a tonne in 2016 if the ban remains.

Others are less sanguine about the outlook for the price, at least for this year.

Independent macro-economic research house, Capital Economics, in a new report on Monday warns that the price move "is looking premature at best and, at worst, overdone":

"The market will remain in surplus and other producers may raise output in response to the recent price strength. So far, and despite Indonesia’s export ban, stocks have only just started to slip, suggesting the market is not as tight as the price rise suggests. Indeed, the high level of open interest [in LME nickel] makes the market look vulnerable to a price correction."

Capital Economics believe the nickel price will fall back from current levels to $17,500 per tonne at the end of the year, but will rise to $19,000 at end-2015 when "the full impact of Indonesia’s export ban will be felt once stocks have been drawn down."

INFOGRAPHIC: Top mining CEOs – who earns what ? Bullion, Base Metal & Coal.

Fighting Escalates In East Ukraine, Killing 4 And 40 Wounded.

First from Interfax, which reported that:

• UKRAINE GOVT TROOPS IN HEAVY FIGHTING IN SLOVYANSK: IFX

This was followed up promptly bya Bloomberg report that government forces engaged in firefight after ambush by separatists in Slovyansk, Interfax reports, citing acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. Number of soldiers killed unknown, Avakov is cited as saying by news service

And then this most recent update from Bloomberg:

• UKRAINE TROOPS SUFFER 4 KILLED, ABOUT 30 WOUNDED IN SLOVYANSK
• UKRAINE'S INTERIOR MINISTRY SAYS CIVILIANS KILLED IN FIGHTING

More from RT:

Reports of gun battles are coming from eastern Ukraine again, where local militias are holding several cities against a force of Kiev loyalists. There are deaths among Ukraine troops, Interior Minister said.

There was a shooting on the outskirts of Slavyansk as pro-government troops raided a protester checkpoint, RIA Novosti reported on Monday.

The agency said at least 11 people were injured in the attack on the checkpoint.

Ukraine’s acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who is near Slavyansk, confirmed that Kiev has re-launched its crackdown on the protesters. He said up to eight troops have been injured in the clashes so far

“The number of fatalities is being double-checked,” the minister said.

Bells tolled in churches around the city to alert residents of the incoming threat.

Intefax cites a militia member as saying that their forces pulled back into the city after fighting in the villages of Andreevka and Semyonovka near Slavyansk. The Security Service of Ukraine spokesperson Marina Ostapenko said the renewed operation’s aim is “to establish a security perimeter around the regions engulfed by violence.”

There is a report of a separate civilian death near Slavyansk. A man driving his car was shot by one of Kiev’s armored personnel carriers blocking the city, protester spokesman, Aleksandr Maltsev, told Itar-Tass.

Why the continued and escalating aggression as per this:

Kiev has intensified attacks on Slavyansk and other protester-held cities in eastern Ukraine since Friday morning. So far government troops have managed to blockade transport to and from Slavyansk, but haven’t made significant territorial gains, preferring hit and run tactics.

Simple: recall that it was the warmongering IMF which told Kiev that unless it regains the east, that no bailout money will be forthcoming. In other words, while one can blame the violent coup and overthrow of the elected president on the CIA, the ensuing civil war is as much the doing of US foreign service as it is of the financial globalists.