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The world’s crude steel production totaled 1,607,229,000 tonnes in calendar 2013 up 3.1% from a year ago when its pig iron production totaled 1,164,612,000 tonnes up 4.1% and its DRI production totaled 58,939,000 tonnes up 4.0%. TEX Report applied each production volume in its calculation and estimated the world’s apparent ferrous scrap consumption in calendar 2013 at a total of 528,329,000 tonnes up 0.9% from a year ago.

Read more at:  http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/World_2013_ferrous_scrap_consumption_nearly_528_million_tonnes/333438.html

Colin Crooks, Deputy Head of the European Union delegation to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN, said that Europe’s businesses are eager to invest in Indonesia. However, the European Union (EU) hopes that several issues that are blocking the Indonesian economy (particularly related to trade and investments) from growing further are dealt with. Crooks pointed at EuroCham’s position papers, which discuss bottlenecks to Indonesia’s investment climate and provides recommendations for its improvement.

Read more at: http://www.indonesia-investments.com/news/todays-headlines/european-union-eager-to-increase-foreign-direct-investment-in-indonesia/item1679

Indonesia is now more cautious in sealing a free trade pact with its trading partners as it has learned quite a lot from its previous trade agreement with China under the ASEAN framework. The agreement has repeatedly been blamed by local business players as the cause of the widening annual trade deficits that Indonesia runs with China since it took effect in 2010.

The snail-paced realization of investment promised by China to address the imbalance cannot improve the situation.

Read more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/02/24/indonesia-and-south-korea-critical-phase-over-trade-pact.html

SHANGHAI, Feb. 24 (SMM) – China’s bauxite imports hit record high in January as Indonesia’s export ban loomed large, Shanghai Metals Market has learned.

Inbound shipments reached 8.02 million tonnes last month, spiking 57.81% year-on-year. Indonesia contributed 6.14 million tonnes, soaring 105.04% YoY, while Australia supplied 1.42 million tonnes, also jumping 43.67% from a year ago.

Chinese alumina producers also sourced the raw material from the Dominican Republic, Guinea, India and Ghana. Imports from these four countries totaled 459,700 tonnes.

The CIF prices of imported bauxite averaged $ 51.64 per tonne in January. The CIF price for Indonesian bauxite was $ 49.5 per tonne, $ 55.7 per tonne for Australian bauxite, and $ 85.75 for Guinean bauxite.

Chinese alumina refineries accelerated stock buildups before Indonesia’s ban on exports of unprocessed minerals took effect on January 12. This resulted in a 73.63% month-on-month surge in Indonesia’s bauxite shipments to China last month.

Some bauxite and alumina companies in China said chances were slim that the Indonesian government would relax its export ban on raw ores for the foreseeable future.

Source: http://www.metal.com/newscontent/57809_china%E2%80%99s-bauxite-imports-peak-in-january-as-indonesias-export-ban-looms

“We hope that this ban is going to be kept firmly in place,” chairman and chief executive Patrick Buffet said at a presentation of Eramet’s 2013 results.

“This is the factor that could bring a recovery in the nickel market within a reasonable period.”

Uncertainty over policy ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections this year had contributed to Eramet’s decision to delay a final investment decision on the Weda Bay mining project, Buffet said.

Read more at: http://www.metal.com/newscontent/57803_eramet-delays-indonesia-mine-backs-ban-to-help-nickel

DOE is seeking to promote the advancement of thermal energy conversion processes capable of converting geothermal heat sources into power, in conjunction with the development or exploitation of technologies capable of capturing, concentrating, and/or purifying valuable materials contained within geothermal brines to economically extract resources that can provide additional revenue streams to geothermal operators. This targeted initiative of the Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) focuses on strategic mineral extraction as a path to optimize the value stream of low-to-moderate temperature resources.

Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/23/doe-awarding-3-million-support-geothermal-energy-systems-capability-extracting-rare-earth-elements/#zmXUot6bMG1GiSlq.99

State-owned diversified miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) are in discussions over a possible partnership to abide by the government’s regulation of mandatory mineral processing.

Antam corporate secretary Tri Hartono said the partnership would likely be in the form of concentrate supply.

“We won’t talk about a cooperation on building a smelter with NNT,” he said on Friday.

“At the moment, we are in the process of negotiating the sale and purchase agreement [SPA].”

Read more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/02/22/antam-newmont-mull-partnership-amid-export-ban.html